Ask HN: Good Marketing Strategies for a Cookbook? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Good Marketing Strategies for a Cookbook?

6 pointsbrunooliv26 comments

I've recently self published my first ever cooking book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNNLCPZ4/

I'm not a professional chef however, I think I have a nice unique set of life circumstances that make the book unique: I've learnt cooking from my parents since I was old enough to handle fire and I come from Portugal which is a country with a very rich food tradition and nice cuisine that crucially, I think, appeals to a wide range of different cultures like Brazilians, Italians, even French. I've blended my life experiences from living in a few different countries to create what I think is quite a unique cookbook!

While the editing and "polish" of the book will not be perfect, I 100% stand behind every single for I've written there, it's around 30 recipes!! It'd make for a great Xmas gift too :)

Any ideas on how to market it and especially where to do it, would be great! I've done some posts on FB and Twitter but not gaining a lot of traction yet. Advice on the "marketing strategy" would be awesome

What did you intend to accomplish by publishing a cookbook? This should guide your actions.

Do a blog search on how other people market their books. I remember there were was a very detailed post on HN by someone who profitably self-published a technical book.

You already got very solid advice from others, talking about how you are the unique factor about this book.

Often, a book is a (fairly ineffective) way to monetize on your existing following.

Speaking engagements and workshops. I've seen authors bundle x-number of books as part of a paid speaking engagement (helps you close business / tax write-off?). I've also seen people do a free speaking appearance and sell books to the audience afterwards. Consider doing that that in-person or remotely.

Think about why people buy cookbooks. And what kind of person would like your cookbook in particular. Where does that person hang out? How do you reach them? Who else can give you visibility in front of that audience, and how can you partner?

Watch out for advertising costs during the holidays. At work, our marketers say that costs went up astronomically. Might be a good idea to wait for Jan.

(I am in the marketing world but don't have experience marketing books)

You've already got your product... Work backwards. Who's your target audience? Who would your unique insights appeal to? and why would they be appealing to prospective customers?

I'd say nearly a 3rd of the content on my instagram is food based, either people food tourism or cooking. Insta is by far my favorite channel for food content. I think Laurent Dagenais does a great job appealing to young and middle age people... good production and recipes, usually some level of boozing through out the video, and good background music. Definitely has a "fun" vibe.

i'll make a few points, as a lover of cookbooks:

Based on your post...the key selling point of your book is, YOU. Not the recipes. If it was the recipes - you might not be wondering how to get traction. Why do I say this? As a lover of international/traditional cooking...if there's a book out there, even 1...on a cuisine with low coverage - i'm on it like a fly on shit. I'll just scan the recipes quickly, and if it looks legit....i'll snag pretty much straight away.

Reading the blurb for your book does nothing for me. I need to know who you are...I need to like and invest in you.

As much as it pains me to say it - because i'm not a user of these technologies, absolutely abhor them and think they're evil - but the way books like this get in hands of people - are through viral marketing channels like Shit-tok, instagram, TV foodn networks and so on. The first question i have when looking at your book blurb is "who is Bruno?"

I think you need to work on the YOU part, then the cookbook part afterwords for this to work like you expected :)

Hey thanks!!! This is my first time ever publishing a cookbook so this type of feedback is really good!! Thank you!! If you'd like I could send you or email you a free copy of the book, while I work on a better blurb

Cookbooks tend to either focus around an idea, concept or person. Usually having all 3 is the key to success.

A cookbook on instant pot recipes is good. A cookbook on instant pot recipe under 30 min is better. Even better is one that’s specific to keto diabetic foods in the instapot under 30 min by celebrity chefs.

Many successful authors start with a website of free recipes develop their internet fame then publish books. The space is very competitive most fail.

The recipes really aren’t worth much. The key to a good cook book is to describe or simplify a process or a concept in a novel way that simplifies complex cooking concepts. Then you target a demographic that’s actually interested in that.

Some examples of this are: https://www.maangchi.com/ https://m.joyofbaking.com/ https://www.justonecookbook.com/ And probably the most famous one though is more of a brand now.

https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-5118015

Don't sell the book, sell your story. People buy stories & how those make them feel as a person, they do not just buy the product.

I have marketed books in the past and they are generally very difficult to sell because discovery is challenging. Cookbook category is especially very competitive and AI tools have made everything worse. So your best bet is to promote your story on social media and try to generate word of mouth. You could try spending some money on Amazon on keywords which are extremely tightly related to your cook book stuff and check if it generates any value, try with a small amount.

I'm just your average programmer and so I don't know much about "marketing strategy", but I can write you what I would buy, and why.

Basically, I've tried dozen cookbooks but at this moment I have only one. The title in Polish is "Dania trzyskładnikowe", which roughly translates to "3-ingredient dishes". And they really consist of only 3 main ingredients (spices are extra, but that's OK).

The reason I have it is that I'm pretty impatient and disorganized, I forget to buy stuff, but I still would like to cook if only possible, for health and budget reasons.

Now, the book covers a wide array of dishes--breakfasts, lunches, desserts, with different groups of ingredients. Some healthy, some totally unhealthy, some need to be prepared for 2-3 hours, some require only 15 minutes.

So I would be up for say a book about lunches (or whatever the up-to-date word for "obiad" is :)), that can be prepared using 3-4 easy to buy ingredients, in some constrained, not too long, amount of time, and ideally with a more or less constrained health impact (say: a given weight of unhealthy fats, ideally less than 20g).

Now, I would find the book by typing "Cookbook for ADHD" in Google :). Currently, there's e.g. [1], but the dishes are still a bit complex for me, and I can tell straight away that not all of them are cholesterol-friendly.

[1] https://chadd.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Cookbook_for_Bu...

Of course I could assemble a set of recipes that fit my requirements for free, but I would still pay $10 for a proper book, as like books better than loose sheets of paper. I'm not sure about $20, as that would 2x the price of an average book here in Poland. But I don't rule it out--I buy books from Amazon that cost $20, so I guess I would decide based on the "subjectively perceived value".

BTW if there are say 5+ recipes in your book that meet my "requirements" above, let me know and I will buy it :).

Hey, There are definitely recipes there, I'd wager even closer to 10 recipes, that meet your requirements :D And I honestly think you'll love the book given your requirements ;)

PS: I'm also a programmer eheh

OK, I'm sold :) But, I've searched for it on amazon.pl and it's not there. Not sure how it works, but so far all books for amazon.com that I wanted, were there.

Is there a checkbox somewhere that you can click and put it on amazon.pl as well? (The reason I use .pl and not .com is that it allows convenient local payment and delivery methods.)

Here it is: https://www.amazon.pl/dp/B0CNNLCPZ4

My guess is that probably the search bar isn't indexing all locations properly as I've checked all the checkbox I needed... This might be a problem for discoverability, I'll need to investigate

Ahh, I didn't know that product IDs are the same on all Amazon sites, thanks!

OK, so the delivery is supposed to happen on Friday :)

I hope you'll enjoy the recipes!! Lmk! Thanks a lot!

So I got the book today, and I cooked the tuna pasta. I admit I was kinda skeptical at first (for no specific reason), but gave it a shot and it was a hit! Everyone (including me :)) said it was very tasty--and we actually meant it, we have "radical candor" at the table :)) And the material proof is that there's nothing left, it's all gone.

BTW there's a small technical issue--there are no page numbers in my copy (which was printed on demand, here in PL). I guess maybe they were too close to the edges and got cut?

Ohh damn... Mixed feelings now I'm super happy that you liked the pasta!! And I'm super sad the numbers are cropped! I did do a layout check... I'll investigate. If I can fix it, I'll send you a free copy. I'd just need your address. Thanks so much for buying and for having liked!!! My email is olivbruno8 at Gmail so if you drop me your address I'll ship you a fixed copy when I get to fix it! Thank you for this!! You and family loving it is a great, great way to start my day. Thanks!

Thank you for the offer, but I insist the cropped numbers are unimportant :)!

I mean, I sent some electrical impulses through wires and two days later a book materialized in a box nearby. And then I used it to cook a hit dinner, which happened for the first time in a longer while :)

So I witnessed what would be a literal miracle for 99% of humanity from the past! How am I supposed to get angry about a few tiny numbers, without which the book is still perfectly usable? :))

Thank you so much!! Really glad you liked it!

Additionally and if it's not too much to ask, a review on Amazon could really help me too! I'll definitely ship you a free copy to Poland once I fix the page numbers

Sure, I'll write one, but if you don't mind I would prefer to do it in a few weeks, when I cook more recipes and can write something based on real "kitchen experience" with the book?

Obviously!!!

No ones said it yet - youtu e shorts.

There is an enooormous sphere of cooking influencers on youtube and they are extremely popular.

I am thinking of the amount of cost & effort to make such videos. Light, multiple cameras, editing, make-up (not kidding), sound, mics.. making promo videos is NOT an easy feat. And if they look very 'amateurish' they will diminish the value of the book (comparing his/her vids to other mini-movies found on YT).

It really doesnt take that much to make a professional looking videos. You could do it woth an iphone and some work flood lights from home depot easy enough.

It does take some creativity and artistic talent.

No advice, but bought for my brother who is an aspiring chef. Best wishes.

Thank you!!! I hope he will like it! A review could also help with increasing discoverability maybe

I have made the ask, it should be reviewed shortly.

You could start a e-community for would-be contributors to the next edition. If you give them a way to participate, they may identify themselves with your book and recommend it to others.

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