Jeff McRitchie

Publish Your Own Cookbook

Is it college students, experienced cooks or newlyweds on a budget? Is it vegetarians or budding masters of the BBQ? The more targeted you can make your theme and audience, the more likely your cookbook is to succeed.

Is it college students, experienced cooks, or newlyweds on a budget? Is it vegetarians or budding masters of the BBQ? The more targeted you can make your theme and audience, the more likely your cookbook is to succeed. You want to make your book stand out from the pack, so you should ask yourself if there is a great, untapped niche out there, and if there is, go after it. Unless you have a name that is fairly recognizable even regionally, it will probably not be enough to generate sales. Get specific and find a niche.

Write An Introduction

It doesn't have to be long-one page is plenty -- but it should explain who you are and why you decided to put your cookbook together and publish it. If you are not comfortable writing this yourself, enlist the help of a writer friend or hire a professional copywriter.

Gather Your Recipes

This is the fun part, of course, but there is a lot of detail work involved here as well. You do not want to be in the position of including recipes in your cookbook that you haven't yourself tried. Thus, take the time to try every recipe as printed, and have and many friends as you can get together to try them as well. This way you can be sure that your measurements are accurate, that everything is in the proper order, and that your instructions are easy to follow.

For more difficult recipes, you may need to explain a little more than for others. Do not be afraid to get down and dirty and to go into a great amount of detail -- as much detail as you feel is necessary in order to make the recipes as accurate as possible.

Before the book goes to press, you will want to make sure that you have no grammatical or spelling errors. Try to enlist the help of a trusted friend or two to proofread your text, or hire a professional editor.

Artwork

Pictures of finished dishes are great, as well as photos of dishes in process. If there is a particularly difficult technique involved, it is always nice to prove some sort of illustration as well. In order to get the highest quality photography and design possible, you should probably hire professionals. One way to find qualified individuals is to look around for graphic artists and photographers whose work you admire, and contact them about working on your book.

Binding

There are a few things you will want to keep in mind when you are choosing a binding style for your cookbook. Functionality, for instance, is important to consider, as every cook who uses your cookbook is likely to appreciate a book that opens flat for hands free use. Also, You want to make sure that you're the pages of your book can repel moisture and that they can handle some fairly rough treatment without the pages falling out. Some options here are spiral coil, plastic comb, and twin loop binding. Take a look around online at different binding styles, or make a trip to your local print shop and see the options there. Keep in mind that sometimes you can save money even in the sort run by purchasing a binding machine and doing the work yourself.

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