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Author: Kylie Fennell

Turn Your Marketing Around Today with 5 Questions

Kylie Fennell
Here’s how to turn your whole marketing strategy around with 5 simple questions.
  1. What’s your point of difference? Call it your unique or best selling point or point of difference, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you know exactly why people should buy your products, services or ideas instead of someone else’s. If you can summarise your offering in three key messages, even better. If you can’t do that yet, it’s time to working on your brand and positioning story.
  2. Who is your ideal customer(s)? What are they like? How well do you know them? Can you really describe them? You need to identify a a customer persona that best fits your ideal customer profile. I’m talking about the kind of customer you want to target. The one that wants your product or services, the way you offer them. The ones that pay on time and are great to do business with.
  3. What marketing activities have worked? ongoing monitoring and evaluation is critical to marketing success. What worked last year, or last week even, may not necessarily work today. Never embark on new activities though without knowing how you will determine your success.
  4. What marketing activities haven’t worked? If after monitoring and evaluation, you find something is still working, keep doing it. However if it’s stopped working, find out why, and change it or stop doing it.
  5. What marketing activities do you want to try? Don’t be scared to try out new ideas. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up-to-date with all the different marketing options and advancements such as digital marketing. So sign up to blogs like this one. Read magazines and articles about marketing. Keep abreast of what your competition is doing. Most importantly, never go into a marketing activity without understanding what you are trying to achieve and who you are targeting.

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10 images and words to inspire your writing

Kylie Fennell

Sometimes…no…more than sometimes, a writer needs a little inspiration. Here are 10 of my favourite images and words from the internet that inspire me.

Most of them are self explanatory, though the Alice in Wonderland image is one that speaks to the philosophy of this blog:

“Like Alice in Wonderland I go about my day-to-day life hopeful of falling down a rabbit hole and discovering new ideas or worlds. Sometimes that rabbit hole will lead to a different perspective or it might lead to a fantasy world where dragons live”. These and other inspirational images can be found on my Pinterest pages.

I hope these inspire you too in 2015.

   

 

 

Get your marketing off to a great start in 2015

Kylie Fennell
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net
The new year is a great time to refocus your marketing efforts. 
To help you along I have trawled through some of my favourite blogs and popular sites for marketing in 2015.
Here are my top 5 tips to help your business and marketing along in 2015. 
1. Nail your online presence and digital marketing
In my last post I outlined 12 steps to sort out your digital marketing and I’m not the only one saying how important digital is.
Digital marketing is not going away. This blog post from EnMast explains that more clients will come to you through your website in 2015
“If you aren’t using your website to strategically capture new business, you need to get started. 2015 has the makings of a perfect storm that will drive buyers to the web for purchasing decisions. If the economy does grow significantly in 2015, your prospects are going to need your help — but they are going to be time starved. They are going to want to do most of the purchasing research themselves. These buyers are getting younger every year; they are more comfortable with using the web to support their purchasing decisions, and they rely on search engines to guide them along the way.”
Check out my previous posts on websitesand SEOto get the most out of your online presence.

2. Get focused
You will need to get yourself a marketing strategy and make the strategy actually happen. A great tip here from zenhabits.net is to create habits, not goals or resolutions in 2015.
“Resolutions are like wishful thinking, that fade away inevitably as the year’s newness wears off. Goals are great, but it’s hard to juggle 5-10 new goals when you have a lot of other things always going on. Instead, focus on one new habit at a time, and give it your full attention, until it becomes automatic. Then do another new habit.”
In terms of getting things done on a daily basis, set yourself three top tasks for the day and get onto them first thing each day.
3. Don’t be scared of uncertainty
Seth Godin has to be one of my all time favourite marketing and business experts.
Godin advocates being open to uncertain outcomes, which is very different from large risks.
“The question to ask every organisation, manager, artist or yourself is, ‘are you hesitating because you’re not sure the future will match your specific vision, or is there truly a project-endangering risk here?’”
4. Really, I mean REALLY, get to know your customers
If you have been following my blog for a while, you would already know I strongly believe in the marketing value of developing customer personas.
This blog post found at blog.visual.lyreiterates the importance of micro-targeting.
“If you don’t know who you’re talking to, you won’t know what to say. Committing to buyer persona development lets you deep dive into needs, lifestyle, and motivations of your buyers. The work is well worth the ability to construct more relevant content strategies throughout the buying cycle, post-purchase efforts, and account-based marketing activities.”
5. Know what to stop doing
This marketing blog post from blog.hubspot.comhas some detailed tips on what to cut from your marketing activities in 2015.
Some of these include:
  • Over-Fixating on Real-Time Marketing and ineffective or insensitive newsjacking of popular stories/trends/hashtags
  • Engaging on Social Networks That Aren’t Working
  • Expecting People to Discover Your Content Just Because It’s Great – the post recommends devoting time to building an email list and regularly notifying them of new and updated content as well as pitching relevant stories to reporters, influencers, and other trade media writers.
  • Reporting on Data That Doesn’t Matter – does the CEO really care about how many ‘re-tweets’ you have?

For expert marketing advice find us at www.kyliefennell.com

Christmas movie must-see list

Kylie Fennell 1 comment
Christmas is definitely my favourite time of year.
I was the kid who believed in Santa Claus right up until…oh heck I still believe in Santa Claus.
For me Christmas is about magical things and beings, excuses to dress up in festive costumes, hanging out with family and friends, sharing the magic with your kids, delicious food and drink and Christmas carols on repeat.
It’s about nostalgia and memories of excitement and the joy I felt as a child, but there’s one other thing.
Christmas is not Christmas without Christmas movies.
So here is my hit list of favourite Christmas movies of all time.
  1. Picard – Make it So (Snow) Not so much a Christmas movie as a YouTube clip but totally brilliant!
  2. Elf – Will Ferrell as a fully grown elf. Goofy and hilarious. L-O-V-E it. 
  3. Miracle on 34th Street – the original movie is a classic for good reason. The best part is how they prove Santa is real by the fact the US Postal Service sends all of Santa’s mail to him.
  4. It’s a Wonderful Life – to be completely honest the first time this classic came to my notice was when footage was featured in 80s classic, Gremlins, which I watched as a child. When I got a bit older I made a point of watching the whole movie and was hooked. Gremlins of course also makes it on my must see Christmas list. 
  5. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – Chevy Chase and the Griswolds at their best. Enough said. This is a family favourite among my in-laws particularly.
  6. Little Women – this is not exactly an exclusively Christmas movie and I prefer the book to the movie versions, but there are some beautiful heart warming scenes centred around Christmas and family. Tear jerking stuff but beautiful.
  7. For a complete change of scene I wanted to add my brother’s all time favourite…Die Hard. When I asked him for his favourite Christmas movies this was the first one out of his mouth. It never occurred to me that it was a Christmas movie…not sure still if it qualifies, but hey the bad guy (Alan Rickman) also plays Snape in Harry Potter and is one of my favourite actors, so there you go little bro.
So there you have it. My must-see list.  I can’t stick around too long though as I have some Christmas movies to watch. Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones and a brilliant New Year.
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12 days of digital – the best marketing present ever

Kylie Fennell
On the 12th day of…digital…I had a strategy.
We’re officially on the countdown to Christmas and I’m in a particularly giving mood.
I’m giving you 12 steps for putting together a digital marketing strategy. If you tick off a step a day (depending on what you already have in place) you can have the direction of that strategy ready by Christmas, and implement in 2015. It will be the best marketing present you have ever given yourself.
Digital marketing by far is one of the biggest pain points for small to medium enterprises. It seems so vast, daunting and different from all the old school and traditional marketing strategies that have worked so well in the past.
The worst part is that there are savvy young people out there, that have grown up with the internet, and they have many of us convinced that anyone born pre-Google without a smart device permanently attached to their arm, couldn’t possible master digital marketing.
Understandably overwhelmed, many smaller businesses don’t venture down the digital path at all, while others hand over hard earned cash to those savvy young entrepreneurs billing themselves as digital marketers.
Businesses in the modern world can’t afford not to have a digital marketing strategy. This is because digital marketing by definition is the use of electronic devices, digital technologies and platforms to engage with stakeholders, and the majority of said stakeholders engage in these digital channels. The infographic below explains this in more detail.
So while digital marketing is critical it also has several benefits, such as the ability to reach a wider customer base at a time and place convenient to them and in an interactive way.
Fortunately there are plenty of credible young and not so young digital marketing experts who can assist and if you can afford it, by all means go for it – just make sure they are reputable. It’s usually a case of you’ll get what you pay for.
However if you want to develop your own digital marketing strategy, I am here to demystify it for you and give you some simple steps to make it happen.
Before I get into the spirit of my 12 days of digital, I want to give you my take on Digital Marketing.
Digital Marketing is not (or doesn’t need to be) vastly different from traditional marketing.
It is simply using traditional marketing and communication methods that have stood the test of time, but applying them to digital channels.
To give you a Christmas inspired analogy, where in the past many people may have sent out hard copy Christmas cards to their loves ones, they may now send an email, e-card or post a social media update, but they all serve the same purpose. The purpose is to share news of the year with your loved ones.
The purpose and messaging essentially don’t change, it’s just the delivery methods that have evolved.
What we’re really talking about when it comes to digital marketing strategy is your marketing and communication strategy that incorporates digital channels.
The core part of this strategy was, and still remains, valuable content that engages and boosts the customer experience.
It’s no coincidence that another jargony term ‘content marketing’ popped up around the same time as digital marketing.
So let’s forget the jargon and remind ourselves that if we know how to market and communicate effectively with our stakeholders, we now just need to incorporate digital channels and make the most of them.
On the first day of digital…
  1. Brand and positioning – before you dive into the digital deep end, take a moment to revisit your brand and positioning messages. As I said digital marketing is about content and you can’t create valuable content unless you understand and can effectively communicate your brand and point of difference. 
  2. Customer personas – similarly you should take a look at your ideal customers and their profiles, to make sure you use the right digital marketing channels for your target market. 
  3. Website – review your website and whether it’s up to scratch in terms of functionality and site structure. You should be looking at it from the view of your customer and making it as easy as possible for them to engage with you/purchase from you. Look at design and speed as well as search engine optimisation (SEO). The great news is that you don’t need to be a website developer or have technical expertise in coding to create an effective website. 
  4. Social media – having a social media presence and keeping it up-to-date is a critical component of any digital marketing strategy. The most important thing to consider here is what social media platforms are best for your target market and how to create valuable content
  5. Blog – a blog is a great way to maximise your digital marketing presence and improve SEO. If you go to the trouble though of creating a blog be sure to post regularly and leverage your content as much as possible
  6. E-newsletter – there are some fantastic tools out there (including free options with http://mailchimp.com/ ) that provide ready-made optimised e-newsletter templates that you can send to your database. They also provide great analytics, database and subscription management. You can create sign-up forms on your website and social media pages. If you write a blog you can provide highlights in your e-newsletter
  7. Visual content – visual content such as videos, images and infographics are great digital tools that promote SEO and encourage engagement. Videos can be loaded on YouTube and on your website. You could also create memes or reaction gifs. Think broadly about different types of videos you could create: testimonials, Q&As, events, instructional videos.
  8. Advertising – advertising may be a traditional marketing tool, but it still holds a valid space in digital marketing. Pay per click Google Ads and Facebook particularly can be very affordable advertising options, and you can gauge effectiveness very quickly. You can be very specific about what types of pages you want your ad to appear on and really zero in on your target audience. Twitter and Instagram also have popular advertising options. 
  9. Mobile marketing – marketing messages via mobiles and SMS can be extremely effective particularly for some industries. Special and limited time offers, reminders for events and appointments and competitions work well on mobile. Texts are reported to have a very high open rate as well (as a general rule).
  10. Other written content and tools – depending on your customer personas and their stage of the sales cycle, you may need specialist written content and tools that can be uploaded to a digital space, particularly your website. These may include ebooks, data sheets, white papers, calculators, testimonials, media releases, reports, submissions, testimonials, games, apps, quizzes, resources. Whatever written content you’re producing, ensure it meets its purpose and is tailored to your target audience.
  11. Integrated strategy – now that you have identified what digital tools you may need, go back and incorporate them into your broader marketing and communication strategy. 
  12. Monitor and evaluate – like any good marketing activities, monitoring and evaluation is very important. There are some really good digital marketing evaluation tools that are very accessible such as google analytics. 
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Confessions of a writer – a storyteller – but not a literary expert

Kylie Fennell
I have a confession to make.
I love books. I love to read. I love to write.
I’m a writer. I’m a reader.
I dream about being a best-selling novelist.
You could say, if you can excuse the cliché, I’m passionate about writing and reading.
I’m a lot of other things as well; a mum, business owner and enthusiastic home cook.
All of the above statements are true but hardly confessions. What I really need to confess is that I’m not a ‘literary expert’…or at least not by traditional standards.
It’s strange when you consider that I have written for a living. I’m not talking about just the occasional scribble, I have written A LOT. I have worked as a journalist and communication specialist for more years than I care to admit. I also have done my fair share of creative writing.
I read everything from non-fiction and textbooks to thrillers and classics (who doesn’t like a bit of Jane Austen? And if you don’t, you and I need to sit down for an intervention led by my beloved high school English teacher Mr Gibson).
Then there are my all time favourite genres – historical fiction and fantasy. Yep, I will read just about anything.
All in all, I consider myself reasonably well-read and not-too-shabby a writer. A literary expert though? I’m afraid not.
This leads me to wonder if it is possible to be a successful novelist without being a literary expert.
Can I write a great novel without it being a literary masterpiece?
It all depends on your definition of literary masterpiece. Oxford Dictionaries describes a masterpiece as ‘a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship’. Other definitions say a literary masterpiece is a piece of work that can withstand the test of time.
The latter definition is what trips me up. ‘Withstand(ing) the test of time’ is a big call. Does it mean ’til the end of time. Does it mean ’til the next great book you read. It’s not a measure I personally use to determine whether a book is good or not. It’s not how I evaluate my own writing.
My test of a good book (and my own writing) is the following question: ‘Is it a good yarn?’ – that’s probably the old-school journalist in me.
I often hear of books being slammed by critics because they lacked literary brilliance or that they just weren’t clever enough.
Most of these people are literary experts who have honed their craft over years of study and practise. They analyse and understand literature in ways that I don’t. I applaud them but can’t be them.
I don’t, or more correctly, can’t dissect and analyse individual sentences of a book and search for evidence of literary genius. I’m not sure I have the patience, inclination or capability to do so.
Is this the wrong attitude to have? Should I re-focus my efforts on writing a literary masterpiece? Should I try to pose as a literary expert?
Over the course of my reading career I have probably dissected and analysed writing and books without even realising. But have I dug deeper in my analysis? No.
Just like I can’t pick a ‘buttery note’ in a glass of white wine, I can’t give you a true literary analysis of a book. I can tell you which wine and book I like and why. If pressed I could probably form a pretty compelling critique but it wouldn’t be an in-depth analysis.
Does that make me a literary dunce and mean my book writing career is doomed? I really hope not. I’m terrified my writing won’t pass the literary test but I can’t change my approach to reading and writing. It’s just not me.
So I may not be a literary expert but I do have my own craft and I am something…a STORYTELLER
I am dedicated to my style of reading and writing. My approach is to read and write for enjoyment.
To win my heart and mind, a novel needs to be a good-yarn. It needs to be well-written; for me this means the writing is clean, simple, direct and honest. It still needs an engaging plot and characters but it doesn’t need to be a literary masterpiece. And for the same reasons I won’t restrict my reading to literary masterpieces, I won’t set out to write one.
I don’t need to write something that changes the way people think about the world. I don’t need a Man Booker Prize; though I would really, really like one; pretty please, one day.
I want to write good yarns. I want people to enjoy what I write. I want my novels to be published. I want favourable reviews. And if the publishing gods look on my favourably, I want to be a best-selling author.
Yes, I’m aiming for the stars, but if I write how I know, I stand a chance. If I put all my efforts into trying to write a literary masterpiece, I am doomed to fail.
So I will write what I enjoy.
I may never write a literary masterpiece, but that’s okay (yes it’s okay, even for a self-proclaimed perfectionist).
I will continue to write. I have no choice. I am a slave to the words in my head; the same words that demand to come to life on a computer screen and in print.
The next step is to be brave, bare my heart and soul and share my words with the world. And share them I will. I will share my writing with anyone willing to read it. This blog is just the starting point.
So stay tuned if you are interested in my thoughts on writing, reading and my personal writing projects.
I hope you enjoy my words and don’t feel the need to analyse them…well at least not too much : )
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I’ve got a business blog – now what?!

Kylie Fennell
Businesses are pretty well versed these days in digital marketing and social media. Many of them have branched out and created a blog.Painstaking hours are spent trying to come up with engaging content that is highly relevant to target markets.

It features great useful content and looks fantastic, and you’re confident of getting hundreds of subscribers, thousands of hits and hopefully lots of promising leads.
You built it, so by all rights, they should come…right?…but they don’t.
The first thing you need to do is congratulate yourself. 
The next thing is to figure out how to best leverage your blog to help achieve your marketing and business objectives.
It’s important first to have realistic objectives for your blog.
If you expect a hundred new leads to come from your blog each month, it may not be achievable (this of course depends on your industry and the content itself).
Sometimes having a blog isn’t just about leads, but about search engine optimisation and building credibility for yourself and your brand.
That being said, you shouldn’t despair. Here are my six top tips on how to leverage your blog.
  1. Use your content in multiple ways – if you are going to the trouble of creating great content, make the most out of it. Post excerpts on social media, create mini ebooks, create a video and post to YouTube, write a White Paper, paid search, website links, banner ads, create a media release or compile content into an e-newsletter. Also don’t forget to leverage your other marketing activities on your blog. For example, if you have a great media story appear in the local paper, promote it across on your blog.
  2. Make it easy to subscribe – a subscription list is a valuable database of potential leads (as long as you adhere to relevant privacy and anti-spam laws). The key is having a call to action message such as: “Subscribe here and never miss our updates”. The sidebar is a great place for a sign-up form, but don’t ask for more than three fields. Research has shown that any more than three fields discourages readers from signing up. A pop-up subscription form is an option but can annoy people. Use these only for important messages or exclusive offers such as, “today only, sign-up and receive a free copy of our e-book on…”
  3. Promote yourself (within reason) – link back to other relevant blog posts (your’s and others) and your website page. You can also include an advertisement for yourself in the sidebar. Test it though. If you don’t experience significant click throughs via your ad, you may need to reassess. Make sure you include a great About Me page if your blog is hosted on a separate site to your business website. If not, include a great profile and image with your blog post.
  4. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect – sometimes you may be working on a tool or resource that would be greatly useful and interesting to your target audience. It’s a great idea to share it as a work-in-progress or Version One. Then ask your readers for feedback and ideas, which encourages engagement but also gives you an opportunity to improve your product or service, as well as a chance to publish another blog post with Version 2. There’s a great blog post here on how deliberately making content that becomes obsolete, is a great idea. 
  5. Offer variety.Provide lots of different types of posts. Mix it up with guest bloggers, Q and As, infographics, podcasts.
  6. Promote your clients – use your blog to create stories about your customers. These serve the purpose of a testimonial, without necessarily reading like a case study.

So yes you built it, you just need to nurture it now. 
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The longhand experiment – saying goodbye to distractions

Kylie Fennell
I sat down three times this week to write this blog. Three times. Each of which was unsuccessful.
The problem is that every time I sat down at the computer, I found something more urgent or more tempting to devote my time to.
Whether it’s emails, funny cat videos or a seemingly important business matter that comes to your attention, it’s hard to keep focused when you are on the computer.
And this is where my larger problem lies. 

The pen (or quill) is mightier than the keyboard

I have great intentions of sitting down and working on my novels, but the moment I put fingers to keyboard I find a thousand other things I “need” to do on the computer.
Without fail, it doesn’t take me long to abandon my writing in favour of other distractions.
It’s hard enough staying motivated throughout the extended drafting, revision and editing process, without having pop-ups and alerts enticing you to wish someone happy birthday or guilting you into checking your mail every two minutes – just in case something urgent pops up.
For someone like me, who loves information and learning new things, a computer can be an addictive place. I can disappear down Google’s rabbithole for hours on end, and in the meantime that book just doesn’t get edited.
This brings me to a shocking conclusion. When it comes to creative writing, I just can’t afford distractions.
Call me crazy, but I’m going to start using good old fashioned notepads from now on…well I definitely will try on the next novel. In the meantime I am going to print out my existing drafts and revise in long hand.
Yes it will probably take me a long time and I’m going to have to type it in anyway at some stage, but I’m in good company. 

JK Rowling favours longhand.
Image from http://jamesruncie.com/

Plenty of famed writers favoured old school pen and paper including Truman Capote, JK Rowling and Joan Collins. 

And if that isn’t enough of a good reason, let me give you some more benefits of writing in longhand.
  1.  Notepads are portable and don’t need batteries
  2. It is free of internet distractions
  3. It will make you a better writer. At least that’s what plenty of authors say, because it encourages you to give more thought to your words. Many will do their first drafts and revisions in longhand and then edit as they type up their notes
  4. You will retain more because putting ink to paper stimulates a part of the brain, the Reticular Activating Centre, or the RAS that enables you to focus on the information you are writing.
  5. It’s a good brain exercise as writing engages your motor-skills and memory. 

For now I will continue writing my blogs and attending to business matters via the computer, but I’ll be picking up the pen and paper for the creative longhand writing experiment.  And maybe, just maybe I will see some of the above benefits and if I’m very fortunate, I might actually finish my first manuscript. So here it goes…

Find out more about me and my writing at www.kyliefennell.com 

Get your infographic on – why you need one and how to get it

Kylie Fennell

Infographics have been around for a while now, but many businesses have mistakenly overlooked this marketing tool.
An infographic can be reasonably simple to make but have a big impact.
What is an infographic? 
An infographic is a way of combining information, data and text to convey knowledge in a visual manner.
Infographics can be highly effective in conveying otherwise complex data and information via a visual medium, with the potential to go viral.
See (and click on) the infographic on infographics to the right as an example.
Since it’s a visual medium, it makes great fodder for social media and can enhance search engine optimisation (SEO).
A good infographic encourages social sharing, and promotes natural link building (this means Google likes it).
Infographics are also great at building brand awareness and delivering concise and engaging messages.
They are particularly good for delivering complex information or big data in a format that is easily consumed. You can use them to position yourself as an expert in a particular subject and build personal and brand credibility.
Smart businesses are using them to engage their target markets and drive traffic to their websites.
Anyone can make an infographic. There are some great free/low cost DIY tools out there such as http://www.easel.ly/ and http://visual.ly/
However the key is having a GREAT infographic. Here are my top six tips for creating an effective infographic:
1. Try to stand out – if you use a pre-existing template or are trying to replicate the look of an existing infographic, tweak it enough so it is unique and you stand out. Take a look at the unique Batman infographic below. This is sure to catch the eye.
Source: theorange.co
2. Keep to the (design) script – your business has a brand and a visual identity that should resonate with your target audience. So make sure your infographic reflects this. Don’t go for fonts, colours or design that don’t speak to your brand promise. I deliberately went for a reliable retro style for my first infographic,which suited my brand promise. Second time around though I will be stepping up my game in terms of design.
3. Be visual – sounds obvious but use as little text as possible to maintain the audience’s interest
4. Make it easy to share – if possible include widgets or social media sharing buttons with your infographic and encourage people to “Share it”.
Some infographic platforms or websites will give you the html code needed for others to embed your infographic on their websites, which is great at building links back to your website and improving SEO. 
5. Brand it – include your logo and/or website details in the infographic itself, so if anyone does share it, it is clear who created it. This will also enhance brand awareness
6. Go professional – if you can afford it, engage a professional to create one for you. If not, use one of the free tools readily available but get someone with a good eye to critique your work.

Now all that’s left to do is get your infographic on! Contact us at Kylie Fennell for more great marketing ideas now.

Why fantasy and food go together like peanut butter and jelli(ed calf brains)

Kylie Fennell 1 comment
There’s something pretty magical about food.
Ever since I watched Mary Poppins serving up seemingly ordinary, yucky tasting medicine that transformed into different colours and flavours, I was hooked on the idea of magical food.
I’m a very enthusiastic home cook. I love to cook pretty much anything. Any cuisine, technique, savoury or sweet, I will give it a go.
Food has an amazing ability to transport you to different times, places and experiences. It uses all of the senses – taste, smell, sound, sight and touch.

Food memories are a powerful thing, but so are new food experiences – food you had never imagined, magical even; food from history or imaginary worlds; food that ultimately surprises.
It’s little wonder then that there is a growing trend among fantasy fans wanting to immerse themselves in their favourite fictional worlds via food. 

Game of Thrones is the subject of several cookbooks, inspired by the many recipes featured throughout the Fire and Ice series.

Author George R.R. Martin devotes a lot of his writing to food, though it hasn’t always translated so obviously to screen. He explains his obsession for food in the foreword of the official Game of Thrones Companion cookbook A Feast of Fire and Ice written by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer, who run the popular blog, Inn at the Crossroads, that started with them cooking their way through Martin’s books.
Martin says that his goal as a writer has always been to create an immersive vicarious experience for his readers. “Sights, sounds, scents – those are the things that make a scene come alive. Battle, bedroom or banquet table, it makes no matter; the same techniques apply. That’s why I spend so much time and effort describing the food my characters eat; what it is, how it’s prepared, what it looks like, what it smells like, what it tastes like. It grounds the scenes, gives them texture, makes them vivid and visceral and memorable. Sense impressions reach us on much deeper and more primal levels than intellectual discourse can ever hope to.”
This Wall Street Journal article details how hardcore fantasy fans are swapping tips on how to cook dishes like grilled snake with fiery mustard sauce from the book ‘A Feast for Crows’ and jellied calf brains!
The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook features 150 recipes for rustic, gamy fare including fried squirrel and raccoon in bacon drippings.
Fantasy fans have made a pastime out of creating dishes featured in everything from Harry Potter to Twilight, and sharing recipes for butterbeer, chocolate frogs and cauldron cakes.
You don’t have to look far to find cookbooks inspired by your favourite fantasy and sci-fi stories. The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia are the subject of cookbooks as well as Star Wars, to name a few.
Sometimes though you don’t need to look to fantasy for food that surprises. Nothing can be more interesting that the actual food consumed in centuries past.
One of my favourite chefs, of all time, is Heston Blumenthal, who has had a life-long obsession with historical food and the origins of popular dishes. He has specifically explored these themes in Heston’s Feasts TV series as well as in his book Historic Heston.
Starting from the beginning of the Middle Ages through the late Victorian Period, Blumenthal dives into the rich history of these times and creates bold, daring, and creative recipes inspired of course by dishes from the past.
He gives a twenty-first-century take on delicacies including meat fruit (1500), quaking pudding (1660) and mock turtle soup (1892). Just for the record, meat fruit is exactly as it sounds – meat that looks like fruit.
Like Heston, I like to imagine food from medieval times. What would my characters eat? What would they drink? How would it taste?
For me the ultimate fantasy medieval feast would have to start off with some meat fruit, followed by some hearty roasted pork knuckles with crunchy crackling, washed down with some mulled wine.
For a sweet fix I would turn to some Game of Thrones inspired lemon cakes and blueberry tart. My friend Stephanie over at the Dessert Spoon has recreated both these dishes with delicious results.
Mmmm…I’m salivating already.

So what would you have for your ultimate fantasy feast?
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