You’re probably wondering what writing, publishing, and cake have in common. It’s a good question and one we would have been asking a few days ago. That was until Jaidie (who is extremely witty) compared a component of writing and publishing to a cake…and then we kind of kept running with the concept until…what do you know, we landed here with this post!
Now, the connection may not seem that apparent at the moment, in fact, you might not see it at all, and that is fine. We’re going to break it down for you and by the end of this post, you will be an expert on baking a cake…we mean, writing and publishing.
Or you’ll at least know the ins and outs as they pertain to cake.
Here’s a list of the topics we will cover:
- Gathering the ingredients (Brainstorming)
- Mixing it together (the first draft)
- Pouring the Cake (editing)
- Baking the cake (formatting)
- Cooling the Cake (Think street team, ARCs, etc)
- Decorating the Cake (Pre-orders, marketing, etc)
- The Final Touch (Release Day!)
- Eating the Cake (Reviews & Marketing)
Now that we have successfully prepped the kitchen *ahem* blog, let us get started!
Gathering the ingredients (Brainstorming)
This is what you do before pen meets paper, or fingers meet keys. This is the behind the scenes work of coming up with a story. Of making sure all the pieces, flavors, etc, fit together. Just like you wouldn’t mix some flavors together, there are some genres best not mixed as well.
Or sometimes you get too many genres, or flavors, going in a recipe. Vanilla and coconut might work together, but if you add in lemon, rum, and coffee, we might be a little overwhelmed.
Choose your flavors (aka genres) wisely. All the pieces of the story need to be chosen with the utmost care. The wrong theme, backstory, or setting for the plot can be the difference between a beautiful cake or a flop.
Mixing it together (the first draft)
Once all the components of a story are figured out (or you decide to do it the old fashion way like granny and wing it) then you are ready for step 2…
Drafting.
Mixing everything together to begin weaving the story. Just like a cake, you will mix everything together in groups of dry and wet ingredients and you will alternate, a story is the same way, but we call those action and resting scenes. You will incorporate both into your book.
You can also think of this as first, second, and third acts. Or however many acts you need to break it up into. There is no right way to write a novel, but there are guidelines to good story structure that can be helpful to follow. You can learn these by watching good stories, reading them, or reading books on writing techniques. The choice is up to you.
Drafting is usually the longest part of the process…it takes time, but that’s okay. Let the story come as it will and don’t rush things. Rushing will make the cake fall. *wink*
Bonus: Taste Testing (Alpha & Beta reading)
Now, for those of you who can’t wait until the cake is baked to try it…taste testing is an option. Alpha reading is done while you are still writing the book, generally speaking. It is a chapter by chapter read over.
Beta reading is what you do usually while or after self-edits. We recommend after self-edits, or at least when you are mostly to the end of them for your own sanity. That way you don’t get too many chefs in the kitchen.
Pouring the Cake (editing)
Our worst hated part of cake baking is pouring the cake. Trying to get the right amount of batter in each pan, trying not to make a mess, making sure it looks pretty before putting into that finishing stage of baking. Yep, we dislike it about as much as we do editing.
You have different kinds of edits:
- Self edits
- Developmental edits
- Copy/Line Edits
- Proofreading
Now, you don’t need every kind of edit, but we do highly recommend doing some intense self-edits. Comb the story, write down key details, and then comb it again and make sure they all line up. All your t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted.
The rest of the editing, is up to you. Kayti usually pays to have copy/line edits. As sister we are great at giving each other developmental edits and we can do our own proofreading pretty well once we’ve had a break from the story. So the only thing we generally choose to outsource is copy/line edits.
Again, that choice is up to you. Know your strong suits and weak points and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Baking the cake (formatting)
This is Kayti’s favorite part of the cake and writing process! She loves watching everything come together. One might be thinking that formatting should be decorating the cake.
We beg to differ.
Formatting is the final step of the editing and drafting phases. Once you send your book to the formatter, you are done. No more changes. No more edits. (We mean, some formatters will work with you to correct typos, but no major story changes.)
This is like a cake. Once the cake is in the oven and baking, you can’t go back and add vanilla. It signifies that you are done with that phase of the work and you are now moving on to something new.
Keep this in mind when sending books to formatters. This is your final step. The completed, edited, polished manuscript is what goes to the formatter.
Cooling the Cake (Think street team, ARCs, etc)
Now that the cake is out of the oven, the book is back from the formatter. It is time to get your street team together and your ARC team. Some people use their street team as their ARC team, we do both because sometimes someone can help share the word about your book but don’t have time to read it.
Or maybe they are friends and they don’t like the genre, but they want to support you as a person. We just find it easier to do both, and we get more interest in ARCs when we’re not requiring them to share a ton about the book.
Decorating the Cake (Pre-orders, marketing, etc)
This is where you make it look good. We need to tell people about the book, you’ve probably already when telling people about your book and all, but this is where things get real. We start advertising the pre-orders, the pre-order goodies, and convincing people that pre-ordering would be a great idea!
In order to do that, we have to make the book look good. So be sure to take time to put your marketing graphics, reels, captions, posts, etc, together. We recommend not using Gen AI for any of this. People are very touchy about it and are more likely to not buy your book because of it.
We make my own graphics, Jaidie does our character art, and our captions…well, we do those too. Even when we really don’t want too. XD
The Final Touch (Release Day!)
The unveiling of the story! We lift the cover, we share the beauty, and we hope and pray that all our friends, family, and readers love it! This is honestly just the best day for us! Knowing that our story is now out in the world! The work isn’t over, but we have done something that few people do and put our book into the hands of readers!
Eating the Cake (Reviews & Marketing)
The final touch, as it turns out, isn’t the end. You will still need to convince people to eat your cake, aka read your book. Marketing never stops. It’s your job to give people a taste of your book and try to convince them to come get the whole slice from you.
Use the reviews, pieces of the book, reader reactions, comp titles, and anything else you can think of to let people know why this book might be for them. Don’t give up. Give it your best and trust God with the rest!
Conclusion:
As you can see, baking and writing have a lot in common. More than one would think upon first inspection. We hope this post was somewhat helpful to you, at least giving you a vague timeline of what this should look like from start to finish.
If you have any questions, thoughts, or anything you’d add, let us know in the comments! Also, what’s your favorite kind of cake?
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