‘Having a big following doesn’t mean you’re a great recipe writer’: What makes a hit cookbook in 2024?
It’s essentially a tiny hole on a golf course and you hit 1,000 balls hoping that one will go in.” Kitty Coles, the recipe writer and food stylist, is describing to me the landscape of modern cookbook publishing, a field dominated by buzzwords such as “30-minute”, “gluten-free” and “air-frying”. Much like in the world of fiction books, a few bestsellers carry the entire industry. “If you’re a small-time author, it’s such a big competition,” she continues. “You have to stick with your guns and go with it, though, rather than think about what everyone else will like.”
But what makes a cookbook sell in 2024? Is it TV fame? A ? The words “Pinch of Nom” slapped on it? It is, after all, impossible to discuss today’s bestselling cookbooks without mentioning the Pinch of Nom empire. Created by partners Kate Allinson and Kay sold 154,000 copies in its first week.
