Are cookbooks dead in a world of free food stuff online?

I bought a new cookbook a couple of weeks ago, Relish, a collection of condiment recipes by Wanaka-based foodwriter Rowan Bishop. It is a classy "made-in-New Zealand" package and a perfect time of the year to enjoy Bishop's flavours and food stories, and turn eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, chillis and stonefruit into jars of goodness.

I'm a big cookbook collector but Relish, published by Bateman Books, is the first one I've bought in a year or more. Two excellent food apps - The Guardian's Feast and Cooking by the New York Times - have taken up the slack for new ideas recently.

As well, I like to dip in online to RecipeTin Eats posts by Australian food blogger and best-selling cookbook author Nagi Maehashi, plus those of Kiwi foodwriters Nici Wickes and Polly Markus, and Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver in the UK. To name some Instagram favourites.

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But with the new purchase it seemed timely to check on health of the country's cookbook publishing and sales. Are cookbooks dead, as per some stray anecdotes heard recently, or are they still doing ok at about $45-$65 a pop in a more complex market awash with free food stuff online?

Of course you could say that the free stuff is not necessarily a bad thing for printed books and maybe the two mediums go hand in hand because some food-writers now start online and build a strong social media audience before picking up book deals and sales. Nagi Maehashi being a case in point with her award-winning blockbuster titles Dinner and Tonight on the back of her online success.

Coobook sales figures locally aren't flash, though: Nielsen BookScan NZ statistics paint a clear picture of declining sales in the food and drink category, says Nevena Nikolic, the company's New Zealand territory manager.

She says Nielsen looks at consumer purchases, not what is published or distributed to book stores. For New Zealand-published food and drink titles, Nielsen data records a peak at 2014 when this category was 26 percent of the value of New Zealand-published sales. It slipped in 2020 to 15.3 percent and to 10.6 percent in 2024, well under half the 2014 figure.

Nielsen's figures for all food and drink book sales, including international publications by star food-writers Jamie Oliver, Yottam Ottolenghi and others are a perhaps little more robust but have still halved since 2014 when they were 10 percent, dropping to 5.3 percent last year.

While Nielsen does not have a complete record of book sales in New Zealand, Nikolic says they have sufficient data to follow trends accurately.

So far, so worrying.

But two local publishers, Michelle Hurley from Allen & Unwin NZ, and Louise Russell, from Batman Books, have a different perspective and each remains committed to cookbook publishing.

While Russell, publisher at Bateman, agrees that the number of titles published and quantities sold are both in decline, she says her company has actually produced more cookbooks in the past five years than it ever has before. "This probably partly reflects my personal interest as a publisher, I started with Bateman just over five years ago."

Russell says the decline in numbers is likely due to a partial shift in readers and book buyers towards digital content. Also the rising cost pressures of producing cookbooks, when print-runs are generally reduced, which makes it harder for the numbers work. She suspects that in the past it would have been easier for New Zealand publishers to sell cookbook rights to overseas interests but nowadays there is a preference by publishers worldwide for local authors with a significant social media following.

Although she's not at liberty to reveal Bateman sales numbers, she says the books they're publishing tend to be in the 6-10,000 print range, including Christall Lowe's Kai and Kai Feast, and A Quiet Kitchen by Nici Wickes.

For 2025, they've just released Bishop's Relish and Pâtisserie Made Simple: The Art of Petits Gâteaux, by Maxine Scheckter. Later in the year they'll have a debut title, My Weekend Table, by Gretchen Lowe and a second from Wendy Morgan, Comfort Cooking.

Russell says when deciding which cookbooks to publish, the company carefully evaluates the talent and credentials of the writer, and the originality and relevance of the concept.

"It's not enough to be a collection of yummy recipes - the concept of the book needs to be strong and the personality of the writer and their food journey needs to shine through strongly. The recipes also need to be accessible to a general audience, easy to understand, and inspiring."

Russell says it's important to control work-in-progress costs more carefully, especially photography. If an author can also take and style their own photographs to a high standard, that's a huge drawcard.

She says there is still a big market of people who are more willing to trust a physical collection of recipes than a random online source.

"We're all short on time and want to feel confident the recipe is going to work. Also, plenty of people enjoy the aesthetics of cookbooks - flicking through a cookbook with its beautiful photography and design can still be a much-preferred way of inspiring people to get into the kitchen, rather than online inspiration."

Allen & Unwin NZ publishing director Hurley likewise backs the charm of a printed cookbook.

"There is always going to be a place for cookbooks, they are embedded in our lives, they are a different form of story-telling. They remain profitable, and anyone who tells you that cookbooks are dead is wrong. You just have to be careful about how you choose and when you publish. It is a specialised skill. You have to have a topic and an audience, broad appeal."

Hurley says cookbooks have always been a big category but they are expensive to produce and publishers have to be confident to sell enough copies to get a return.

"It goes in cycles, there will be years when cookbooks do incredibly well and other publishers who are not in that space will jump in, maybe not get traction and jump out.

"Although Nielsen figures show a 50 per cent sales drop it's fair to say that the overall picture goes up and down, and a couple of cookbooks that are massive sellers will skew the statistics."

Hurley says Allen & Unwin NZ has increased its cookbook publication in the past 10 years, especially in the past five years. "We've grown, but that may not be analogous with the rest of the market. We have a carefully chosen stable of writers who have a point of difference and we choose people who fit with our stable."

This stable includes Chelsea Winter and the Two Raw Sisters (Margo Flanagan and Rosa Power) whose respective books Tasty and More Salad are currently having an enviable run on the New Zealand Bestsellers non-fiction list (Nielsen BookScan data).

Two other Allen & Unwin food-writers, Vanya Insull (VJ Cooks) and Polly Markus (Miss Polly's Kitchen), both have strong social media audiences as well as cookbook deals with Allen & Unwin. Hurley says free online material can build a fan base and followers may then want to buy a beautiful cookbook by one of their favourites.

A new VJ Cooks title, Everyday Comfort Food, will be released in time for Mother's Day. It is among several others planned by the company this year. Hurley says they are commissioning well into 2027. Numbers vary but they are doing up to about five a year.

"The core market is home meals where everyday cooks are a cornerstone. I get pitches which I just can't support because I can't see them selling more than 100 copies. We take on the risk, photography, marketing, styling, printing, design, and we couldn't sell enough copies to justify it. It is a huge cost."

Hurley says New Zealand is an interesting market and buyers prioritise their own writers which is great to see. "Cookbooks are still one of our really key planks in terms of our publishing, and we have long-term relationships with our authors."

While Hurley may quickly Google chicken recipes if she's looking to cook dinner based on what's in the fridge, she says that if she has a book by the likes of Vanya Insull, Polly Markus or Chelsea Winter, she knows that the recipes have been tested and carefully curated, they're not going to take four hours to put together, and there will be variety.

"I know, trust and value these cooks."