8 Truths Rachel Ray Hopes You Never Find Out About Writing a Cookbook - Day 3

Before I get into Truth 3, I need to clear something up – a confession if you will. Last night my wife asked me what I was working on for my blog. When I said that I was working on an 8-part mini-series entitled, 8 Truths Rachel Ray Hopes You Never Find Out About Writing a Cookbook, she stared at me for what seemed like an eternity; then, with just a hint of irritation in her voice, she asked me, “How the heck do you know what Rachel Ray wants or doesn’t want people to know about writing a cookbook?”

So, here’s my confession … I do not know what Rachel Ray wants people to know about writing a cookbook. Never did. Probably never will. What I do know is that I’m impressed with the successful empire she’s created – all of her cookbooks, her television show, and her magazine - who wouldn’t be impressed?

I know, I know, there are more than a couple of people who dislike her for one reason or another. Some even go so far as to hate her. That’s their choice. Now, I have no aspirations of having my own cooking show or even a cooking magazine, all I want to do is write a cookbook and maintain this blog. And, I do believe that she can be a great example to anyone that aspires to author a cookbook.

With that said, any reference made in relation to Rachel Ray is only for the purpose of providing a metaphoric framework to dispel some commonly held myths about writing a cookbook. So, moving on …

Truth 3: Many people falsely believe that you that you need to have hundreds of recipes that you’ve personally prepared and tested to write a cookbook. Let me ask you a question, do you really believe that Paula Deen personally tried the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of recipes in all of the cookbooks she’s either written or co-written? Well, that may be a bad example; Paula is a prolific writer and cook;-)

For the most part though, as long as a recipe fits into the theme of your cookbook and you can prove that it works, you can think about using it. A word of caution here, you cannot take someone else’s recipe and claim it as your own. That would be plagiarism. And it’s against the law. Remember the Jessica Seinfeld Cookbook Controversy? Need I say more?

Anyway, you don’t need to have personally prepared and tested every recipe that you include in your cookbook. In a later post I will share with you several places where you can find recipes that you can use in your cookbook without fear of being sued for plagiarism.

I’m taking the weekend off, so I’ll see you back here Monday for Truth 4.

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