Episode 419: Being a Cookbook Author & Publisher: Justin Ellen of @EverythingJustBaked

Welcome back to the Cookbook Love Podcast! This week I sit down with Justin Ellen, the baker and content creator behind Everything Just Baked, whose fun, chaotic, personality-filled approach to baking has captured the attention of millions of people across social media. We talk all about his beautiful new cookbook, Better Than Grandma's: Comfort Desserts We Grew Up Loving, his path from posting cake photos on Instagram at sixteen to building a following in the millions, and the leap from social media into an independently published book, including the vulnerability of showing up on camera, the real math behind traditional advances versus going independent, and how he decided which recipes made the cut.

In this episode, Justin will show you:

• Why the fear of showing up online never fully disappears, even after you've "made it," so that you can stop waiting for the fear to go away before you start

• What a traditional publishing advance would actually cost Justin in time and money, and how he weighed his own publishing options 

• How to decide which of your most-loved recipes or content belongs in a book versus staying just for your audience

• What it took to independently publish a book that looks and feels as polished as one from a traditional publisher, so that going independent doesn't mean settling for less

Justin's journey proves your path to build your platform or publish your cookbook doesn't have to look like everyone else's journey. You truly can choose your own adventure.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Everything Just Baked

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