The Cookbook Lab

I started my food blog over a decade ago as a hobby in college (aging myself here), but I saw the potential of turning it into something bigger. What I needed was a sense of purpose, direction, and a way to give me authority in the crowded food blogging space.

A cookbook seemed like a great way to accomplish that, but figuring out where to even BEGIN was completely overwhelming. I wasn't sure what I even wanted to write about and thought getting a book deal was the only way I could ever publish.

So many of us dream of writing a cookbook one day. As food writers, this feels like the thing we’re working towards. But are we actually doing anything to make this happen for ourselves?

When my cookbook topic finally hit me, I didn’t want to wait for a publishing house to deem the idea worthy. I wanted to make it happen now. So, I started learning about how to get a book deal, and that’s when I discovered self-publishing.

I'm so glad I did, because I realized traditional publishing isn't always the best path!

The deals being offered to cookbook authors now are the worst they’ve ever been (small advances, no royalties, really tight timelines).

Many of the costs of creating the book come out of your advance (recipe development, recipe testing, photography, indexing).

If you want to go on a book tour, that’s on your own dime, too. In fact, most publishing houses will rely on you to handle the marketing of the book entirely.

You lose creative control with a publishing house. You wanted that photo for the cover? Too bad. That color scheme? Not your choice. You won't even have a final say on the recipes included or how they are photographed. The book is only partially yours.

Distribution of your cookbook can just stop if your publisher decides it's not worth it to run anymore, which means that book you worked so hard on essentially no longer exists.

Enter your bullet points here..

While my two self-published cookbooks have added another consistent stream of revenue to my business, it’s certainly not enough to support my family. Money should not be the main reason to self-publish your book, but the opportunities that come along with it are priceless.

Since self-publishing, I've done dozens of live TV appearances, podcast interviews, judged cooking contests, spoken at conferences, booked larger brand deals, and so much more. A year after self-publishing, I signed on with an ad network for my blog, and two years later I was able to leave my day job to take my business full-time.

I’m the blogger behind the food blog A Duck’s Oven and cookbook author of Everyday Sous Vide: it's all French to me and Sous Vide Meal Prep.

In 2021, I quit my job as a marketing director to pursue food blogging and freelancing full-time, and I’ve never been happier.

Outside of all that, I’m from Portland, Oregon and am still here. As a stereotypical Pacific Northwesterner, I love camping, craft beer, great wine, a good steak, and a fresh-caught piece of salmon. My husband and I are expecting our first baby in summer 2023!

"I have been cooking and teaching professionally for 20 years and I have always dreamed of publishing my own cookbook. But I knew nothing about self-publishing a cookbook. Bringing my knowledge out of the kitchen seemed almost impossible. Where to begin? I had no idea.

Thankfully I found The Cookbook Lab. Chelsea lays everything out in step by step detail. Starting with choosing a topic for your book all the way through to marketing and selling your book, she covers it all. It’s an amazing resource complete with personal support.

If you are ready to take the plunge and publish your own book this program is perfect and there is nothing else like it out there."

I recently embarked on my journey as a full time food blogger and publishing a cookbook was part of my long term plans. A Cookbook Lab by Chelsea Cole is a course I was drawn to the first time I heard about it. After listening to Chelsea speak at a conference I was sold! I purchased her course and it's one of the best decisions I've made! She is clearly passionate about sharing her knowledge and skills with others and brings that energy to her live zoom classes. Not only is the step by step process of self publishing laid out in an organized, methodical manner during these sessions, but additional support is available through the cookbook lab community group. I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in self publishing a cookbook!"

Why should I self-publish instead of getting a traditional cookbook deal?
Why should I self-publish instead of getting a traditional cookbook deal?
So, you want to write a cookbook! I’m pretty confident you could get yourself a book deal if you wanted. But here’s why I opted to self-publish. When pitching publishers, the process of going from idea to deal can take years, between writing a proposal, pitching, waiting, negotiating, and more. I wanted my book done now. The deals being offered to cookbook authors are worse than ever (small advances, sometimes no royalties, tight timelines). Many costs of creating the book come out of your advance (recipe development, recipe testing, photography, indexing). If you want to go on a book tour, that's on your own dime, too. You lose creative control. I had a vision for my book and didn’t want someone else telling me what to do. (I might have a problem with authority??? )
Do I have to know how to use the Adobe suite/InDesign
Being somewhat familiar with the Adobe suite makes things easier, but we start from step one and teach you how to use InDesign (an Adobe program) to create your cookbook. InDesign is somewhat easier to learn than other Adobe programs like Illustrator or Photoshop because it only has one function (formatting long documents and posters) and doesn't create graphics or edit photos. I have seen many people with little or no design experience get comfortable with the program in a short amount of time.

I’m sure you’re wondering about Canva: we don’t recommend it for many reasons, but you can use it if you want. We talk about this in greater detail inside the Cookbook Lab!
What if I don’t have a cookbook topic in mind yet?
I’ve got you! We help you come up with ideas, make sure people are actually searching for cookbooks on that topic, and test those ideas with your audience.
What are the benefits of writing a cookbook?
Writing a cookbook opened so many doors for me! Since self publishing, I've had the opportunity to do live cooking demos at events, multiple TV appearances, podcast interviews, a magazine feature, LEAVE MY FULL TIME JOB and I've even been presented with cookbook offers from publishers (to which I said no), all because of my books.
If I work hard, how quickly can I reasonably expect to finish my cookbook?
I finished my books in 6 months with a fair amount of distraction. If you really wanted to push it, you could probably do it in as short as 3-4 months. It's okay if it takes longer, too! You'll have lifetime access to the Cookbook Lab. You can work at your own pace and go as slow or fast as you want.
What if my photography isn’t great?
We can help with that, too! We’ve got tons of resources to help you better your photography, including guest expert trainings from Joanie Simon and Sam Adler, and we’ll walk you through creating a cohesive look for your cookbook.
What skills do I need to have to write a cookbook?
All of the skills you’ve built food blogging over the years have prepared you for this day! Some organizational and time management skills are helpful, as well as photography and basic design. But even if you don’t have the latter two, we are here to help!
How much will writing a cookbook cost me?
The final costs are dependent on what you choose to hire out vs. do yourself, but I estimate you’ll spend between $1200 and $3500, including groceries. I have a free guide about pricing and cover this in depth in the course along with the real numbers of what I spent publishing my cookbooks.
What kind of support will I get from you?
You’ll be invited to a private Slack channel that I'm active in daily. My favorite support is our themed office hours where I'll answer any questions you have and you can hear questions from others. You’ll also receive accountability emails to help keep you on track and remind you of resources available inside the course.
What if I don’t have a big social media following?
That’s okay! I only had about 3000 Instagram followers when I launched my first book (and frankly, I still don't have many). As long as there’s demand for your book, which we talk about, you can sell it.

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