Saving precious family recipes, compiling favorites for future generations to enjoy, or putting together a formal book of recipes for your organization to sell for profit are some of the reasons why people decide to self-publish a cookbook.
And the basics of just about every cookbook remains the same: creators bring together a grouping of recipes that include instructions as well as a detailed ingredient list. But not all cookbooks show off their unique side and appeal to those who might like the recipes hidden inside.
So let’s take a look at a few tips to make a successful cookbook printing as well as be useful and convenient for cooks to try out the recipes hidden inside.
What Makes Successful Cookbook Printing?
While there is no one recipe for what makes successful cookbook printing, the cookbooks that we love the most share qualities in their appearance, feel, and usage that make them work well and look great. We think these six ingredients mix well together and will deliver a successful cookbook printing that you will be proud of and others will want to snag for themselves.
1. The Cover Is Engaging in Successful Cookbook Printing
While the old saying claims we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, the truth is we do, especially with books we are considering buying for ourselves. And a cookbook cover might even be more important simply because aspiring chefs, newbie cooks, and everyone in between likes to see the potential inside of the successful cookbook printing when they glance at its cover.
Whether it is a mouthwatering picture of a finished recipe, a candid photo of the chef behind the book, or even a graphic depicting the organization behind the cookbook’s inspiration, choosing the perfect cover is important and shouldn’t be left as an afterthought.
- Your cookbook will be more successful if the cover provides a tantalizing look at the food, style, or recipes it holds with a beautiful photograph for users to see what their finished recipes could look like.
- When the chef is the reason for the cookbook, featuring an attractive photo of the chef will appeal to the crowd.
- If the cookbook is for preserving a family recipe collection, be sure to acknowledge the family, person, or group on the cover.
- For fundraising cookbooks, make sure that the group or organization benefitting from the sales is clearly named along with using their brand, graphic, or photograph. A successful cookbook printing sale will happen when the cover appeals to the right potential customer base.
Top Tips: If cookbook authors need help making the cover look just right, engage the services of a design expert. Design, color choices, and knowing what to include on a book’s cover are all important. Don’t forget to include an ISBN number and bar code if you want retailers to be able to sell your cookbook, too.
2. The Layout Works in Successful Cookbook Printing
One of the most important cookbook tips to remember is to include a workable, logical layout for the cookbook. Your cookbook might focus on one type of food, like desserts or pastries, so creating an organization of the contents makes it simpler for users to explore the book and ultimately find what they need.
Comprehensive cookbooks, regardless of length, however, usually follow a standard pattern:
- Table of Contents
- Appetizers
- Soups and Salads
- Bread and Pastries
- Main Dishes
- Side Dishes
- Desserts
- Beverages or Cocktails
Top Tip: Include an alphabetized index of all recipes at the end of the successful cookbook printing. Alternatively, the index can provide a different way to sort recipes: by contributor, by food style or taste, or by any other metric that makes sense for your specific cookbook.
3. The Successful Cookbook Printing Is Easy to Use
No one wants their cookbook to gather dust on a shelf but cookbooks that contain recipes that are inconvenient to use could very well end up with a dusty fate. Cookbook authors can make reading the recipes easy for users in two main ways. First, choose a book binding that allows the cookbook to open fully.
Bindings like Plastic Coil or Wire-O allow the pages of the cookbook to lay flat so users can write on the pages easily or fold one side back to make viewing a recipe easier. In addition, provide enough white space around the recipes.
Users like to make notations about each recipe and their experiences with making it. So leaving enough space around each is key for users to get the most out of the cookbook and encourages them to return to the book again and again.
Top Tip: Use a cookbook template to help with the layout of each page. Adjusting the white space will be easier with a template and allowing for extra margin space that plastic coil and wire-0 bindings require is simple when you use one as well.
4. The Pictures Are High Quality in Successful Cookbook Printing
Not every cookbook utilizes full-color photography, but any pictures you do use, whether on the cover, alongside recipes or as interesting sidenotes throughout the cookbook, should all look crisp and clean.
While smartphone photos may look good on a small screen, they are usually low resolution and will not print cleanly in a publication. Using 300 dpi for each picture will ensure that photos are not pixelated when the cookbook is published.
Top Tip: When possible, use pictures in your cookbook to add in interest.
- Cover photos of tasty food or a compelling shot of the cookbook author can grab a potential buyer’s attention.
- Recipe photos can be used to show step-by-step stages of recipes to show users what the recipe will look like during the cooking process.
- Pictures of the ingredients in a recipe, artfully arranged or even simply lined up, can be appealing, especially when one or more of the ingredients are unusual or picturesque.
- Photos of the cookbook contributor nearby their recipes can bring a cookbook to life, as well, and provide users a connection to the cookbook inspiration for a family recipe collection or even a fundraising cookbook.
5. The Directions Are Clear and Precise in Successful Cookbook Printing
One of the most critical cookbook tips is to make sure your recipes are correct from the ingredient list to the final step of the directions. If recipes were submitted and not authored by the cookbook creator, each one should be reviewed carefully for correctness as well as clarity.
While making each recipe prior to publishing your cookbook is not necessarily required, reading through each direction to make sure the steps are listed out explicitly and clear enough for an inexperienced chef to follow is important.
Look at each recipe and set of directions from the viewpoint of someone who is unfamiliar with cooking to see if each step clearly lays out what to do, and when, or if additions to the recipe should be made for clarity.
Top Tip: Make sure that ingredient measurements are consistent throughout every recipe. Determine if T or Teaspoon will be used, for example, and then scan every recipe for compliance so the reader will know exactly what quantities to use in every recipe.
Consider putting a simple key in the cookbook for those unfamiliar with cooking or baking to refer to as well as common substitutions that might be helpful.
6. The Cookbook Is Unique
The purpose of your cookbook should shine through to the reader from the cover design to the graphics and font choice used on the pages to the personalized details included in the cookbook. Include more than just recipes in the cookbook to appeal to a wider audience and to increase the odds of a successful cookbook printing.
Unique cookbooks also aesthetically pleasing to look at. So choosing an appealing color scheme to match the pictures and graphics included in a cookbook will provide users with a cohesive experience and will add to the success of a cookbook.
Top Tip: Consider who the potential user or buyer of your successful cookbook printing will be when you look for details to make it stand out from others on the bookshelf. Is the first-time, young chef your audience?
Consider adding technology links, QR codes, or a web address that leads readers to your author’s website to appeal to tech-savvy buyers. Is your audience the seasoned chef or baker who might enjoy reading about the history of the recipes themselves?
Or think about potential customers who might be in a rush to get healthy, tasty food on the table. Your cookbook could include time-saving swaps, shortcuts, or other helpful additions to show value in your cookbook that they might not see in other publications.
Successful Cookbook Printing
Choosing the recipes to include might be the best way to begin your successful cookbook printing journey. But the next step should be to partner with a trustworthy, proven printing company like Dazzle Printing to make your cookbook dreams a reality. Your cookbook’s success depends on not just how you design it but also on the quality of your publisher.
When you’re ready to print your cookbook, check out our instant online pricing calculators.
