It's not often that I read a book a second time, or watch a movie twice in 2 years – let alone twice in a week – but I did just that this week with Julie & Julia.
OK, granted, I watched it on the flight down to the Affiliate Convention in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Then, without asking if I'd seen it (I see all new releases on airplanes) Ed rented it yesterday — but the kicker was that I was actually keen to watch it again.
If you are unfamiliar with the plot line, here is the description from Netflix.
Amy Adams stars in this truth-inspired tale as Julie Powell, a disenchanted government secretary who decides to enliven her uneventful life by cooking all 524 recipes outlined in Julia Child's culinary classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Based on Powell's book Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, director Nora Ephron's heartwarming dramedy also stars Meryl Streep as legendary chef Child.
The Amazon review of Julie & Julia is much more descriptive about the movie, but it barely touches on the aspect that I found so profound about this movie.
Julie Powell wants to be a writer.
So, she starts a blog called the Julie/Julia Project on August 25th, 2003 to write about what she truly loves – cooking.
Her first post reads as follows:
“Mastering the Art of French Cooking“. First edition, 1961. Louisette Berthole. Simone Beck. And, of course, Julia Child. The book that launched a thousand celebrity chefs. Julia Child taught America to cook, and to eat. It’s forty years later. Today we think we live in the world Alice Waters made, but beneath it all is Julia, 90 if she's a day, and no one can touch her.
The Contender:
Government drone by day, renegade foodie by night. Too old for theatre, too young for children, and too bitter for anything else, Julie Powell was looking for a challenge. And in the Julie/Julia project she found it. Risking her marriage, her job, and her cats’ well-being, she has signed on for a deranged assignment.
365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen.
How far will it go? We can only wait. And wait. And wait…..
The Julie/Julia Project. Coming soon to a computer terminal near you.
Julie Powell is a little rough around the edges – meaning she uses the “F” word a LOT. But her ‘colorful' language certainly adds spice to her posts — especially when things aren't going as well as she'd like.
She built a following and her readers loved her for being real in her day-by-day cooking adventure.
So much so that she starts getting financial contributions to her effort after she goes with her friends' suggestion to place a PayPal button on her site — a good thing, 'cause seriously, I don't know how she could have afforded all that expensive food otherwise. She also receives foodie treats from her fans. (Hint: I like food too.) 🙂
What happens within the next year (from a blogger's point of view) as she cooks and writes her way through all those recipes is truly inspirational.
After blogging for nearly a year, on August 13th, 2003, her story was featured in the New York Times Dine & Wine section, in a piece by Amanda Hesser called A Race To Master The Art Of French Cooking.
That article launched both her book, Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, and the movie.
How cool is that?
And don't believe it can't happen to you.
My McGraw-Hill book, Make a Fortune Promoting Other People's Stuff Online: How Affiliate Marketing Can Make You Rich was in large part a result of this blog. Sure, the good folks at McGraw-Hill had seen the Super Affiliate Handbook, but what made them approach me to write for them (and I did ask them why) was the fact that I blogged regularly on NPT and that my message was consistent, i.e. I didn't focus on promoting products, I was sharing helpful information with my readers along with my honest views about this business.
I certainly didn't expect that to happen to me… all I did was blog about a topic in which I was really interested.
And You CAN do that too!
And although it's unlikely that anyone will ever make the ‘affiliate marketing movie', maybe your story is just waiting to be a feature film.
I hope so!
Until then, get inspired – rent or buy Julie and Julie and watch it more than once. 🙂 (BTW, I'd recommend the DVD version at $9.99 – Blu-Ray at $25.99 was great to see but a tad pricey.)
If you've already seen it? What did you think?
Reading all of the above, I am inspired and getting despondent at the same time.
I have read your Super Affiliate Handbook, Ros, and (and joined your Super Affiliate Pro programme) and am at a now-or-never point of launching in after two years of getting this course and that course, and just not finding the one. Now I think I have found it and still am hesitating. Problem is, I am not that computer savvy but love to write and love to do sales copy (an amateur, but have good material to learn better from, from AWAI as well as studying examples out there); my dilimma is whether to just to stick to writing or take the plunge and see if I can get enough of a handle on the computer side to be a successful Affiliate too. There is no-one sitting next to me – how can I get the help when I need it.
I really want to succeed; I guess my question is does one need to focus on one or the other – writing OR Affiliate marketing, or can one do both as a beginner, successfully. I have just put a fictionalised true story together (novella), and a non fiction booklet, both pre-publish ready, started a blog on Blogger.com(to cut my blogging teeth) so have made a start there, and got your book and programme (after a couple of years of trying to find something real and comprehensive, suitable for beginners); I feel I am finally on the right track, but am I trying to bite off more than I can chew, now being very computer savvy. Affiliate marketing seems more complicated than it is made out to be – while part of me wants to do it to complement the writing side, I am getting more confused (after reading all of the above posts) whether I should or need to do it. Will it side track me from my writing, or can the two work together successfully, without being a major marketing/computer-brainy player. I would like to think so.
Hi Katharina,
Affiliate marketing really IS writing… writing about what you love and linking out to related products and services to share with your readers.
If you plan to market your books online, you’ll still need your own website(s).
Perhaps we should discuss this in the Affiliate Blogger PRO member forums before we give away too much of your plan, though. 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
I too watched this movie and loved it! I don’t even consider myself that great of a cook but when I have company and get into it , look out!
I love Meryl Streep and Amy Adams is a great actress but what I loved most about this movie and what inspired me the most was Julia Child’s passion…
Not just passion for cooking, which she discovered by being free to explore, but just her passion about the way she approached her life. I laughed when she was sitting down eating at the restaurant with her great husband nearly having an orgasm over the food they were eating in Paris. Priceless. She lived in the moment, was ambitious, and definately competitive. Traits that I see in myself yet I don’t think that I have really found my passion yet. It is just around the corner….
Thanks for the recomendation to watch the movie. Watched on Christmas Day and enjoyed it very much. The message I got from both Julie & Julia was NOT to give up. In the past I have feel I have given up to easily usually before I even start because I am afraid I will not succeed so it is easier not to attempt. After watching this movie & I just finished reading Super Affiliate Handbook I am ready to set a goal and get started.
Thanks for sharing the articles Ros. Starting with passion is always the way to go because it really gives values to the readers. The rest will come.
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
Oprah Winfrey
Great insights, Ros! There’s another lesson in their too, one that also addresses a couple of the comments here… People are not as ‘dumb’ as many believe – by the time they’ve read a few posts on any blog they can tell whether the person is truly passionate about their topic or just a marketer trying to siphon profits from that niche.
And while the marketer may know every traffic trick in the book, that only gets people there once – repeat traffic comes from proving it’s worth the readers’ time to keep coming back. And in many of the biggest niches, like kids, pets, cooking/recipes, etc, readers love the people with passion and will choose them over slick and corporate every time!
The movie is trully inspirational but I am here for another reason; to wish you all the best for your Birthday and to give you this as a gift http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Xd435coD4
Sincerely
Beautiful Kazooli, thank you!
Hello Ros,
I didn’t see that movie but I’ll watch it for sure!
P.S. Wanted to share the information that i just bought your Affiliate Handbook made a quick through it and really thrilled i found all the answers to my TOP questions for now. 🙂
I’m very excited and would like to thank you in advance, Ros, you made a great job!
That’s great to hear, Vicky. Always great when the top questions get answered quickly. 🙂
I think Julie’s story is a real inspiration. She was so passionate about what she believed in that she was willing to risk it all to see through her dream realized.
How many of us are like that when it comes to blogging? Willing to give our best to the project, sacrificing and not expecting anything in return because it’s not just about the money?
I’m a cooking enthusiast so Julia Child holds pride of place on my shelf, right up there next to Delia Smith. I love the conversational tone she uses to explain even the most difficult of recipes.
Thanks Rosalind.
Interestingly, she was successful in spite of the fact that the Julie/Julia blog is in some respects pretty bad.
Your link took me to the first post, from 2002. I wanted to see the latest, so I tried the usual thing. I clicked on the logo in the top left. Nothing happens!
Buried in the middle of the page, in a place where most people will look last, is the word “HOME.”
I guess the blog was compelling enough that people read it anyway, but you have to wonder how many more people would have read it and contributed to her revenue if usability problems were fixed.
You’re not kidding about that blog being bad. Just to find that first post took a few clicks on the calendar until I figured out the link structure and just pasted it in. Never did see that HOME button.
I guess we have to remember that blogging was pretty new in 2002. Thank goodness for WordPress, eh?
I saw the movie on the big screen a few months ago and thought it was a brilliant idea – to combine the love of cooking with the love of writing to – writing about cooking.
I am a big fan of both Amy Adams and Meryl Streep and thought they were both brilliant.
Brilliant indeed. Meryl is my favorite actress by a long shot. Bought all her movies on DVD last year as a Christmas present to myself… and now I have to get another. 🙂
OK – so I’ll admit it…I read the book AND saw the movie in the theater twice AND I’m now reading Julia Child’s My Life In France. Awesome & well worth the time and money. I was a little disappointed that the movie wasn’t as “gritty” as Julie Powell’s book and blog, but I guess they have to think about the movie rating. Julie does like to use the F-bomb quite a bit but it ends up being part of her charm.
Great inspiration to Keep On Keepin’ On…
Cheers!
Hi
I had absolutely no interest in seeing this movie but thanks to your post I know that I will be picking it up now. I love stories of ordinary people who do some extraordinary things. My wife and I both are going through a transition in our lives as far as career goes so maybe we can get some inspiration. Thanks for the recommendation.
I fell in love with this movie. The rest of my family loved it too. Actually Julia is the one that inspired my husband to be a cook. Although he does not do it professionally anymore, he does do most of the cooking at home.
However, about the movie, I couldnt help but think that the traffic her blog got was a little over exagerated. What I mean is that 99.9% of blogs just dont recieve traffic out of nowhere. But I guess its a movie after all, and not one that is about the art of blogging. 🙂
Hi Pam,
Thanks for sharing. As to the traffic she got, it seems to have built slowly over time (that’s what I got from the movie, anyway) and if you go there now, you’ll find 100’s of comments on certain posts… many reactions to the movie and book. Too bad she never moved the blog over to her own site! 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
Ros-
Happened much that way for me. I was told by Corey Rudl to write a book about my expertise and sell it. Because I didn’t know I couldn’t write a book, I wrote one entitled “Insurance Claim Secrets Revealed!” It has been the number one book on insurance claims continuously at Amazon since October 2007. I just released my second book “Commercial Insurance Claim Secrets Revealed” a month ago. In addition, I’ve written three other books since that are not related to insurance.
It CAN happen for you if you make it happen!
Russ
Hi Russell,
Thanks kindly for sharing and congratulations on your success. LOVE your “Because I didn’t know I couldn’t write a book” comment. That says SO much about the importance of just doing it and not letting doubt get in the way.
Cheers,
Ros
Too weird! I just DVR’d this movie last night and haven’t watched it yet. This morning I get your email Ros. I love cooking and I love Meryl Streep so I was immediately attracted to this movie when I read the reviews. Can’t wait to watch it.
Thanks for giving me the backstory. I didn’t realize it was based on a true story.
Hi
Saw the movie ince and loved it.
It is amazing how everyone can learn something from that.
I for example learned a lot from Julia’s story and her biography as a trailing spouse.
What impressed me most about this movie is the biography of Julia Child which is described in the movie and in her autobiography My Life in France
Julia was a working woman all her adult life. During World War 2 she worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and was posted to Sri Lanka and China. After the war, in 1946, she married her husband Paul, and in 1948 Paul was posted to Paris by the United States Foreign Service.
When Julia first arrived Paris she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. The couple had no children, Julia had no work, and she was searching what to do in her spare time.
Very soon, Julia fell in love with Paris, with French food and with the local markets. She started taking cooking classes at the Cordon Bleu, and the rest is history.
I believe that Julia childs can serve as a roll model for all trailing spouses. She was full of energy, active, assertive and was not afraid to go after what she wanted. Other than that she had a supportive husband on her side.
What we also need to remember is that all this happaned in the mid of the 20th century. Julia was a true pionneer. Any trailing spouse who struggles should read her book and be encouraged by Julia’s amazing story
Well – I am also a trailing spouse and her story inspired me a lot.
Sharon
I haven’t seen this movie yet, but I intend to do so this holiday season. Thanks for sharing.
I love the timing of this post, Rosalind! A friend and I saw “Julie & Julia” when it hit the theaters, and I was actually thinking of watching it again tonight. It was such a fun movie…and definitely inspired me to dream of where my blogging could take me in the future.
Thanks! 🙂
Saw the movie locally at the Rivoli.stupidly didn’t even see the connection just “the sort of thing that only happens to other people”,and I thought Meryl Streep amazing as ever though not a character I liked much.Too big to coarse and way too self confident.The girl in the flat ,ok….. just. Sorry I think the Internet is way too difficult to make money on today Advertising costs too much PPC is murder to use Emails are not getting through anymore the way they were and people are too cagey with their email addresses …the big players have a strangle hold.
Glad it is still working for you tho Ros.
regards
Hi Patricia,
Yes, Julia Child was indeed larger-than-life in many respects and I think that endeared her even more to her fans.
As to what you cite as pitfalls – I don’t do much PPC anymore and emails do get through… you could always use feedburner. Based on your “the big players have a strangle hold” comment, I’m guessing that perhaps you tried the Internet Marketing niche. If that’s the case, IM IS a tough niche unless you have true expertise and work to build a network of colleagues with big lists.
I still believe that the most sure road to success is to start with passion… and I doubt that anyone ever grew up dreaming of becoming a business opportunities marketing guru. 🙂
Cheers,
Ros