Great ideas on how to publish your own cookbook

Are you considering publishing your very own cookbook? First of all, congratulations! There’s nothing quite like being the author of your own book. It might seem quite daunting, as there is a lot to consider when it comes to creating a book. But never fear, we at Book Printing have pulled together a handy guide on everything you need to think about when producing your very own cookbook.

Get to know who your audience is

First and foremost, you need to know who you are producing this book for. Is it a keepsake for family members? Or are you intending to sell it worldwide? Once you know your audience, you can better determine the style, look and feel of your book. Consider their cooking skill level, their desires, and where they might buy their food

Choose an appropriate genre for where you want your book to sit

As with any other publication, cookbooks have their own genres / topics / niches, and you want to be sure your cookbook falls into one of these categories. It’s all well and done having a mix of different recipes, but people are far more likely to buy a particular type of recipe book, whether that’s a particular course, like mains or deserts; a particular region of cooking like Italian or Chinese; or a dietary requirement, like Vegan, or Gluten Free.

Always do some research of the competition

It goes without saying that if you have chosen a particular topic, it’s worth researching what else is out there to ensure you are not duplicating someone else’s work, or even creating something that isn’t truly viable. Sometimes, if it hasn’t been done before, there may be a valid reason. Similarly, if you are choosing a topic that is over-publicised, you want to be sure you have something different to offer.

Researching competitors also helps to determine how best to proceed with your book. It gives an indication of titles, size, recipe lengths, price tag and a lot more!

Ensure that you plan an outline to help guide the book

As with any other publication, there needs to be a semblance of order to your book. A beginning, middle and end. Consider your chosen recipes and how these might best feature within your book. Perhaps you start with the easier recipes, followed by intermediate and then finish with the harder ones. Or you start with the shorter cooking time through to longer cooking time, or you opt for another category type. Whatever you decide, make sure it flows as a whole!

Make a list of all the recipes you want to include and make sure you have all the information you require; including any imagery or illustrations. You will also need to consider any other content within your book, such as an introduction, and maybe even chapter descriptors. Any content that isn’t a recipe needs serious consideration. Remember, it needs to be relevant to the book to help enhance the readers journey, not hinder.

Decide the best route to publishing your book

There are typically 2 ways to publish any book; traditional publishing or self-publishing. Both have their pros and cons.

If you want to go down the traditional route, you will need to come up with a proposal for your book and try to sell it to a prospective publisher, which could take more time to find. The content of the book may then change over time depending on what the publisher and editor feel best suits the market. Choosing a traditional publisher means you don’t have any upfront costs as the publisher pays for it, but it does mean that your return on investment will take longer as the costs to print the book will need to be paid off first before you see any profit. You usually have a larger print-run than self-publishing too, which can result in zero profit if your book doesn’t sell.

If you choose to go down the self-publishing route, you can get your book out there almost immediately, with no changes to the content. It won’t be available in book shops but it can be available online. You will need to pay for the upfront costs of producing the book, but any sales make will come straight back to you immediately! You can also choose your print-run so if you only wanted to print a handful of copies, you can!

Many feel a traditional publication is more legitimate than self-publishing. However, these days both options have a decent reputation, so it really depends on how quickly you want your content out there, whether you have the capital to spend upfront, and how many copies you intend to print.

We at Book Printing offer short run hardback book printing, custom book printing, and paperback printing, all within the UK. Whatever your requirements, we are confident we can help! Please contact us for further details.

Get your content finalised 

It may well take a few tries to get your cookbook just right. You may find as you start to pull all your content together than some things don’t quite flow, others don’t have correct imagery, and some of the style is different. Now is the time to go through everything you have and make sure it is in line with your original vision, and adapt/edit and re-draft as many times as necessary to get the final content right.

Put some consideration into the design of your cookbook

Once you know your final content, your audience and your topic, you can finally start to design your cookbook. If your budget is tight, you will need to look at designing this yourself. There are plenty of different software packages you can use. But you want to make sure that the final files are print-ready to supply to the printer. Alternatively, if you are more a content person, and less of a design person, we at Book Printing can help! We can recommend designers we have worked with for a number of years with budgets to suit everyone. Please contact us for further details.

Publishing and promoting your cookbook

Now it’s time to publish your book! Congratulations! You’ve published a cookbook! You may want to leave it at that and see how the sales roll in, or you may want to consider promoting your book to increase sales. If you’ve opted for traditional publishing, your publisher will have a marketing strategy in place. If you’ve opted for self-publishing, you will need to put in the time yourself to get your book out there. Research where others have marketed their books and look to do similar things. And even consider utilising social media to make your cookbook known.

Choose Book Printing

If you’re considering self-publishing a cookbook, consider BookPrinting. We offer book printing for self-publishers and our dedicated team have a wealth of experience in the book production and publishing arena. We produce high quality books and provide assistance to publishers and authors so they can focus on what they do best. We offer short run hardback book printing, custom book printing, and paperback printing, all within the UK. Whatever your requirements, we are confident we can help! Whether you’re looking for a free bespoke estimate or some professional advice, contact us today and let us help you to get a book printed. Call us on 01525 621742 / 01525 621754 or email: enquiries@bookprinting.co.uk.