how to start a food blog

Writing Doctor

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, May 26, 2015 Permalink 0

Writing Doctor: This Pen is for Hire

How’s your prose?

Let me find what ails you, and set you to “writes”. Whether through modest adjustments or major overhauls, let’s get your prose in good health!

You are a food blogger, but your dream is to become a food writer. Writing is a craft, and like all crafts, it takes time and patience to learn. Think of it as a house. You start with a solid foundation, with a frame and a floor, but you have to finish the building so you can house your family.

Working with a writing coach is like adding a roof, insulation and siding to suit the climate you live in. The climate can be compared to the market or the type of writing you aim to do. You have to hone your writing to that market and meet the expectations of publishers and of your audience. Writing free of spelling and grammatical errors is not enough.

Food Blogging 101: 10 Steps for Starting a Blog

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, May 25, 2015 Permalink 0

: Foxtongue / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

How to Start a Food Blog: 10 Tips from a Veteran Blogger

by Jonell Galloway

Here are 10 easy steps to follow to start a food (or other) blog. Food blogging can be easy if you start out right.

Keep it simple at every step, because it won’t end up being simple no matter how hard you try to make it so.
Decide on your niche and your subject. Your subject should be specific and something you know about and feel comfortable writing about. If you’ve worked at a French bakery, perhaps you know a lot about baking French pastries. For example, I studied French cuisine, so I mainly write about French cuisine. It comes easy to me; it’s within my range of knowledge. If you want your readers to be passionate, you have to be passionate yourself. If you want them to build confidence in you, you have to write with authority.
Who is your audience? Are there enough people interested in your subject to justify all the hard work? Do you have an idea of who these people might be? Go on Amazon and see how many books are published on your subject. Do a few Internet searches to see if anyone else is covering the same topic.
Define a budget. Can you afford a developer? a webmaster? I recommend both, but if you’re computer literate, it’s possible to build a website on your own.
Choose a platform. The platform you choose has a lot to do with how computer literate you are. This is not a judgment. It’s just a factor that can determine how much unnecessary frustration you risk experiencing while running your blog. If you have limited experience using computers and you want a simple, carefree site, Tumblr, Typepad and Blogger are good choices. Another advantage is that they are free, but they have their limitations. If you know Microsoft Word, know how to use a stylesheet, and feel comfortable with computers, WordPress offers more flexibility in terms of layout and functionality. It is also free. None of these platforms requires knowledge of computer coding. Wix and Medium are also free, but have limitations. None of these platforms requires knowledge of code, with the exception of a few of the cutting-edge WordPress themes. (If you don’t know code, this is a question you should ask when choosing a theme.)
If you have a hefty budget, you can make life easier by hiring a website developer and a webmaster, so you wouldn’t need the free platforms. A developer can custom build a site in code to your specifications, giving you the possibility of a beautiful, unique look, but making it necessary to have a webmaster or the developer make changes and additions, which can be costly. Think this over before starting. It will not be a one-time expense; it will be an on-going one.
If you’re building a website on a free platform, choose a theme. A theme is what you will use as the basic layout or presentation of your site (a paid web developer would do all this in code). It is what you use when you don’t have a budget for a coded website and you plan to use the free platforms. Free or low-budget themes are available for all the free platforms listed above, and allow you to browse examples before choosing. Wordpress offers free themes here.
Choose a host. The “host” is the place where your website resides. They will offer various packages at various prices. The host provides a server on which to store your blog files, as well as other necessary technical services including technical support (ask for details about this before choosing: how much time, availability, etc.), email, domain name registration, FTP access, and various other services and tools. They will offer different bandwidths (250 GB is usually the least) and disk space (5 GB is usually a minimum). How much you need depends on how many images and articles you post, of course, but a basic package usually suffices at the outset. You can always upgrade later. Ask what their average uptime and downtime are; this is what determines part of the reliability of your website. Ask how often your blog will be backed up on their servers.
Choose a name and register it as a domain name (your host may offer this service). Otherwise, you can do this directly with the free online platforms or with an online domain registration company. This reserves the name for you and you only and prevents anyone else from using it.
Take a few hours to familiarize yourself with the technical aspects of creating blog posts. If you’re using WordPress, do some research on the plugins you can use to enhance site capability. The Beginner’s Guide for WordPress is an excellent resource.

WHY START A FOOD OR AUTHOR BLOG?

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, May 5, 2015 Permalink 3

BLOGGING 101: WHY START A FOOD OR AUTHOR BLOG?

by Jonell Galloway

This is the second article in a series about How to Start a Food or Author Blog

There are thousands of reasons to start a blog. For authors, they serve as a complement to their main activity of writing. For recipe developers, they can be a way of sharing their recipes and of forming a community with people, and eventually leading to a book or career change. A food blogger is merely someone with a food blog, no matter the motivation.

Making money should not be a main priority, as direct revenue is rarely a viable strategy given the millions of blogs and websites out there. We shouldn’t have any illusions about that. But blogs can lead to other activities that will make you money. Your blog also allows you to establish yourself in your field of expertise. You may get consulting work, offers to write for websites, or book deals. You may be asked to develop or test recipes, or get invited to talk at conferences or workshops about your specialty or about writing.

Blogging is a format to communicate your expertise, or your story (and often a blend of both). It can start from purely a hobbyist intention, or from a professional one.

Writing Classes

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, August 1, 2014 Permalink 0

Food Writing Classes

Classes Offered

The 16 classes below cover a lot of territory. Taught in one-hour units, they speed your path to mastering the most important and challenging aspects of food writing today. Matters of style, content, and being current. More intro coming…

Basics 101

Even though people say you’re a great storyteller, do you feel you let them down when you write rather than talk? It’s no secret — writing confidently and often is key to writing well. Using the grammar and punctuation that editors require for their publications is a supreme confidence builder. This is a “best foot forward” class for writers-in-training who want to arrive on the scene with all the specs.

Beginning Food Writer

Already writing about food, and searching for your truest direction? The scope of food writing is far bigger than it was a decade ago, and you may find what you’re looking for by considering how that expansion applies to you. This course shows you a systematic method for transitioning from general writing to food writing, and teaches you how to find both your voice and the best form for manifesting your gifts. Take this course and follow it up with “Essentials of Food Writing.”

Essentials of Food Writing

Have you decided that food writing is definitely for you? Worthy not only of all your skills, but of your learning some new ones too? This class is for you if you are a committed writer who wants to adapt your voice and style to food writing. There is a strong emphasis her on mapping out a body of work. Not quite ready? Take “Beginning Food Writer” first.

Editing and Revising Your Own Manuscript

As writers, we are often so close to our text that we can no longer see how to perfect it. This class focuses on achieving the crucial editorial distance that allows you to create your best work. You will learn to use technical tools to help you work faster, and to ensure that you send a perfect manuscript to potential editors and publishers. Recommended for writers who also take “Beginning Food Writer” and/or “Essentials of Food Writing.”

Word Processing 101

Word processing skills are essential for almost any profession, and in particular for writers. This class teaches all the basic skills you’ll require in the food writing profession. Recommended to writers who opt for “Editing and Revising Your Own Manuscript.”

For food writing students and professional food writers alike, a food blog and online presence are difficult to make headway without. Both will help you build a readership and a platform, which is something publishers and editors take very seriously. It ensures them that you already have a following. This class will guide you through the entire process, from choosing a platform, setting up your blog, maintaining it, and getting the word out to the public through social media and effective search engine optimization.

Social Media without Blogging

Some writers don’t want the mammoth technical difficulties that food blogging entails. This class teaches you how to build a social media presence and a brand, without keeping up a blog. You will be surprised to see yourself commanding an increasingly large following. If you know for a certainty that you don’t want to blog, take this course to find out how not to miss out on that account.

For Experienced Writers — Crafting an Online Presence

Research Methods for Non-academics

How to Conduct an Excellent Interview

How to Write About Food for Kids

When Food Writing Overlaps with Ag Writing

Problems in Wine Writing and How to Avoid Them

Bioscience for Food Writers

Culinary Literacy for Food Writers

Sustainability for Food Writers

Ebook Overview

Now that indie publishing is an unlimited new world, you may not be looking for an agent or a publisher. You may be looking for a profitable niche, or a route to paper publishing that involves building an online platform first. You hold more of the fate of your work in your hands than ever before, and you may want to find out whether the driver’s seat, in e-publishing, is where you want to be. Join this class for an overview of up-to-the-minute realities that will be decisive for you.

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The Rambling Epicure is a food writing community full of resources. Many are free. Join us, and explore them. Through our classes, programs, and one-on-one work with clients, we are a full-service network of support for food writers. Would you like to talk with us about what we could do for you? Say hi, with a brief intro, using the form above, and email us LINK an sample of your work so that we can give you our best estimate.

And, for a good time in good company, join our food writing forum on Facebook at The Rambling Epicure, Mastering the Art of Food Writing. You will make some excellent connections there.