Roger Smith Arts and Thai Artists Alliance present the second lobby series; a NY photo exhibition by Udom Surangsophon.
The Roger Smith Hotel is pleased to host Udom’s NY photo exhibition from May 1st to June 3oth, 2012. The opening reception will be on May 9th from 6pm to 8pm at the hotel’s lobby.
Udom was born in Thailand and has been based in New York since 1985 where he graduated from Hunter College and earned a Master’s degree at the New York Institute of Technology. He specializes in architecture, interiors and portraits. His work has appeared in Architectural Record, Metropolitan Homes, Wallpaper (Thai Edition), Elle Decoration (Thai Edition), The New York Times and others.
A note from curator Ek Wongleecharoen; Assistant General Manager at the Roger Smith Hotel:
“My purpose of bringing Thai Artists Alliance to Roger Smith Hotel Lobby Series is to bring people awareness to the Thai Arts. I am a native of Thailand and even I have a limited knowledge in the Thai Arts. My only exposure of the Thai Arts is through the temple walls and I was fascinated by the intricate details that the artist put into the work. So I reached out to the Thai Artist Alliance to see if they will be interested to show some of their works in the lobby. As a result, we will have at least two shows dedicated to the Thai arts movement in NYC.”
Roger Smith Hotel
501 Lexington Ave. (btwn. 47 & 48 st.)
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212)755-1400
2pm-5pm, 12th April 2012 (during Tartan Week) The Roger Smith Hotel (and via Livestream) 501 Lexington Ave, New York, New York.
Conference overview
Opportunities exist for Scottish businesses in the USA: are you aware? The signs suggest that the world’s biggest economy has turned a corner, recovery is underway and an appetite has returned for, in particular, goods made in Scotland and services that draw on Scotland’s renowned intellectual heritage. The Scottish market has also regained confidence, evident in the awareness of clear export and inward investment opportunities.
In association with SCDI, this conference hopes to assist Scottish businesses cross the P.O.N.D – Procedures, Obstacles, Networking and general Detractions, that exist as initial issues for the internationalization of business, whether Scottish, UK or otherwise.
The Conference will be of interest to creative business owner/mangers as well as general professional practitioners who need to build an awareness of opportunities for clients. It is also suitable for entrepreneurs, investors, marketing and brand consultants/managers, and accountants.
The conference is organized and chaired by Philip Hannay, Founder and Managing Director of Cloch Solicitors, and (Scottish) Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year 2010 and 2011.
Conference speakers include:
• David Mundell MP, Conservative, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
• Jane Gotts, International Director, Scottish Council for Development & Industry • Allan Rooney, Managing Partner, Rooney PC
• Tim Danser, President, Prince of Scots
• Melissa Gonzalez, CEO & Founder, Lion’esque Media
• John Knowles, Panman Productions
• Jo Harvey, Deputy Director, The Mountbatten Institute
• Jeffrey E. Jacobson, Managing Partner, The Jacobson Firm, P.C., Attorneys
The Conference is free to attend however places are limited. To book your place at this exciting event, please contact Siobhan Hazlett at siobhan.hazlett@scdi.org.uk.
Scotland/USA International Creative Business Conference 2012
12th April 2012
Agenda
2:00pm Coffee / registration
2.10pm Welcome/introduction Philip Hannay
Founder & Managing Director, Cloch Solicitors
http://www.linkedin.com/in/philiphannay
2.15pm Who’sastakeholderinyourbusinessidea/s? David Mundell MP
Conservative, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
http://www.davidmundell.com/biography
2.20pm Who’swhoinUK/USinternationaltrade Jane Gotts
International Director, Scottish Council for Development and Industry
http://www.scdi.org.uk/au/SCDIStaff.html
2.30pm Who’skeen?SettingupbusinessinNewYork(thelegals-general) Allan Rooney
Managing Partner, Rooney PC
http://www.rooneypc.com/allan-rooney-profile/
2.50pm Who’sbuying?ToptipsforUSsourcingandmarketing Tim Danser
Cookbooks are much more than collections of instructions to get dinner on the table. From our earliest culinary records through the present (and beyond, we predict), cookbooks document culture, technology, identity, and even aspirations. What makes cookbooks a unique resource for historians, anthropologists, sociologists and others is that most cookbooks do this unconsciously; that is, in the guise of filling a practical need for practical instruction, cookbooks teach the careful reader about the values, needs, and desires of the cookbook audience.
Chair: Betty Fussell, Writer and Lecturer
Panelists: Paul Freedman, Professor of History, Yale University, Jane Lear, Freelance Writer, Editor and Editorial Consultant; Molly O’Neill, Author
“Behind the Numbers: Looking at Cookbook Data”
Ebook reading adoption is on the rise, and across many sections of the book industry, readers are putting down print books in favor of their digital counterparts. But what’s really going on out there? And how does that translate to ecookbook adoption over the next few years? In this presentation, Bowker will talk about what they see in their deep dive studies on reading habits, how reading is evolving between print and electronic and what that means for the world of cookbooks. They’ll also share details about a cookbook study that will answer questions on consumer demand for electronic products, pricing around specific platforms, and functionality needs. Ted Hill, President, THA Consulting & Kelly Gallagher, Vice President, Publisher Services, Bowker
“Consuming the Brand: Corporate Cookbooks”
Advertising the virtues of food products took place mainly in newspapers until cooking related pamphlets, which later evolved into cookbooks, emerged in the late 1800s. American corporations began issuing small, product driven cookbooks targeted at literate middle class women with the intent of ingredient early adoption and brand loyalty. Early on the materials were distributed free of charge when purchased with corporate goods, or sometimes sold for a modest price. As the nation began to purchase rather than produce goods at the household level corporate cookbooks played an important role in creating consumer demand for new products. It is during this period that food-related, corporate America rather than family tradition began to shape a sphere of the American palate. Then as now, corporate cookbooks occupy a niche in the cooking instruction domain while commodifying the American diet.
Chair: Deanna Pucciarelli, Assistant Professor, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana
Panelists:Christina Ceisel, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Linda Morgan, Independent Scholar and Culinary Historian, Sausalito, CA; Bonnie Slotnick ,Owner, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks; Andrew F. Smith, New School, New York
“Eat and Be Satisfied: Jewish Cookbooks Past, Present, and Future”
If all cookbooks tell a story, speak of a place, a time, a milieu, a trend, and tell us about history, technique, ideals, geography, agriculture, heritage, status, those that emerged from the kitchens of the Jews, reflecting both ancient roots and diasporic wanderings, has, perhaps, resulted in a diversity even beyond the usual. Defining the cookbook category broadly–from the simple setting down of recipes, to sections of general cookbooks, to cookbooks proper, community cookbooks, and product cookbooks–this panel will explore the role of such documents in carrying Jewish culture forward, from the distant past to the present day and on into the future.
Chair: Cara De Silva, Author, Independent Scholar, New York
Panelists: Mitchell Davis, Author, Vice President, The James Beard Foundation; Gil Marks, Rabbi and Author, NY; Joan Nathan, Author, Washington, DC; Jenna Weissman-Joselit, Author, Professor, George Washington University, Washington, DC
“Historical Cookbooks”
How are historic cookbooks relevant for today? Can we cook the past and learn directly from the process or are such sources merely tools for dry historical research? Is there a deeper reason to attempt to understand the taste preferences of our forebears and is it even possible to truly comprehend what they liked to eat without living in the same time and place and without the same contextual setting and mental framework?
Chair: Ken Albala, University of Pacific, Stockton, CA
Panelists: Cynthia Bertelsen, Independent Scholar Nora Rubel, University of Rochester; Francine Segan, Author of Dolci: Italy’s Sweets
“Enhancing Content Both Online and Off”
As more content becomes readily available online, consumers are increasingly engaged by a mixed-media approach when learning about, and cooking, recipes. Video, step-by-step audio, timers, and serving size functionality are all elements that are at consumers fingertips when searching the web to answer “what’s for dinner?” As cookbook publishers continue to find ways to compete in this new arena, enhanced content has become the new norm. But how can publishers finance such video/audio projects? And how can they appropriately use them, not only within the e-book, but across the print book as well (and even as incorporated into online properties, to further drive revenue opportunity). This session will explore ways in which publishers can leverage their existing models, work with outside partners (and perhaps even their authors) to develop and implement enhanced content strategies across their content platforms, and also to discuss what shouldn’t be in an enhanced book.
Chair: Adam Salomone, Harvard Common Press
Panelists: Rick Joyce, Perseus; Cheryl Kramer-Toto, HMH; Andrea Nisbet, Workman; Tanya Steel, Epicurious
“Cookbooks and the African American Experience”
Description: More than a hundred years ago white American “epicures” (the fashionable Gilded Age term) routinely praised the genius of “mammies” and “colored cooks” while remaining clueless about crucial details – for instance, the surviving fragments of African culinary legacies that illiterate and enslaved women (sometimes men) had managed to bring to North America from Africa itself and parts of the New World African diaspora, or these people’s profound influence on the nation’s foodways beyond the South. Even today, neither half of the hyphenated label “African-American” comes in for much sustained attention from most members of the culinary “cognoscenti’. The panel will discuss the ways in which cookbooks can illuminate the complexly woven identities of African-Americans over the last four centuries.
Chair: Tonya Hopkins
Panelists: Donna Pierce, Food Historian, Journalist, Recipe Developer; Toni Tipton-Martin, Food Journalist/Cookbook Author; Michael Twitty, Culinary Historian
“Tick-Tock: Cooking Against the Clock”
Efficiency in the kitchen has been a theme for cookbook and lifestyle writers since the eighteenth century, but minimizing time spent in cooking has become a key goal for many mid-late twentieth century cookbooks. What was once the rapid-fire “60 Minute Gourmet” now seems like scratch haute cuisine. Time-saving strategies run the gamut and tell us about our changing technologies and values.
Chair: Cathy Kaufman, Independent Scholar
Panelists: Linda Civitello, Author and Food History Lecturer;Steve Schmidt, Writer, Teacher, Cook; Laura Shapiro, Journalist and Culinary Historian
“Predicting Future Trends from Current Data”
New trends in cooking are emerging all the time. How can publishers keep up in an ever-quickening cycle of information, where every new development seems like the “next hot thing?” In this session, we’ll talk with agents, editors, and content creators to figure out how they separate what’s popular now from what will sell in years to come, and we’ll take the lessons from what works in cookbooks and apply it to real world publishing programs.
Chair: Lisa Ekus, Principal of The Lisa Ekus Group
Panelists: Lynn Andriani, Food Editor, Oprah.com; Irena Chalmers, Cookbook Author; Suzanne Rafer, Editor, Workman Publishing; Dan Rosenberg, HCP Cookbook Editor
“Brave New World:Who Needs an Old-Fashioned Literary Agent?”
The world of cookbook publishing has changed dramatically even in the last 2-3 years, and it might seem—with all the web at an editor’s feet and e-books selling a million copies—that agents are no longer a necessary part of the process. Five top cookbook agents make the case for why the traditional middleman may—and may not—still be relevant.
Chair: Sharon Bowers, Partner, The Miller Agency
Panelists: Janis Donnaud, Janis Donnaud Associates; Alison Fargis, Stonesong Press; Stacey Glick, Dystel and Goderich; Jennifer Unter, The Unter Agency
“A New York Food State of Mind in Food Writing and Cookbooks”
New York’s history of extraordinary capitol in its land, skies and waters, its people, their communities and foodways provides a similarly rich context for expressions through food. Cookbooks and food writing—both contemporary and historic—will be discussed for the New York people- and placed-based pictures they paint through words and recipes.
Chair: Annie Hauck-Lawson, President, The Association for the Study of Food and Society, Co-editor, Gastropolis: Food and New York City
Panelists: Jonathan Deutsch, Associate Professor, Kingsborough Community College and CUNY Graduate Center; Cindy R. Lobel, Assistant Professor of History, Lehman College, CUNY; Peter Rose, Author/Food Historian specializing in Historic Dutch Foodways of the Hudson Valley
“Media Outlets in the Digital World”
Whether in traditional or digital forms, the cookbook review/author interview is one of the all important pieces to any cookbook publicity campaign. As the publishing/media landscape becomes evermore crowded, publishers have to become more focused in who they pitch and how. In many cases, the straight press release with an offer for an interview just isn’t enough and getting creative with both pitches and content can be the difference in getting a big publicity hit. On this panel, we’ll hear from a number of media representatives in about how they’ve seen publishers innovate, what they’re looking for in this new media landscape, and how their own content initiatives are changing (and how publishers can capitalize on that change).
Chair: Mark Rotella, Publisher’s Weekly Editor
Panelists: Addie Broyles, Austin American-Statesman Food Writer; Melissa Clark, New York Times Writer, Editor at GiltTaste.com; Caroline Russock; Joe Yonan, Washington Post
“Cookbooks in Libraries: Gateways to Food Studies”
Libraries are treasure troves of traditional, digital and human resources not always known to people. Cookbook authors and other food writers interested in locating historic and cultural contexts for their work will hear about library resources and their many uses.
Chair: Barbara Haber, Research Librarian and Food Historian
Panelists: Rebecca Federman, New York Public Library; Kathryn Allamong Jacob, Curator of Manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library, Cambridge, MA; Krishnendu Ray, New York University
“Feast for the Eye? Food Styling, Photography, and Cookbook Design”
The look and feel of cookbooks has changed dramatically over the centuries, from the authoritarian Black Letter of early English works to the gastro-pornography of lavishly illustrated modern cookbooks. This panel examines the ways in which cookbooks visually communicate our culinary concepts, from photography and art work to typography to layout and design. We will examine what has sold, what sells now, and what the future may hold.
Chair: John F. Carafoli, Food Stylist, Consultant and Food Writer
Panelists: Roy Finamore, Author, Editor and Prop Stylist; Melissa Hamilton, Canal House Cooking; Christopher Hirsheimer, Canal House Cooking; Maricel Presilla
“Strategic Partnerships in Online Content”
Food startups abound as the barriers to entry in the food/tech space begin to fall. Not a day goes by that there doesn’t seem to be a new recipe website, and even beyond cooking in the kitchen, entrepreneurs are developing new ways to interact with food on the web. With this emerging marketplace comes an enormous need for content, especially curated content from cookbooks and publishers are uniquely poised to deliver value in this new space. And, there’s also the potential for disruption of current ways that publishers operate both online and off. With this session, we’ll be examining the current startup ecosystem within food, looking towards emerging companies (and some of the bigger players that are coming on the scene), exploring ways that publishers can benefit both through new revenue streams and marketing potential, and identifying potential sticking points for content creators as more of these companies come on the scene.
Chair: Geoff Allen, Founder and CEO, Ziplist.com
Panelists: Dave Feller, Founder and CEO, Yummly; Jane Kelly, Co-founder, Eat Your Books; Will Schwalbe, Founder, Cookstr.com; Jonathan Vlock, CEO and Co-Founder, CookingPlanIt
Cooking Apps took over the conversation about a year and a half ago, right after iPads were introduced. Everyone — saw the App as the successful merger of cookbooks and TV. Did that happen? The Tech Developers love them, but what about Cookbook Writers and Users? Here Today—What about Tomorrow? If not Apps, then what? What are cooks looking for? Recipes? Random House is looking at buying Allrecipes. Cookstr. Yummly. Epicurious. As everyone adds “features”, what’s the difference between an App and an enhanced e-book, an interactive web-site or vlog? Are Apps, even the most sophisticated ones, becoming instantly obsolete as features change so rapidly: how will Siri type technology or Cloud access change things. And combine all of this with what seems to becoming the new food trend: The Rise of the YouTube Chef.Expect these amateur chefs (and pros, too) to multiply like rabbits in the year(s) ahead at least on the web. As a content creator, how do you compete? As a user, how do you choose and navigate?
Chair: Geof Drummond,Television Producer, Writer, Director
Panelists: Dorie Greenspan, Cookbook Author; Andy Schloss, Cookulus / Chef Salt; Tanya Steel, Epicurious
“The People behind the Pages: The Appeal of the Personality-Driven Cookbook”
Beyond instruction, some of our most beloved cookbooks provide companionship with a trusted culinary guide — someone we welcome into our kitchens. By taking readers into the author’s world, that personal presence can teach, warn, amuse, inspire — and sell cookbooks. This session will explore the cookbook author as friend and even literary character, from the carefully crafted personae behind 19th-century “bestsellers” to the multi-media culinary personalities who dominate today’s cookbook marketplace.
Chair: Judith Weinraub
Panelists: Madhur Jaffrey, Author and Actress; Peter Kaminsky, Author, Diner, Angler, Cook; Jane Lear, Freelance Writer, Editor and Editorial Consultant; Jane Ziegelman
Pt. 1
Pt. 2
“Cookbooks and the American Immigrant Experience”
Books rooted in the cooking of particular immigrant communities date back to the late 19th century. From the start, they have shed a unique light on the process of arrival, adjustment, assimilation (or resistance to assimilation), and relationship with the mainstream American cookbook world. Today more than ever, first- or second- generation immigrants (or their descendants) have the difficult and little-appreciated task of simultaneously negotiating “birthright” and American identities. What must an author bring to the job? What sort of decisions about degree of tradition or novelty are involved? What are the biggest pitfalls and rewards?
The way community cookbooks are created and accessed or used changes from century to century, yet this cookbook form, from its inception during the Civil War to the present, continues to both reflect and shape the communities in which it exists. Scholars (and others) exploring community cookbooks can discover within them the values, historical milieu, culinary and social customs affecting the cookbooks’ makers, as well as the diverse methods each cookbook’s contributors employ to reach out to a community (real, virtual, or imagined). Panelists’ topics will include: Discovering Community Cookbooks in the Library of Congress; Coast to Coast, Cover to Cover: Community Cookbooks as Historical Resources; and Creating Literary and Culinary Communities: The Cather Foundation Cookbook.
Chair: Anne Bower, Retired Assoc. Prof., English, Ohio State University and Author
Panelists:Alison Kelly, Reference Specialist, Library of Congress; Sandra Oliver, Food Historian and Author; Ann Romines, Professor of English, Director of Graduate Studies, George Washington University and Author
“Talking with Publishing Houses”
The publisher’s role is changing. Sitting at the top of a publishing house, there are many moving pieces, of which bringing a viable book to market is only one. And now, with all that’s happening in the world of digital/online, there’s even more that must be done to keep a publishing house on a path of growth and innovation that leads to success. Hear from a number of publishers living this day-to-day, who will share what they see as some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing publishing houses as a whole, as well as some ways that we can capitalize on these developments going forward.
No trade cookbook makes it into print without serious work on the part of an editor, usually one who specializes in culinary subjects. What makes a project appealing to an editor? What other considerations enter into the decision to accept or reject a proposal? What skills does an editor needs in order to get a satisfactory manuscript out of an author and shepherd it into print? What are the greatest rewards and frustrations of the job? A panel of distinguished cookbook editors discusses these and other questions.
Chair: Gary Allen, Food Writer & Adjunct Professor
Panelists: Elisabeth Dyssegaard; Judith Jones, Senior Editor and Vice President, Alfred A. Knopf; Rux Martin, Senior Executive Editor, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pt. 1
Pt. 2
“What is a Recipe?”
What is a recipe? Is it a memory, a story, a way of life? Is it a formula for self-improvement, a promise of good health, a lesson in culinary technique? Recipes often don’t live up to their expectation, but our hunger for them never seems wane. For this reason, recipes continue to be a source of commerce, profit, and endless fascination. This panel will explore recipes from the age of cuneiform tablets to our current (and pilfering) Internet era. We will especially look at the recipe as an information system that relies on shared assumptions between recipe writer and user–creating either disappointment or triumph.
Chair: Andy Coe
Panelists: Cathy Kaufman, Independent Scholar, NY; Laura Schenone, Author and Journalist; Barbara Wheaton, Independent Scholar, Lexington, MA
“Working with Bloggers”
As traditional media morphs online and digital content channels take on even greater importance, bloggers are becoming the new media outlets. Gatekeepers to a larger online community, tastemakers for what’s hot in food, and evangelists for trends, products, and more, food bloggers have firmly positioned themselves at the center of the cooking community. Many publishers have begun exploring what it means to work with bloggers, but how does this fit into a larger social media strategy, and how do publishers build real, meaningful relationships with bloggers who perhaps don’t always want to be pitched on the latest product? We’ll bring together a spirited panel of bloggers (and blog community organizers) who will share their insights on how they’ve worked with publishers and brands in the past, and what we can all do to improve relationships, provide value, and drive engagement both around our books and the bloggers we work with.
Chair: Casey Benedict, Owner Kitchen Witch Llc food marketing & pr, founder of Kitchen PLAY, co-founder of Eat Write Retreat
Michael Pollan has famously stated that “Eating is a political act.” This panel looks at the ways in which cookbooks in the US and abroad reflect social and political ideologies. We’ll consider numerous forms of cookbooks as propaganda, including historical and contemporary recipe collections that advocate prescriptive diets as a means of living virtuously; wartime texts that extol preserving as a patriotic act; southern cookbooks that promote White Supremacist ideology; and the phenomenon of contemporary cookbooks that propagandize professions by turning celebrities into chefs.
Chair: Darra Goldstein, Cookbook Author and Editor in Chief, Gastronomica
Panelists:Megan Elias, City University of New York; John Finn, Wesleyan University, CT; Krishnendu Ray, New York University
Historically, cookbooks have been written by men and women, for men or women. Just what form they took was typically determined by the gender of both the writer and the intended audience. Compare the kind of books written by Escoffier and Mrs. Beeton, or for that matter by chefs like Thomas Keller and contemporary lifestyle gurus like Martha Stewart. The sex of writer’s voice still matters.
Chair: Michael Krondl, Food Writer and Historian
Panelists: Charlotte Druckman, Author;Priscilla Ferguson, Department of Sociology, Columbia University; Barbara Haber, Research Librarian and Food Historian
“Reaching Consumers: How Author Tours, Events, and Online Outreach Sell Cookbooks“
As consumers move online to research, discuss and buy cookbooks, there’s major opportunities for publishers and authors who want to reach audiences and build relationships. But how can these constituents go “direct to consumer” and how do offline events complement the 24/7 outreach that can happen online? In this panel, we’ll hear from cookbook authors, booksellers and content producers who will explore the benefits of in-person events at bookstores and other venues, how those opportunities can be leveraged into productive partnerships with brick-and-mortar venues, and how that engagement can be translated online both during and after those events.
Chair: Celia Sack, Proprietor, Omnivore Books, San Francisco
Panelist: Alison Fryer, Owner, The Cookbook Store; Naomi McEneely;Jennifer Reese, Cookbook Author and Blogger, TipsyBaker.com; Julia M. Usher, Cookbook Author, Pastry Chef, Food Stylist
“20th Century American Cookbooks: Cornucopia or Gluttony”
More cookbooks were produced during the 20th century than in all of the history of cooking. What are we to think about this glut of writing about food? What can we learn from the best and the worst of these books? This panel will look at the history of production of cookbooks in the 20th century and their various uses for the home cook, the food professional, and the academic.
Chair: Marvin Taylor
Panelists: Jennifer Berg, Department, Food Studies, Nutrition, and Public Health, NYU; T. Susan Chang, Cookbook Reviewer, Boston Globe/NPR and author, A Spoonful of Promises; Barbara Fairchild, James Beard Award Winner and former editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit; Celia Sack, Proprietor, Omnivore Books, San Francisco; Christopher Steighner, Senior Editor, Rizzoli Publications;
“Are Cookbooks Scholarship? University Press Food Lists”
Several university presses have food lists, some of them focusing on food history, some on regional cuisine, including cookbooks. Sometimes books in this field are a bit removed from the scholarly works that form the backbone of a university press list. How do the presses, and their faculty approval boards, look at these lists? What is different about publishing a cookbook or a food history book with a university press? Our panel includes two editors at university presses with established food lists, and a series editor whose list is published at a university press.
Chair: Jennifer Crewe, Columbia University Press
Panelists:Elaine Maisner, University of North Carolina Press; Kate Marshall, University of California Press; Bruce Kraig, Heartland Foodways Series, University of Illinois Press
“Recipe Monetization”
The buzz word for online content is monetization (along with chunking, atomizing, community, and more). As future sales of print books remain uncertain, publishers will increasingly have to find new ways to diversify their revenue models, and find ways to entice consumers to pay for content that’s free elsewhere. Not only will this session look at the various opportunities for publishers, from content licensing, chunking, to in-book advertising, but it will also explore ways that publishers can use the media assets they create to enhance revenue outside of the book. As part of this session, we’ll also explore ways in which curated content differs from free online content and how we can convey that value to consumers for the purpose of monetization.
Chair: Rochelle Grayson, Bookriff
Panelists: Art Chang, CEO of Cookstr;Dave Feller, Founder & CEO, Yummly; Phil Michaelson, CEO of KeepRecipes.com, Social Cloud Cookbook; Kamran Mohsenin, Tastebook.com
Cinémonde #23 takes us to the sun-kissed cobblestones of the Trastevere quarter of Rome for a sneak preview of the warm and witty follow-up to the 2010 sleeper hit, MID-AUGUST LUNCH (screened at Cinémonde #9). This evening will be pure Italian, from menu to wine selection to this sparkling new film from writer/director/actor Gianni Di Gregorio. With THE SALT OF LIFE, Di Gregorio has created another bittersweet comedy, playing a middle-aged retiree trying as best he can to navigate his life between a spendthrift mother, a distant wife, a daughter with her live-in slacker boyfriend, a sexy neighbor and her big dog. All our hero is looking for is a little feminine company. But despite his valiant efforts, full of gentlemanly, gracious approaches to a variety of attractive ladies, Gianni’s love life takes some unexpected and hilarious twists and turns.
Reservations are open until noon on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Community Cookbooks: Historical, Literary, Digital
Anne Bower, Alison Kelly, Sandra Oliver, Ann Romines
The way community cookbooks are created and accessed or used changes from century to century, yet this cookbook form, from its inception during the Civil War to the present, continues to both reflect and shape the communities in which it exists. Scholars (and others) exploring community cookbooks can discover within them the values, historical milieu, culinary and social customs affecting the cookbooks’ makers, as well as the diverse methods each cookbook’s contributors employ to reach out to a community (real, virtual, or imagined). Panelists’ topics will include: Discovering Community Cookbooks in the Library of Congress; Coast to Coast, Cover to Cover: Community Cookbooks as Historical Resources; and Creating Literary and Culinary Communities: The Cather Foundation Cookbook.
What is a Recipe
Andy Coe, Cathy Kaufman, Laura Schenone, Barbara Wheaton
What is a recipe? Is it a memory, a story, a way of life? Is it a formula for self-improvement, a promise of good health, a lesson in culinary technique? Recipes often don’t live up to their expectation, but our hunger for them never seems wane. For this reason, recipes continue to be a source of commerce, profit, and endless fascination. This panel will explore recipes from the age of cuneiform tablets to our current (and pilfering) Internet era. We will especially look at the recipe as an information system that relies on shared assumptions between recipe writer and user–creating either disappointment or triumph.
Cookbooks from Mars, Cookbooks from Venus
Michael Krondl, Charlotte Druckman, Priscilla Ferguson, Barbara Haber
Historically, cookbooks have been written by men and women, for men or women. Just what form they took was typically determined by the gender of both the writer and the intended audience. Compare the kind of books written by Escoffier and Mrs. Beeton, or for that matter by chefs like Thomas Keller and contemporary lifestyle gurus like Martha Stewart. The sex of writer’s voice still matters.
Are Cookbooks Scholarship? University Press Food Lists
Jennifer Crewe, Elaine Maisner, Kate Marshall, Bruce Kraig
Several university presses have food lists, some of them focusing on food history, some on regional cuisine, including cookbooks. Sometimes books in this field are a bit removed from the scholarly works that form the backbone of a university press list. How do the presses, and their faculty approval boards, look at these lists? What is different about publishing a cookbook or a food history book with a university press? Our panel includes two editors at university presses with established food lists, and a series editor whose list is published at a university press.
The People behind the Pages: The Appeal of the Personality-Driven Cookbook
Judith Weinraub, Madhur Jaffrey, Peter Kaminsky, Jane Lear, Jane Ziegelman
Beyond instruction, some of our most beloved cookbooks provide companionship with a trusted culinary guide — someone we welcome into our kitchens. By taking readers into the author’s world, that personal presence can teach, warn, amuse, inspire — and sell cookbooks. This session will explore the cookbook author as friend and even literary character, from the carefully crafted personae behind 19th-century “bestsellers” to the multi-media culinary personalities who dominate today’s cookbook marketplace.
Talking with Publishing Houses
Dan Rosenberg, Libby Edelson, Chris Navratil, Judy Pray
The publisher’s role is changing. Sitting at the top of a publishing house, there are many moving pieces, of which bringing a viable book to market is only one. And now, with all that’s happening in the world of digital/online, there’s even more that must be done to keep a publishing house on a path of growth and innovation that leads to success. Hear from a number of publishers living this day-to-day, who will share what they see as some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing publishing houses as a whole, as well as some ways that we can capitalize on these developments going forward.
Working with Bloggers
Casey Benedict, Pam Anderson, Maggie Battista, Abby Dodge; David Leite
As traditional media morphs online and digital content channels take on even greater importance, bloggers are becoming the new media outlets. Gatekeepers to a larger online community, tastemakers for what’s hot in food, and evangelists for trends, products, and more, food bloggers have firmly positioned themselves at the center of the cooking community. Many publishers have begun exploring what it means to work with bloggers, but how does this fit into a larger social media strategy, and how do publishers build real, meaningful relationships with bloggers who perhaps don’t always want to be pitched on the latest product? We’ll bring together a spirited panel of bloggers (and blog community organizers) who will share their insights on how they’ve worked with publishers and brands in the past, and what we can all do to improve relationships, provide value, and drive engagement both around our books and the bloggers we work with.
Reaching Consumers: How Author Tours, Events, and Online Outreach Sell Cookbooks
Celia Sack, Alison Fryer, Naomi McEneely; Jennifer Reese, Julia M. Usher
As consumers move online to research, discuss and buy cookbooks, there’s major opportunities for publishers and authors who want to reach audiences and build relationships. But how can these constituents go “direct to consumer” and how do offline events complement the 24/7 outreach that can happen online? In this panel, we’ll hear from cookbook authors, booksellers and content producers who will explore the benefits of in-person events at bookstores and other venues, how those opportunities can be leveraged into productive partnerships with brick-and-mortar venues, and how that engagement can be translated online both during and after those events.
Recipe Monetization
Rochelle Grayson, Art Chang, Dave Feller, Yummly; Phil Michaelson, Kamran Mohsenin
The buzz word for online content is monetization (along with chunking, atomizing, community, and more). As future sales of print books remain uncertain, publishers will increasingly have to find new ways to diversify their revenue models, and find ways to entice consumers to pay for content that’s free elsewhere. Not only will this session look at the various opportunities for publishers, from content licensing, chunking, to in-book advertising, but it will also explore ways that publishers can use the media assets they create to enhance revenue outside of the book. As part of this session, we’ll also explore ways in which curated content differs from free online content and how we can convey that value to consumers for the purpose of monetization.
Behind the Numbers: Looking at Cookbook Data
Ted Hill and Kelly Gallagher
Ebook reading adoption is on the rise, and across many sections of the book industry, readers are putting down print books in favor of their digital counterparts. But what’s really going on out there? And how does that translate to ecookbook adoption over the next few years? In this presentation, Bowker will talk about what they see in their deep dive studies on reading habits, how reading is evolving between print and electronic and what that means for the world of cookbooks. They’ll also share details about a cookbook study that will answer questions on consumer demand for electronic products, pricing around specific platforms, and functionality needs.
Historical Cookbooks
Ken Albala, Cynthia Bertelsen, Nora Rubel, Francine Segan
How are historic cookbooks relevant for today? Can we cook the past and learn directly from the process or are such sources merely tools for dry historical research? Is there a deeper reason to attempt to understand the taste preferences of our forebears and is it even possible to truly comprehend what they liked to eat without living in the same time and place and without the same contextual setting and mental framework?
Tick-Tock: Cooking Against the Clock
Cathy Kaufman Linda Civitello, Steve Schmidt, Laura Shapiro
Efficiency in the kitchen has been a theme for cookbook and lifestyle writers since the eighteenth century, but minimizing time spent in cooking has become a key goal for many mid-late twentieth century cookbooks. What was once the rapid-fire “60 Minute Gourmet” now seems like scratch haute cuisine. Time-saving strategies run the gamut and tell us about our changing technologies and values.
A New York Food State of Mind in Food Writing and Cookbooks
Annie Hauck-Lawson, Jonathan Deutsch, Cindy R. Lobel, Peter Rose
New York’s history of extraordinary capitol in its land, skies and waters, its people, their communities and foodways provides a similarly rich context for expressions through food. Cookbooks and food writing—both contemporary and historic—will be discussed for the New York people- and placed-based pictures they paint through words and recipes.
Feast for the Eye? Food Styling, Photography, and Cookbook Design
John F. Carafoli, Roy Finamore, Melissa Hamilton, Christopher Hirsheimer, Maricel Presilla
The look and feel of cookbooks has changed dramatically over the centuries, from the authoritarian Black Letter of early English works to the gastro-pornography of lavishly illustrated modern cookbooks. This panel examines the ways in which cookbooks visually communicate our culinary concepts, from photography and art work to typography to layout and design. We will examine what has sold, what sells now, and what the future may hold.
Deanna Pucciarelli, Christina Ceisel, Linda Morgan, Bonnie Slotnick , F. Smith,
Advertising the virtues of food products took place mainly in newspapers until cooking related pamphlets, which later evolved into cookbooks, emerged in the late 1800s. American corporations began issuing small, product driven cookbooks targeted at literate middle class women with the intent of ingredient early adoption and brand loyalty. Early on the materials were distributed free of charge when purchased with corporate goods, or sometimes sold for a modest price. As the nation began to purchase rather than produce goods at the household level corporate cookbooks played an important role in creating consumer demand for new products. It is during this period that food-related, corporate America rather than family tradition began to shape a sphere of the American palate. Then as now, corporate cookbooks occupy a niche in the cooking instruction domain while commodifying the American diet.
Adam Salomone, Rick Joyce, Cheryl Kramer-Toto, Andrea Nisbet, Tanya Steel
As more content becomes readily available online, consumers are increasingly engaged by a mixed-media approach when learning about, and cooking, recipes. Video, step-by-step audio, timers, and serving size functionality are all elements that are at consumers fingertips when searching the web to answer “what’s for dinner?” As cookbook publishers continue to find ways to compete in this new arena, enhanced content has become the new norm. But how can publishers finance such video/audio projects? And how can they appropriately use them, not only within the e-book, but across the print book as well (and even as incorporated into online properties, to further drive revenue opportunity). This session will explore ways in which publishers can leverage their existing models, work with outside partners (and perhaps even their authors) to develop and implement enhanced content strategies across their content platforms, and also to discuss what shouldn’t be in an enhanced book.
Lisa Ekus, Lynn Andriani, Irena Chalmers, Suzanne Rafer, Dan Rosenberg
New trends in cooking are emerging all the time. How can publishers keep up in an ever-quickening cycle of information, where every new development seems like the “next hot thing?” In this session, we’ll talk with agents, editors, and content creators to figure out how they separate what’s popular now from what will sell in years to come, and we’ll take the lessons from what works in cookbooks and apply it to real world publishing programs.
Mark Rotella, Addie Broyles, Melissa Clark, Caroline Russock; Joe Yonan
Whether in traditional or digital forms, the cookbook review/author interview is one of the all important pieces to any cookbook publicity campaign. As the publishing/media landscape becomes evermore crowded, publishers have to become more focused in who they pitch and how. In many cases, the straight press release with an offer for an interview just isn’t enough and getting creative with both pitches and content can be the difference in getting a big publicity hit. On this panel, we’ll hear from a number of media representatives in about how they’ve seen publishers innovate, what they’re looking for in this new media landscape, and how their own content initiatives are changing (and how publishers can capitalize on that change).
Geoff Allen, Dave Feller, Jane Kelly, Will Schwalbe, Jonathan Vlock
Food startups abound as the barriers to entry in the food/tech space begin to fall. Not a day goes by that there doesn’t seem to be a new recipe website, and even beyond cooking in the kitchen, entrepreneurs are developing new ways to interact with food on the web. With this emerging marketplace comes an enormous need for content, especially curated content from cookbooks and publishers are uniquely poised to deliver value in this new space. And, there’s also the potential for disruption of current ways that publishers operate both online and off. With this session, we’ll be examining the current startup ecosystem within food, looking towards emerging companies (and some of the bigger players that are coming on the scene), exploring ways that publishers can benefit both through new revenue streams and marketing potential, and identifying potential sticking points for content creators as more of these companies come on the scene.
