Hello and welcome to another dose of my thoughts on blogging, entrepreneurship, and our industry in general. My goal with these newsletters is to help you feel less lonely in our space, and occasionally teach you something about self-publishing cookbooks.

tldr;

🍿 Working with recipe testers is important - don't skip it.

🍿 I wrote a long form blog post all about recipe testers - click to read.

🍿 I started a Facebook group all about self-publishing cookbooks!

let's chat -

Let's chat about one of my favorite things to harp on with Cookbook Lab students: working with recipe testers! Although it's not a bad idea to work with them when developing recipes period, whether they go on your site or social, it's especially important to do when developing a book because once it's out into the world, it's out.

You can't get a comment that says, "Hey, you said orange in the recipe but I think you meant lemon!" (this may or may not have happened to me) and quickly say thanks, update the post, and move on. People have paid for your book, and it should help them cook great recipes!

I know it's tempting to skip, but working with recipe testers is essential. It ensures that your recipes work not just for you but for any home cook, in any kitchen. This process will help you identify issues with recipes, such as unclear instructions, so you can get them straightened out before you publish, instead of receiving angry emails from purchasers. Thorough testing leads to higher quality, reliable recipes that readers can trust.

Finding the right testers

All of my recipe testers have been thrilled, eager volunteers. Leverage your social media, email lists, and relevant Facebook groups to find them. Trust me, people will be more excited about this than you think! A current Cookbook Lab student has been dealing with the issue of way too many volunteers and figuring out how to select them. And on that note, when it comes to picking your testers, make sure they have the right experience and are available to test within your timeframe.

A few other tips

• Use tools like Airtable or Google Forms to organize tester information and feedback efficiently. It can get overwhelming quick.
• Show appreciation for your volunteers by including them in your acknowledgments, sending thank you cards, and giving them exclusive content.
• Clear communication is key - tools like Loom can help.
• Start recruiting testers early. Even if you haven't finished developing all your recipes, you can get testers started on the ones you have.
• Utilize family and friends for urgent feedback - they're easier to boss around 😜
• Delegate! I used a VA to manage the recipe testers for my second cookbook.

For a deeper dive, check out my new blog post all about this topic.

P.S. If you missed it, I started a Facebook group all about self-publishing! I'd love to see you in there.

cookbook lab happenings

​The Cookbook Lab is my course that teaches you how to self-publish your own cookbook, from recipe testing to photography and design to marketing.

🧁️ The replay of our most recent class, all about design, is up!

🧁️ Our next class is 6/12, when we'll be talking about working with editors.

talk soon,