Guest blog: Social media and the cookbook
We keep hearing that old-fashioned book tours are a thing of the past, but when I watch Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois in action, I don鈥檛 feel quite as bad about that.
Technically, the cookbook authors are best known for hybridizing two popular ideas: Making quick batches of 鈥渘o-knead鈥� bread, and making bread dough that would keep for days in the fridge. But ever since their first book was released last year, 鈥淎rtisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day,鈥� I鈥檝e registered most strongly how they stay in constant contact with readers.
On their blog, they post recipes and videos, and answer reader questions nonstop. Why did the dough turn out too wet in the sandwich bread, inquired one fan who was stuck on a recipe. Can duck eggs be substituted for chicken eggs, asked another. Can a particular recipe be doubled, asked a third, and on and on. The same is true on Twitter, where the pair, using separate accounts, engage in friendly daily conversation, promote their recipes, and answer questions.
It can鈥檛 compare to the old-fashioned world of sitting in the same room as a visting author, hearing them talk, asking questions. But in that world, at best, we get a moment to ask a single question or present a book to be signed. Electronic back-and-forths, done in this way, net a larger amount of direct contact, and even long-lasting relationships.
For the authors,聽鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have a TV show, this is democracy in the world of marketing,鈥� said Hertzberg. 鈥淭he beauty of Twitter or Facebook is, the only people who get your message are people who have publicly said they want it. It鈥檚 the opposite of spam and junk mail.鈥�
For Francois, it鈥檚 also become a form of socializing. 鈥淚 work alone. I鈥檓 in the house by myself. It鈥檚 fantastic to have this community of other cooks and food enthusiasts that you鈥檙e in touch with all the time. I find it really inspiring, I get a lot of ideas and a lot of back and forth with other chefs.鈥�
It鈥檚 such a part of what they do, in fact, that they included a Twitter address in their new book, 鈥淗ealthy Bread In Five Minutes A Day.鈥� When I spoke with them on the phone last week 鈥� ironically, as they were embarking on an old-fashioned book tour 鈥� I told them they made quite a leap of faith that the social tool and the address they printed will be intact for years to come.
鈥淚 think it was a calculated risk,鈥� Hertzberg said.
And if not, said Francois, 鈥渋t鈥檒l be a stamp of the time we wrote the book.鈥�
Rebekah Denn writes at .
