I wanted to use this space to offer what advice and resources I can to those who are interested in working in my industry, whether it’s becoming a freelance food writer or publishing a cookbook. I remember being a college kid wanting to work in food media but feeling like the path was super unclear, so I thought I’d put some of my thoughts down here, to arm others with information I did not have. I also get a lot of emails asking for advice, and I want to help, even if I can’t respond to each message individually!
Keep in mind that everyone’s path to this industry is different. Mine was not linear, and it was certainly made possible by a lot of privilege (no debt, an Ivy League degree, the ability to be on my parents’ insurance in my early 20s). And of course my advice, I’m sure, is not perfect or for everyone, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.
Also, this post was inspired by a similar one done by my friend Max Falkowitz — his site has lots of other great freelance resources. Thanks for the inspiration, Max!
Getting into food writing
My interest in writing about food began in earnest in college, when I started a food column for the newspaper. It was about how to take the food in the dining halls and transform it into different kinds of meals. I felt really excited about how food could be a lens to talk about a number of other cultural issues, from politics to religion to music. I got a job working for a restaurant in town, which I found to be really helpful in beginning to understand the interconnected ecosystem of issues (labor, climate, immigration) that is running a restaurant.
I did not have any connections when I entered the food industry. Two things that I wish I had done (or I wish I had done more of):
Consume as much food content as you can — whether it’s in major newspapers, glossy food magazines, indie publications, podcasts, television shows, whatever. Read and watch and listen to whatever you can. It’ll help you get familiar with the landscape, and also which places you like, and potentially want to work for.
Get a Twitter and Instagram account — You don’t have to, but it tends to be very helpful to have an Instagram/Twitter account where you follow editors/publications/writers you like, and, if you want, post your own content. Don’t feel an obsessive need to be posting all the time, or to only be posting these flawless food photos. Do what feels right! And I would highly recommend putting time limits on social media usage on your phone.
After college, through a cold email, I got an internship at a restaurant public relations firm. I knew that I did not want to do PR; but I wanted a foot in the door, and this was a helpful one. I learned about all the major food publications, familiarized myself with the names of editors, and started to understand what kinds of stories people were interested in reading. It gave me a great grasp of the food landscape. Eventually, through another cold email, I got a job at Lucky Peach. This was not an editorial job. I was working in customer service — as in, I was the person who helped you when you need to change your subscription address, or if you didn’t receive a new issue. That said, even working on the business side, I gained some helpful insight into how a magazine runs, and what a great food story looked like. When Lucky Peach launched its web site, I was even able to contribute a few stories. Also, while customer service may not seem like a super glamorous job, I will say that talking to people on the phone and over email constantly trained me really well in talking to and building trust with strangers, qualities that are very helpful in journalism.
Sending cold emails
When I was looking for jobs, I probably sent upwards of 100 cold emails to various editors and publications, and I heard back from very few of them. I now realize that writing a good introductory email is an extremely valuable skill, and a lot of those early emails I wrote were pretty generic and not at all clear in terms of what I was asking. A great email can help to start a relationship and get your foot in the door when you don’t otherwise have a personal connection with someone. Because I would be nowhere without the cold emails I sent, here are some tips to that end that I have gleaned:
Research the person you are emailing. Make sure that they are, indeed, the right person to answer your question, and get familiar with their work. Don’t email someone telling them you love their work at the Wall Street Journal when they haven’t worked there for several years. And better yet, include a detail in the email about a particular story of this person’s that you loved, or why you decided to email them specifically. (P.S., if you’re wondering how to find emails for folks, many can be found from a quick Google search or on their web site/Twitter/Instagram.)
Introduce yourself, and your work. Who are you? What is it that you do? If you’ve got clips, they’re worth quickly including here.
Be very clear with your ask (and that ask should not be “Can I pick your brain?”). Are you trying to get a job? Are you looking to chat? Be as specific as you can.
If you are looking to chat, be understanding of people’s time and bandwidth. People are busy, and editors/writers probably get a lot of emails asking for their brains to be picked. Do you have one question that could be easily answered over email? If so, just ask that question. Do you want to pitch a story idea? Just pitch the idea — no need to set up a coffee meeting unless the editor initiates it.
Be succinct. Introductory emails shouldn’t be super long. They should get your introduction and ask across, but they shouldn’t be novels.
Follow up (within reason). Again, people are busy, and they often miss emails from people whose names they don’t recognize. If you don’t hear back in 10-14 days, it’s appropriate to send a follow up email. Following up is a delicate balance! Don’t follow up 2 days after your initial email. But I find it’s often helpful to remind a busy editor that you’re still really eager and interested in hearing from them.
Tips for freelancing
After working at Lucky Peach for three years, I left to become a freelance writer. I would not recommend going freelance right out of the gate, as a job gives you both stability and an immediate network. Working at Lucky Peach, even on the business side, I was able to meet a lot of people in the industry. I had this very dorky goal that at every event I attended, I wanted to meet at least one person, and then follow up with that person via email so that we had each other’s info. But that dorky goal was surprisingly helpful when I was on my own and needed to start making some money. I could send pitches to editors at places like Eater, Saveur, Serious Eats, and Bon Appetit, and know that I would likely at least get a response since my name was familiar to them. There were plenty of cases, though, where I didn’t know the editor. My strategy for those cold emails was really similar to the above advice (introduce yourself, include clips of your previous work, pitch your story idea, express openness to taking on other assignments). But here are a few other tips for being a freelance writer:
Send good pitches. What makes a good pitch? Introduce yourself (include clips, if you have them), start the pitch with a sample headline (it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be grabby; i.e., Meet the Couple Keeping XYZ Food Tradition Alive in Texas), explain the angle of your story (i.e., not just, I want to write about Korean food in Dallas, or this one winemaker in Baja — what’s your unique angle on it?), how you would go about reporting it (who are your sources?), and why you should be the one to write it. A short paragraph is a great length.
Follow up. Similar to my advice above, editors are constantly getting pitches. If you don’t hear after 2 weeks or so, it’s totally fine to follow up asking for a yes or no — especially because if it’s a no, you’ll want to move on and pitch the story to another publication.
File your story on time and with no grammatical/spelling errors. Being a reliable freelancer is 75 percent of the battle. Even if the story needs some structural work, turning in clean copy on time will go a long way in building a solid relationship with an editor and establishing yourself as a reliable freelancer to turn to for future assignments.
Ask for more money. There are some places that pay freelancers a standard rate (at the New York Times, for example, it’s $1/word), but I have experienced that in most cases, it never hurts to ask for more. What I’ve found to be pretty typical is 50 cents to 75 cents a word for online publications, and 1-2 dollars a word for print magazines.
Keep regular hours. As a freelancer, your time is your money, and so the instinct can often be to work all the time. But it’s important to set boundaries, which means deciding your hours and turning off work when your day is done. This has been so vital for my mental health.
Create a web site. This is easy to do, and usually pretty inexpensive. I made mine on Squarespace. A web site is a great place to introduce yourself and include some of your favorite clips. I’ve gotten a good number of assignments based on editors telling me that they looked at my web site and felt like my style of writing would be a good fit for them.
About health insurance. Obamacare is not perfect, but I was able to find a pretty decent plan on there for $300/month. Expensive, but well worth it. Other freelancer friends of mine have had success with Oscar.
Publishing a cookbook
My friend Andrea Nguyen wrote an incredible guide to publishing your own cookbook that I often reference when giving people advice on that front. I wish I had read this before publishing my cookbook! All of her tips are spot on.
Helpful resources
Writers of Color: This is an initiative started by Durga Chew-Bose, Jazmine Hughes, Buster Bylander, and Vijith Assar to spread the word about job/project opportunities to writers of color. A fantastic Twitter account to follow — I especially love that posts almost always include rates/salaries.
Equity at the Table: A database for food professionals who identify as POC and LGBTQ started by Julia Turshen. I have the found EATT’s regular newsletter to be a very helpful spot for job postings.
Food Writers of the Sub Binder: A helpful Facebook group where I often see calls for pitches and other good resources for freelancing, writing, editing, and more.
Journalists of Color Slack channel: Another great place for connecting with other writers of color both within and outside of your chosen field. It also has a lot of great smaller Slack channels devoted specifically to, say, South Asian journalists, or issues like negotiating rates.
Some other good practices:
Call out great work when you see it. Whenever I read an article I love, I try to send the writer a note, or post about it on Twitter. Being kind and supportive of others goes a long way!
Once you have established a relationship with a publication, help others get a foot in the door. Publications tend to overly rely on a small stable of trusted writers. While it is not your job as a freelancer to expand publications’ pools of writers, I believe it’s important to use the influence you have to help other writers — especially writers of color — by making an introduction or recommending them to your editor as a writer for a piece.
Be generous with sharing knowledge and sources. I know that not everyone is going to agree with me on this, but I feel like more transparency between journalists is a good thing. If a writer asks me for a contact for a chef that I wrote about previously, I will always pass that information along. It’s a bit different if you have spent a long time cultivating a relationship with a specific person to discuss a sensitive topic. But if I can save someone a Google search, I’ll gladly pass along a contact. Same goes for tips on pitching certain publications, or topics that a certain editor tends to really love.
Understand that not every piece you write is going to be a big, weighty story. I covered my rent in 2016 almost entirely in listicles that paid $300 each. These were not groundbreaking pieces. But they didn’t take me long to write, and they paid the bills. I also had the power, in writing these listicles, to ensure I was featuring a diverse lineup of people and places, not just the white chefs I was getting constantly pitched by PR representatives. In general, you do want to make sure that the stories you take on are ones that you feel good about writing and in line with your values and interests; but you don’t have to be so precious. Those steady, easy gigs are what will allow you to take on the more ambitious, long-lead work. And having a steady stream of income is important!