Along with the great advice given by Pamela White, we thought that it would be interesting to learn more about marketing cookbooks. We decided upon Denise Hamilton because of her successful marketing abilities and the fact that she was able to sell an enormous amount of her cookbook, with barely any profits coming from a bookstore. Denise Hamilton is the cookbook author of Fit to Cook and author of Recipe For success: How I sold over 250,000 Copies of My Cookbook.

What are your suggestions towards other cookbook authors to help them get into this industry?

Write a cookbook that is as different from others that are writing on the same subject as possible (e.g., healthy eating, vegetable, desserts....). Make your book different from any similar cookbook and make yours better!!

How long did it take for you to break into this industry? What would you say was and is the hardest thing about breaking into the cookbook industry (and specifically, what was hard for you?)

It took two and a half years from concept to published book: research, research, research; recipe development; book design (always hire a professional designer; printing. Understand that if you are self-publishing a cookbook or any other book, you are going beyond author to publisher. In other words, you are starting a business, so you must have a business plan including a marketing plan and a budget.

The hardest thing in breaking into the cookbook industry is learning how the publishing industry works. There are few places to go for help, so that is why my cookbook spun off into a company that teaches other self-publishers about the publishing industry.

What does it take to have a successful cookbook? Have you been professionally trained in either food or cookbook writing or were you accomplishing a life-long dream?

A successful cookbook must have a unique concept, color photos, accurate recipes and it must look very professional. Then it must be constantly promoted - if no one knows about it, no one will buy it.

I have no formal cooking training but I have always been a good cook and I always was interested in healthy eating, becoming more interested in how poor eating habits lead to illness during my 10 years working as a nurse in a cancer center. Neither do I have business training, but I did much research. As one university professor commented while interviewing me, "Denise, you have acquired a 'street M.B.A.' through your own research, which is why you are successful in business.

How would you and do you market a cookbook to seem new?

To market a cookbook and make it seem new, try to tie it in with current trends - for instance, olive oil is now extremely popular so you could write a cookbook that focuses on olive oil, or you could feature a cookbook about dessert trends, or you could write recipes that use farmers' market ingredients, etc. Then, use your knowledge to launch a publicity campaign that attracts the media, informing them about how your cookbook is essential for cooks who are interested in your subject matter.

Is there anything in particular a cookbook author should do to market a holiday cookbook?

I would advise against a holiday cookbook unless it is part of a series that you have already published and you can sell it to a loyal group of buyers. Seasonal books are expensive to produce and their shelf life is very, very limited making it almost impossible to be profitable.

What was your trick to selling over a quarter of a million books without bringing it to bookstores?

In order to sell over 250,000 copies of "Fit to Cook", we consistently did publicity in all areas of the media. Also, we sold foreign rights, used the book as fundraisers, sold to catalogs, and especially sold to companies that could use the book as a promotional item.

My best advice is to become as educated as possible about publishing, learn what makes a book attractive to buyers, have a plan to sell the book and promote, promote, promote...

For more information about Denise and her work, check out her Web site: http://www.publishacookbook.com.

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