Cookbooks are deceptively complex. Recipes require precision—measurements, temperatures, timing—but the headnotes need warmth. A regional cuisine cookbook added another layer: ingredients unfamiliar to international readers, techniques that assume knowledge the audience lacks.
The author sent drafts in waves. Some chapters arrived polished; others were rough notes with photographs attached. Video links supplemented written instructions. The editorial challenge wasn't just copy, it was helping a book find its shape.
We worked through multiple passes. First, structural consistency: ensuring every recipe followed the same format. Then language: standardising terminology, flagging where explanations were needed. Finally, the line work: making the prose match the author's voice when speaking about food he'd known his whole life.
The book was published eighteen months after those first rough files arrived. Not because the process was slow, but because the author kept adding recipes, notes, tips and tricks. Good editing makes room for that.