How to Publish a Cookbook
About seven years ago, I self-published a cookbook called Comfortably Yum. Since then, it has sold steadily month after month.
My chocolate lace cake. Photo by Luisa Perkins
About seven years ago, I self-published a cookbook called Comfortably Yum. Since then, it has sold steadily month after month.
I’ve continued to collect and develop recipes in the time since. I initially thought I’d create a “sequel,” but I’ve instead decided to revise and expand the original, doubling it in size and improving it based on my own work and feedback from readers. I plan to have it done some time this summer.
Here’s the process I’ve used in putting my cookbook together:
1. Write down ideas. Maybe you tasted something great in a restaurant or bakery that you want to reverse engineer. Maybe you’ve had a brain flash on how to improve a traditional dish. Maybe you got desperate one night when the fridge was pretty bare, and you created something brand new and fabulous. Maybe a friend shared a recipe with you, and you’ve customized it to your family’s tastes.
I’ve done all of the above and more in choosing my recipes. Cookbooks generally have at least 75 recipes in them, and many have far more than that.
2. Come up with a theme. Look at your list carefully and analyze it. Group the recipes into categories. Is your list unbalanced? Is it all one kind of food? What do your recipes have in common? What are the outliers?
Once you’ve seen patterns and recurrences in your list, you can figure out whether you’re going to have an eclectic collection or a single-themed book — and whether you need to trim or expand your list.
Examples from my own cookbook shelf: The Food Lab and The Way to Cook are eclectic (as is my book); Chocolate Never Faileth and Food in Jars focus on just one wonderful thing.
3. Test, test, test. Follow each recipe exactly as you’ve drafted it and take notes on what needs improving. Try your recipes again and again — as many times as needed until they’re consistently perfect.
4. Write out the full text of the recipes. Recipe contest rules generally stipulate that if you’ve changed three things, whether ingredients or techniques — putting in two teaspoons of vanilla instead of one, or baking at 325 degrees instead of 350 — the recipe becomes “yours.”
However, I’ll tell you a secret: combinations of ingredients and techniques themselves can’t be owned or copyrighted. (I know this because I’m married to an intellectual property lawyer.)
But legally, what you need to know is that the way recipes are written is copyrighted. It’s the expression that matters.
My recipes have a chatty, quirky voice and give detailed directions. Other cookbook authors are more formal or minimal. Let your personality shine.
Experienced cooks develop an instinct for how to make successful changes. I’ve changed nearly every recipe I’ve ever read in a cookbook or online, often significantly. Regardless, when I’m publishing an adaptation, I think it’s courteous to credit the original recipe for my inspiration.
5. Ask others to test your recipes. This is the equivalent of asking for beta readers for a novel. Are your directions clear? Are your measurements, times, and temperatures accurate? What have you left out? Feedback from other cooks — both beginners and veterans — is essential, as is careful proofreading by eyes other than your own.
6. Choose a way to publish. I used Amazon’s CreateSpace and have been very happy with it. I paid my brother-in-law to design my cookbook’s cover, but if you don’t know a graphic artist, a quick online search will produce many low-cost options. Having pros help you with design is key to your book’s appeal, because people do judge books by their covers all the time.
7. Spread the word. I’ve done very little marketing, yet my cookbook continues to sell. I put that down to word of mouth, which is better than any advertising you can buy.
At the beginning, though, consider printing some postcards with your cover on one side and one of your best recipes on the other and give them away. That’ll cost you $20. Ask friends to write reviews. Trade bloggers a copy for a review.
And then move on to your next project and wait. Be patient. If your recipes are good, your book will become a success.