As I learned when I published Satisfaction Guaranteed last year, pre-orders have become everything in the publishing business. They decide whether a book will make it onto the best-seller list, and play a role in the kind of support your book will receive.
I wanted to give a boost to some friends and favorite authors who have books coming out this fall. You may not order all these titles, but you’ll definitely be reading about them in coming months.
Mary Makes It Easy, by Mary Berry (Oct. 10 in England; Jan. 2 in the U.S.)
Dame Mary Berry, who we all love, will be back with 120 recipes. They are tied to a similarly titled BBC series, which I hope we’ll get to see in the U.S., or at least will be able to find on BritBox. These promise to be easy recipes including one-pot meals, pantry specials, five-ingredient bakes and lots of desserts.
I’m always amazed at Dame Mary’s work ethic. She’s 88, she’s still writing, still filming TV programs, and still showing up at places like Wimbledon, where she sat behind Queen Camilla a few weeks ago.
London Shopfronts, by Joel Holland (Oct. 5)
Joel illustrated the cover of Satisfaction Guaranteed, and I’ve become a huge fan of his work. His previous book was New York Storefronts, published last fall. Like my book, Joel’s was a pandemic project. He set out to capture the storefronts of his favorite places in New York City, fearful they might be lost due to the pandemic.
Now, Joel has crossed the pond to London. This collection of more than two hundred shopfronts includes bookshops, umbrella stores, tailors, hatters, and pubs, but also trendy restaurants, bars, and boutiques. If you love London, or even if you’ve never been there, you can armchair travel with Joel’s distinctive illustrations.
Seafood Simple, by Eric Ripert (Oct. 3)
I’ve eaten at Le Bernadin a couple of times (it sits across the street from the apartment building where the New York Times houses visiting correspondents). The food has always been delicious and eye pleasing, as befits a perennial Michelin three-star restaurant.
Now chef Eric Ripert is publishing a cookbook that promises recipes that home cooks can accomplish. There are 85 different dishes, including Tuna Carpaccio, Crispy Fish Tacos, Shrimp Tempura, Miso Cod, and Spaghetti Vongole. It sounds like a nice companion to his book, Vegetable Simple, which came out in 2021.
Made in Taiwan, by Clarissa Wei (Sept. 19)
For generations, Taiwanese cuisine has been miscategorized under the broad umbrella term of Chinese food, or else ignored. In her first cookbook, Clarissa Wei makes the case that food from Taiwan (a nation of 23 million) deserved its own spotlight.
Made in Taiwan has more than 100 recipes and techniques like how to make stinky tofu from scratch, and broth tips from an award-winning beef noodle soup master.