Author Chefs with Skin in the Game. Cookbook Signals New Business Model.
You would think cookbooks by superstar chefs would be a slam dunk, but what if the recipes intimidate even the biggest pretender home chefs? I have seen it happen before. A couple years ago Canadian hotshot chef, Susur Lee, published a cookbook with Ten Speed that was a few levels above beginner. The recipes might as well have been written in Aramaic for all the use average people were able to make of them. Now the creative team at Alinea — a Chicago resto — have issued the Alinea cookbook. It is not for beginners either. And this time Ten Speed didn’t pay a cent for it upfront.
The project is interesting for a couple reasons.
- First there is the price. “Alinea is a big fat book weighing more than 6 1/2 pounds (3 kilos), exquisitely photographed, designed and packaged.” It costs a mere $31.50 eventhough they could have charged more.
- The restaurateurs did everything themselves — writing, editing, photographs, and production. Ten Speed is simply distributing. No royalties and no risk on the publisher side. If it explodes this Christmas, the authors will reap all the rewards.
- The website is a true companion to the book — called Alinea Mosiac — it promises to be “an interactive multimedia web site – containing bonus recipes,
demonstration videos, supplementary images, and a behind the scene perspective.” The teaser video looks promising. - Lastly, the DIY approach with a distribution deal at a major house will likely get attention — if it works. When that happens maybe it will shake off the stigma of self-publishing in the foodie community and beyond? Not to mention it will validate Robert Miller’s project at Harpercollins.
It looks gorgeous. Best of luck to them.
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