Molly and Kate speak with Sarah Becan about her illustrator origin story. She explains her early love for sequential storytelling, the book that inspired her to create her own work and what drew her to food as a topic. She shares her love for the medium, how she got into the cookbook sphere by first partnering with a local restaurant and why she eventually decided to work solo. An avid lover and participant in the comic community, Sarah takes us step by step through her creative process; selecting the right recipes to illustrate and all of the considerations involved, the decision to drawing digitally or by hand along with all of the specs, editing, timeline, tools and workflow that happen behind the scenes. She discusses the pros and cons of writing solo or with a partner, why she developed her own typeface and leaves us with some advice for aspiring illustrators and comic artists.

Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Sara Becan

• Website
• I Think You're Saucesome
• Instagram

Toronto Comic Art Festival

Studio Ghibli Food

A Brief History of Graphic Cookbooks, by Charlotte Druckman in the Washington Post

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Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show

• The Adventures of Fat Rice by Abraham Conlon and Adrienne Lo
• Let's Make Ramen! by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan
• Let's Make Dumplings! by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan
• Let's Make Bread! by Ken Forkish and Sarah Becan
• Let's Make Cocktails! by Sarah Becan
• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
• Dirt Candy by Amanda Cohen
• Cook Korean! by Robin Ha
• The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman
• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Molly and Kate go behind the scenes of a partnership publishing house as they speak about the Cookbook Collective with its founder, Angela Engel, and its editorial director, Amy Treadwell. Angela shares a bit of her background and her impetus for creating a more collaborative publishing model before walking us through some industry terms as she banishes stigma and describes the differences in her approach. Amy tells us how she got involved with the collective, what she tackles on the editorial side and how this changes her working relationship with authors. They both speak about the partnership and custom avenues, how they differ from traditional publishing and give us a broad overview of the process of expenses, distribution, submissions, acquisitions, design and drive before leaving us with a thought on the special, unique story that a physical cookbook can communicate.

Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

The Collective Book Studio

Episode 02: Do You Need a Cookbook Agent?

Episode 148: Heartland Masala with Jyoti Mukharji & Auyon Mukharji

Episode 56: Hybrid Publishing with Vasudha Viswanath

Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show

• Heartland Masala, by Joyti and Auyon Muhkarji
• Vegetarian Reset, by Vasudha Viswanath
• 52 Shabbats, by Faith Kramer
• 20 Amici, 40 Ricette, by John Bersani
• Modern Hippie, by Lauren Thomas
• Nosh, by Micah Siva
• Aebleskiver, by Pim Pauline Overgaard

Kate and Molly speak with author Alana Kysar and her editor Kelly Snowden about their professional relationship after working on two cookbooks together. Alana shares why she initially didn't think she had a second book in her and what she hopes this new vegetable focused book adds to the Hawaiian food conversation. Kelly talks about first connecting with Alana's proposal, the elements she brought to the project and the timeline of the process. Both of them discuss the lessons learned from book one and how they helped in the sequel's creation, how they worked together and some best practices for a strong, continuing working relationship. Alana talks about the recipe selection and testing, the design and structural decisions and the approachability of her photography while Kelly explains her thoughts on option clauses, comp titles and what she sees as her mission while working on a book.

Hosts: Kate Leahy + Molly Stevens + Kristin Donnelly + Andrea Nguyen

Editor: Abby Cerquitella

Mentions

Alana Kysar

• Website
• Instagram

Ten Speed Press

4 Color Books

Visit the Everything Cookbooks Bookshop to purchase a copy of the books mentioned in the show

• Aloha Veggies, by Alana Kysar
• Aloha Kitchen, by Alana Kysar
• Kimi's Kitchen, by Kimi Werner
• Whole Food Cooking Every Day, by Amy Chaplin