This recipe writer makes $15,000 per recipe

February 1, 2024·Darcie

Caroline Chambers may not be a well-known chef or author like Yotam Ottolenghi or Ina Garten, but she is one successful food writer. She has one of the top ranked food newsletters on Substack, with over 131,000 subscribers. She's written a cookbook, has a blog and podcast, and develops recipes for food and wine brands. And, as Dianne Jacobs explains in her interview with the busy mom of three, Caroline makes over $15,000 per recipe she publishes on her newsletters (the link provides free access to this article until February 6).

During the pandemic, Caroline started sharing her recipes on Instagram and her success on that platform led her to develop a Substack newsletter, What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking, which resonated with many home cooks burned out on making meal after meal. Caroline told Dianne that building up her fan base through free recipes on Instagram was what allowed her to transition to a subscription model with her Substack newsletter. At the time of her interview, Caroline had over 120,000 subscribers with about 18,000 of them being paid subscribers at $50 per year (she started at $35 per year when she launched in 2020, "the same price as a cookbook that would gather dust on the shelves," as she explained to Dianne.)

Caroline shares what sets her recipes apart from others, and describes what her typical work week looks like. As you might expect from someone who is making a food newsletter her full time time, she works with a small team - a brand manager and assistant who publishes all of her posts, plus an editor and occasionally a food photographer. Caroline also told Dianne that she is working on a second cookbook, due out this August from Union Square Publishing.

9 comments

KatieK1February 2, 2024

But having your book indexed on EYB is the biggest honor of all.

ginger2212February 2, 2024

Caroline's recipes are AMAZING! I subscribe to her substack and I would say I cook from her arsenal of recipes almost exclusively now. Her approach to cooking is modern and realistic but she delivers on flavor! She also has made me a more empowered cook with techniques and substitutions. As a mother of 3 - Caroline recognizes that it's important to feed your family healthful meals full of nutrients and vegetables while also making her recipes easy and approachable. If you aren't a subscriber yet - you must!

pomonaFebruary 3, 2024

A lot of the chefs, cookbook writers and bakers I follow on instagram are moving to this model. I'm not yet convinced it would work for me as a a consumer. I like cookbooks, I love their design and I like reading them. I don't cook enough from online recipes to justify following all those producers even at what does seem to be a reasonable price. Maths says that Caroline Chambers is producing 60 recipes a year - a small cookbook. ((18,000x50)/15,000) For $50 Australian dollars I can buy a beautiful cookbook with 80 - 100 recipes that can never be deleted from the internet. Will the substack cook write me two recipes a week for a year? Will I get the beautiful photography and illustration? On the other hand, my cookbooks take up a fair bit of room, I expect Eat Your Books can index a substack as well as a paper book, so I wouldn't be left combing through fifty newsletters to find a recipe. It's a model that definitely offers food for thought.

gamulhollandFebruary 3, 2024

Maybe this makes me old (Gen X) but I am definitely not a subscriptions person. EYB is very much an exception for me. Plus, I’d much rather have a beautiful book to read through— and cook through: my cookbooks don’t “gather dust on the shelves.” :) I’ll pass.

inflyturFebruary 3, 2024

I can imagine subscribing to an author/source only if it were as tailored to my needs as Caroline’s is to people feeding young families.
Where is the author focused on the solo cook who is somewhat ambitious but has limited interest in leftovers?

RinshinFebruary 3, 2024

Not interested as there are too many great free youtube channels for cooking by chefs. For the last six months, I am cooking half of new cooking I do now from youtube channels. They are done by Japanese chefs and free to watch. Some are in English too.

IvyManningFebruary 3, 2024

I really am irritated by the phrase, "the same price as a cookbook that would gather dust on the shelves." If she believes that cookbooks are over, why is she bothering to write a second cookbook? Also, the claim that she makes $15000 per recipe is false. Unless her assistants and photographer work for free, she's not actually making what she claims.

KarenGladFebruary 4, 2024

I believe in being paid for your work. But, when I buy a cookbook I don’t have to buy it again in a year, and again the year after that…and again and again. Other than EYB the only other paid subscription I have is NYT (volume variety and scope of recipe contributors justifies it, for now). Doesn’t take many for those reasonable annual subscription fees to add up beyond my budget.

averythingcooksFebruary 4, 2024

I am a confirmed book lover and the only subscription I pay for is EYB...which sends me constantly into my beloved books :)

And I also chuckled at the "cookbook that would gather dust on the shelves" followed by "working on second cookbook" comments. The obvious dichotomy of the 2 statements is one thing BUT I also guarantee you that the only things that DON'T gather dust in my house are my cookbooks!