LitFire Publishing Tells All: Publish a Cookbook That Will Smolder with Success

What’s the next best thing to eating food? It’s to talk about it. Imagine yourself sitting down with your friends and talking about all the sumptuous and mouthwatering dishes you can think of.

Hey, since you love food so much, why don’t you write your own cookbook? For sure, throughout the years, you have compiled a number of recipes that you want to share with the world. But you're too afraid to waste your time, effort and talent on something that won’t sell. What can you do? Are there ways to lessen the probability of a failed cookbook?

Discover your niche.

It might sound complex but it’s actually quite simple. All you have to do is to determine your specific target audience who will buy your book. Look into their interests and needs, then write recipes that will match their preferences. But you shouldn’t forget to consider your cooking skills when thinking about the recipes, if you don’t want to encounter hardships along the way.

For instance, if you’re considered an expert in making quick lunch or dinner recipes, then perhaps you can target people with a limited cooking time. They can be busy entrepreneurs, young professionals and even busy moms. And then, think what sort of food will grab their attention like, easy to make sandwiches, pasta and other quick dishes.

Develop your recipes.

In the self-publishing industry, it’s not enough to be good but you also have to be different.  Put it in mind that a lot of cookbooks are competing for the attention of readers. So, you need to think of a unique selling point and use it to stand out from the rest. It might mean you have to reinvent common recipes by using alternative ingredients. Or, if you can create a new recipe all together, it would be better.

Once you have these ideas in mind, compile a list of the recipes that you want to include. Organize all the ingredients and meal preparations into an easy-to-follow list. Test the recipes at least twice to make sure your measurements and preparations will bring the desired result. As a last test, let others read your draft and see if they can easily follow the instructions you have given.

 

Clean up the messy bits.

Edit your manuscript. There is no place for spelling and grammatical errors in your cookbook. Otherwise, you won’t be able to establish authority on the subject, which can greatly affect its saleability.

Aside from these things, you should also take the time to review what you have written. Put yourself in the shoes of your target readers and see if they get the ingredients from their local grocery store easily. Do the recipes need some advanced kitchen skills, equipment and time that your readers might not have? If this is the case, then you should find a way to solve the situation. It’s either change some ingredients in the recipe or look for a simple process to prepare the dishes you have written. 

Most importantly, don’t disregard the importance of a good layout. Make a good first impression through your front cover. Use high quality photos and arrange the words beautifully to entice your target audience. When it comes to the interior part of the cookbook, choose a layout that suits your theme. Again, use high quality photos for the pictures or illustrations. Don’t have any idea how do all these things? Don’t worry, you can always call on the expertise of a designer or a layout artist.

Don’t be just another cookbook writer in a corner hoping to become a celebrity cookbook author like Julia Childs or Jeff Smith. Be the cookbook author who can actually write a great cookbook that readers would want to buy. And all you have to do is take note of these top three insider tricks. When you're ready, you can even turn to us for help in self-publishing your work.

So, are you ready to write your way to your cookbook success?

About the Author

Jill Bennett is a Book Marketing Specialist at LitFire Publishing, a company based in Atlanta, Georgia. For the past six years, she’s been working with several self-publishing authors in terms of book marketing, publicity and distribution. Now, she’s helping more self-publishing authors to turn their dreams of being able to share their stories into a reality. Aside from that, she is currently writing blog posts that tackle various topics like different self-publishing issues and other general writing tips to help authors and aspiring new writers in their craft.

 

 

Author's Note

What’s the next best thing to eating food? It’s to talk about it.