Cookbooks featuring healthy, light, and quick meals were the strongest sellers in August. Here’s a look into the top two titles last month. (Click here for a full list of August’s bestselling cookbooks.)
#1 100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love by Lisa Leake (William Morrow & Company)
After seeing author Michael Pollan on Oprah in early 2010 speaking about where our food comes from, Lisa Leake, who admits to never having read a nutrition label beforehand, began to see food in a new light. Later that year, in an effort to share her newfound knowledge, Leake began writing a blog, 100 Days of Real Food.
As she began blogging, Leake took a 100-day pledge to eat only real food—no white flour, sugar, fast food, deep-fried foods, or anything in a package with more than 5 ingredients, and only local meat. She just wanted to see if her and her family could do it, and she was hoping she could encourage her readers to try it as well, so they could support each other. The experiment changed Leake’s life and her posts about the transformative power of real foods have found many fans. In fact, she now averages three million page views a month, and is a recently published author. Her book 100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love (William Morrow & Company), was released in August and has landed at #1 on our cookbook bestsellers list. It has sold more than 22,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen BookScan.
The book is broken up into two parts: The Plan and The Recipes. The Plan includes an introduction to Real Food, shopping tips, advice on how to make dietary changes, as well as food budget tips and meal plans. The 100 recipes include those for all three meals, as well as snacks and homemade staples.
Leake’s editor Cassie Jones, v-p and editorial director at William Morrow, said while she isn’t surprised by the book’s success, she is certainly “beyond thrilled” that it has taken off so well. “She's speaking to the broad range of consumers who want to follow real-food principles while cooking food their families love and not breaking the bank,” said Jones. “The book has been highly anticipated by Lisa's readers, who showed up in droves online and in person to get copies.”
#2 Weight Watchers Cook It Fast: 250 Recipes in 15, 20, 30 Minutes by the Editors at Weight Watchers (St. Martins Griffin)
The power of quick, light meals can’t be denied, and the latest cookbook from the editors at Weight Watchers is the proof in the pudding. Released August 5, Weight Watchers Cook It Fast: 250 Recipes in 15, 20, 30 Minutes is sitting at #2 on our cookbook bestsellers list. It currently has 75,000 copies in print.
The idea for the book came about when executive editor Elizabeth Beier and her colleagues saw the great success Weight Watchers’ previous book, One-Pot Cookbook. “We’ve published a number of Weight Watchers cookbooks,” said Beier. “So when considering what to do next, we thought there must be as many customers who want ‘fast and delicious’ as ‘slow and comforting.’”
A number of Beier’s colleagues use Weight Watchers, and she found that they were a good barometer of what readers may want. “In conversations around the office, the recipes that were mentioned most often as favorites or most delicious were those that were fastest and simplest to make,” she said.
The book contains 250 recipes, all of which can be made in 30 minutes or less. The recipes feature fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and seafood, and whole grains. There are recipes for every meal, as well as snacks and desserts.
In order to get the word out about the book, Weight Watchers featured it in the WW.com e-newsletter, which goes out to their more than seven million subscribers. Weight Watchers ambassadors did appearances on local TV shows around the country to promote the book, including Pittsburgh, Pa., Hartford, Conn., Richmond, Va., and Fort Myers, Fla.
Nationally, the book was featured on the QVC segment of In the Kitchen on July 23, and on Oprah.com on July 10. It will also soon be featured in The National Examiner and Closer Weekly magazine.
