Are you missing out on the biggest thing since cheese pizza in a can?

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted from the last four weeks and all the tomatoes.
 
There is also no such thing as cheese pizza in a can.
 
But Dole UK did once make "Hawaiian Pizza in a Can" for April Fool’s Day.
 
And pizza has been available in US Army rations as an MRE.
 
I guess that makes it cheese pizza in a pouch.
 
Whatever.

In other words, this week's Pizza Post is about, well…
 
I’m not sure.

But what I can tell you is that next week (not today), I'll be giving you a special, limited-time, super-urgent, 99-cent deal on my brand-new book, The Lazy Way To Pizza: How to Make the Best Pizza Possible with the Least Amount of Work. 
 
The 99-cent deal is going to be on the e-book from June 20 to 26, 2026. (In case you're reading this in a time capsule or something.)
 
And if I know you like I think I do, you’re going to say, “I don’t like e-books,” or “I don’t have a Kindle.”
 
I get it. It took me awhile.
 
But I changed my mind, and I’m here to change yours. So, dig in your heels!
 
Hey, look at that.
 
Suddenly, this week’s Pizza Post is about something.

Why I embrace e-book cookbooks (and e-books in general), and I think everybody should.
 
They save you money, they save you time, they give you more utility, more convenience, and more fun.
 
Not that all that is worth saving a few trees.
 
You also do not need to own a dedicated e-book reader.
 
I carry around the same 2,000-book library on both my phone and my tablet—and it’s even accessible on my computer.
 
 
Call it in-flight entertainment that will never make it to the seat-back screen.
 
This is especially handy when there is no seat-back screen.

I spent a flight from Philly to New Orleans with a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice on my tablet, researching recipes for two specific projects.
 
I was able to work out two little programs that I was going to run: One for banana bread as holiday gifts (he has a killer recipe from when he was a bread-baking hippy in Boston), and one for true NYC-style bagels.
 
Lemmetellya, people down here in the Magnolia State lost their minds when they laid hands on legit carpetbagger bagels.
 
At 35,000 feet in the dark of a late-night flight, I was able to highlight passages in the book, make bookmarks, and order special ingredients from Amazon over the inflight WiFi.
 
And the e-book version of this excellent, James Beard Award-winning cookbook cost me a mere three bucks. (As I write this, I think it's about 7 bucks.)
 
That three-dollar additional expense vastly increases the utility of the $23 hard copy that’s on my shelf at home and not on the plane.
 
 
And at home, the fun continues.
 
E-books are searchable in ways a hardcopy cookbook never will be.
 
And when I went into the kitchen to make the banana bread and bagel recipes, I didn’t need to take the hardback book with me.
 
Nor did I take the tablet or the phone.
 
Instead, on my tablet, I just made recipe screenshots.
 
I printed them out, then taped them to my backsplash.
 
When I needed them, they were right in front of my face.
 
No smudging or spilling ingredients onto my expensive cookbook.

And so much more extra counter space!
 
Why don’t more cookbook publishers build in an online component where you can just do kitchen cheat sheet printouts?
 
 
I’ve done this for you because it seems like you should have it.
 
This is one of the reasons I often encourage people to buy my own books in e-book.
 
Both of my pizza books have links to my website—which includes a download link for printable kitchen Cheat Sheets.
 
Instead of having to take the book or the tablet into the kitchen, you just print out a PDF of the recipe you’re using.
 
That’s such a simple feature with a clear and present benefit, I cannot understand how it is that more traditional publishers don’t use it.
 
I have got about 200 cookbooks in my digital library, and as far as I know, not a single one of them has a link to anything that doesn’t prompt another purchase.
 
Call me an innovator! All for you my pizza making friend!
 
 
“I don’t read e-books because I don’t have a Kindle.”
 
You really need to come to the party for the free apps! (These are the puns, folks!)
 
The Kindle app is free.
 
It works on your phone, on your tablet, and even on your computer.
 
When writing things at my computer, I have literally stopped in the middle to find the answer to a question that I know is in a book.
 
I go to the Kindle app online, search the book, find the answer, then copy and paste it into what I’m working on.
 
And literally all it requires is going to Amazon, searching for the book I bought, clicking the “read now” button, and tapping the little magnifying glass in the upper right-hand corner.
 
 
Are you in the I hate Amazon crowd?
 
Well, Amazon is the single largest seller of e-books. And that is in the Kindle format. It accounts for about 80% of the market.
 
However, other major e-book providers in the 20% balance include Apple, Kobo (whoever they are), Barnes & Noble with their Nook format, and Google Play.
 
I will admit, my books have been available only on Amazon. I’ve been a Kindle devotee because I had to figure that the other 20% of the market that doesn’t buy on Amazon probably isn’t interested in my books.
 
But I am going to start making my books available elsewhere. It is time.
 
 
I don’t need a vision of that guy who’s sitting in a corner in the dark, shaking his clenched fist at my website and saying, “Damn you, Blaine Parker why won’t you put your books on Nooks?”
 
Anyway, that’s it.
 
 
My new book, The Lazy Way To Pizza: How to Make the Best Pizza Possible with the Least Amount of Work, is now available on Amazon.
 
The Kindle edition is presently $2.99. The print edition is $9.99
 
But this is a soft launch. Don’t buy it yet.
 
Next week at this time, I will have lowered the price on the Kindle addition to $.99
 
And if you’re one of those who requires persuasion, you can have your own almost-free Kindle edition and try it out as your first foray into digital cookbooks.
 
Free The Pizza—the Lazy Way!
 
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Until next week's 99-cent deal on the new book, here's a 99-cent deal on the OG! 

Still haven't bought your pizza oven yet? That might be a good thing. Because you don't really need one, especially if you're just starting out. It's much easier to start by making pizza in your home oven. I endorse baking pizza on steel. But if you need to do it on the cheap, you can even start with a big, upside-down cast-iron skillet and my silly little book: Free The Pizza: A Simple System For Making Great Pizza Whenever You Want With The Oven You Already Have. When you’re just starting out, it’s much easier and more productive to learn about pizza in a way that demystifies everybody’s favorite food—including the flying in the face of the belief that great pizza is possible only with a special oven. Speaking as a guy who has two portable pizza ovens sitting in a shed, and who used to have a 1,200-pound wood-fired oven in the kitchen, the best oven on which to learn pizza is a regular home oven with a few simple tools. And the Free The Pizza book is designed specifically to take a newbie from zero to pizza in as short a time is possible. It’s also a lot more fun than the heartbreak of a tiny, cruel oven in the yard. Want to make a pizza at home? Homemade pizza success happens with Free The Pizza at Amazon. ​