“That Process of Identifying the Story”
A conversation with Layla Schlack on editing, cookbook trends, and more.
It was a thrill to bring on Layla Schlack—writer, longtime editor, and now senior editor at Clarkson Potter taking on cookbooks—about her long, varied career; what she has always looked for in stories; and how she’s applying her magazine experience and MFA in fiction to her work now. She’s also the co-author with Cha McCoy of the forthcoming book Wine for the People.
After the paywall below, you’ll find the audio, video, and the full transcript.
Layla: The current landscape, I really feel like I'm just dipping my toes in. I know so much more about how things are selling than I did, obviously, before I started this job. I have access to those numbers now, where you don't, unless you're in the industry. I think the biggest thing that I'm seeing and that I'm learning is that these food media darling cookbooks don't necessarily translate into high sales. I think there's a world of people consuming cooking content online who don't care what Bon App says or what Eater says, and there's also a world of people in food media who aren't really checking for what a mom in Ohio wants to make her family for dinner.
So that's been my strongest observation of the industry as a whole, is that there is this real disconnect between media and what cookbooks are selling.
