Unlocking Success: The Impact of Marketing on Mom's Bestselling Cookbook/Memoir
A real-life case study...let's discuss!
Well, hello there, my wonderful writer friends. I’ve been slightly busier than usual doing all things book marketing and socials, not only for my fantastic clients but also for my 83-year-old mother, Linda, who is now an Amazon bestseller on several lists with her debut release, In the Kitchen with Linda: Loving Memories, Favorite Recipes, and Handy Hints.
How did we go from me being the only writer in a family of five (extended family of about twelve) to my mom selling more books than me? Of course, I’m thrilled that my mom is kicking my ass because A) She’s my mom, and B) It’s not a competition.
But she IS winning.
How did we go from a seedling idea in 2023 to a fully-fledged, documented bestseller on Amazon? I’ll give you some history…
The Seedling
My mom is an excellent home cook. I’ve had meals at her table that outshine expensive restaurants. Mom says it’s because her added ingredient is love. I think it’s the garlic she sneaks in, so my Dad doesn’t know it’s there, but whatever. She’s 83 - she can believe what she wants.
So I, in all my daughterly wisdom, thought, hey, what about a cookbook/memoir? She can pull together her favorite recipes from a long-ago family along with handy hints and tips. My parents are Jewish, so a number of meals are old-country favorites, adapted and updated through generations.
I didn’t want anything to be lost—the memories, stories, and recipes themselves.
Also, I’m a terrible cook—it’s so stressful, gah—so for my own selfish reasons, I wanted to have a reference of all her favorite dishes with all the hints and tips she adds. I figure you all can benefit, too (and clearly, Amazon agrees)!
Food and Memories
Rewind a few years when, as a busy working mom, I nudged Mom into the digital age with texting to keep our family chats lively. Despite her initial protests—preferring old-school calls and her trusty contact book—she embraced it, showing how simple creating content on her phone could be.
Fast-forward, she's drafted the whole book on her iPhone Notes app!
She didn’t know she could share the Note with me, so that was a cute revelation. Once she had a full draft, I hired Dr. Alexandria Szeman to help with editing.
Cooking The Book
Mom kept adding her changes and notes in her Notes app, so it took a little cajoling to stop doing that, as that’s not how editors work (typically a Word doc, Times New Roman, 12-point).
So I’d go over to their house, a few miles away (which is great—for 25+ years, we didn’t live close by), and I’d review all the changes in the Word doc with her and add the edits in track changes.
She didn’t like that at all.
We ultimately had a somewhat final draft (after at least 20-25 versions, bless Dr. A), so I started her social media accounts —Twitter(X), Facebook Author Page, and Instagram—earlier this year. I built her accounts slowly using snippets, visuals, and videos from her yummy recipes.
Please follow her if interested. It’s all food and anything pink.
Twitter(X) https://x.com/KitchenWLinda
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lindacarsmanmemoircookbook/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lindacarsmanmemoircookbook
Unless you're a vegan, you will love her spareribs. Best I’ve ever had.
I shared her book idea with a website company I’ve collaborated with over the last decade or so, and they agreed to make her a one-page website at a very reasonable rate.
It’s so cute! https://inthekitchenwithlindacookbook.com/
So we had the editor, a website company, and marketing (🙋🏼♀️). The only decision left was to query, write proposals, and submit them to an agent or publisher. She nixed that completely: “Sweetie, I’m not getting any younger. Let’s self-publish and get it out there.” That was the plan.
A Publisher is Interested!
The most thrilling part of this project was when I approached MunnAvenuePress.com, owned by bestselling mystery author
) to publish her book. He said he’d be honored to do so. She couldn’t believe it.It’s a charming book; her voice is authentic, funny, and straightforward. I believe it.
The back and forth with final editing, formatting, proofreading, etc., took a bit longer. Soup to nuts, the entire process took from April 2023 to Amazon publication a few weeks ago.
And now it’s here! In ebook, print, and hardcover. Still #1 in Grandparenting! And in the three weeks since release, she’s sold well over 100 books, mostly print.
Basic Marketing Plan - What We’re Doing Now
For specifics of pre-marketing, take a look at this article below:
5 Unique Book Marketing Ideas For Writers At All Stages
In the realm of book marketing, sometimes lesser-known strategies can turn out to be gold mines. What’s your achievable goal? What’s your dream goal? Know that first. BadRedhead Media, LLC’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
We don’t have a huge marketing budget for Mom, but we are doing the following:
Running ads on Facebook/Instagram for about $3/day = $100/month.
I’ve contacted the Jewish Book Council and submitted her book for review (the book is not kosher, so we’ll see…)
Mom contacted the local newspaper food writer, who said he would love to review the book, which is thrilling. She can’t believe it. He’ll feature it in a holiday cooking special in the next few months.
We’re holding a real-life open house/book launch at my sister's house, complete with swag such as bookmarks, mugs, magnets, and coasters. Look how darling:
Reviewing book awards and contests to submit the book to.
Kindle Countdown deal on 9/28, where readers can purchase the ebook at a reduced cost. Along with that, we’ve booked a BargainBooksy feature. Learn more about promo-bundling here:
There’s obviously so much more that goes into a book, but so many wonderful folks have asked about the process, and I wanted to share how it all came together with lots of cooks in the kitchen and, of course, a lot of love. This journey has been a blend of many hands, making light (and delicious) work.
Big thanks to everyone involved! We especially thank Authorbytes, Dr. A, Munn Avenue Press, and anyone else who encouraged and supported us. If you love food, you’ll love the book!
(Will there be another book in the series? I don’t know, but I’ve got her thinking…)
Featured Authors
I want to share several excellent writers I’ve had the pleasure of reading and interacting with:
Stephen Deck, author of Land of the Story Tellers, a short story/poetry collection. Pick up a copy here. Or enter his Goodreads giveaway.
Tahir Rahman, M.D., author of Extreme Overvalued Beliefs: Clinical and Forensic Psychiatric Dimensions, is excellent and could save lives.
Molly Fumia, author of the outstanding The Crush of Wine and War, which has one of the best taglines I’ve ever read:
Celia LaVon Belt, with My ValHalla: Angels Are No Strangers To Chains, with an incredible, must-read story of survival.
Vincent Defilippo, Ph.D., author of many books in different genres. I so enjoyed The Leftovers Club (Book One-Jojo and Two-Bee) that I gifted them to my mom, an avid reader who loved them, too.
Upcoming Spaces:
Join me with Vennie Kocsis every Thursday at 1 pm pt/4 pm et for #TheWriteLab, where we discuss all things writing and books! Click here now to set a reminder and add to your calendar. These audio ‘spaces’ take place on Twitter(X).
Thank you for reading. Let me know if you have any comments or ideas about where to submit Mom’s book. Please consider subscribing and sharing this newsletter.
Thank you, and happy writing!
What a joy it was to work on this book with Linda and with you, Rachel. And it contains so many recipes that my great-grandmother Stella (née Lili) used to make and which were lost when she suddenly died of a heart attack when I was 13. I'm so grateful for all the recipes in Linda's cookbook. I felt like I was given the gift of some of my own heritage.
Great post and a terrific book. We were very proud to participate and help make it happen!