Category: Editor Tips

If you have a pile of recipes that you need to enter into familycookbookproject.com but are not looking forward to having to spend your days typing, there is an easier way. You can dictate your recipes using speech to text software built into your phone or computer. Your recipes are  turned into text that can be edited and then cut and pasted into the Add a Recipe form in your editor account.

There are several very easy ways to dictate recipes.

Mobile phones – If you use an iPhone, simply open up your notes application and create a new note. Next, look at the bottom right corner of your pop-up keyboard. You’ll see a little microphone. Click on this and you can start talking and the software in the phone will change your words into written text.

You might have to do some editing because it does not always get it right, but it still can be a great timesaver.

Microsoft Word – while typing is certainly the most common way to create documents, you’re not limited to using the keyboard. Word will let you dictate your writing using voice recognition. This works on both a Mac and a PC.

Make sure your computer has a microphone attached. This can be built-in like on a laptop or a separate microphone you plug into the computer. Make sure you are in the home tab of a word document and then look for the microphone icon on the right side of the menu bar that says dictate.

Remember to speak clearly and speak punctuation out loud as you go. For example you can say “new line“ if you want to drop down a line. When you finish a sentence, you just say the word “period”.

Dedicated application – There are also other commercially available apps that you can use to dictate your recipes. However, with a simplicity of your mobile phone or word processing software, I don’t know why you would need it.

Dictating your recipes can be a great timesaver. Once you have the text in a document, then you can simply cut and paste that recipe into in the Add A Recipe form and you are good to go.

By the way, this entire article was dictated on my iPhone. Good luck!

Bill Rice is founder and Co-Publisher of the Great Family Cookbook Project, a website that helps families and individuals collect and share food memories through customized printed cookbooks filled with treasured recipes. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!

So your recipes are all entered, your cookbook cover is selected and you have a great recipe layout. So what else do you need to do before sending your cookbook to print?

Edit it of course! That’s why you are the Editor! Once thee cookbook has been sent to print, you can not make any changes what appears in the PDF file is what gets printed. So you need to review the cookbook page by page to make sure you are happy with everything you see.

Here are some specific things to look for:

The first thing to do is checking for typos and missing info. Start at the from of the front of your cookbook is click on the intro pages, if used, and read them out loud to make sure they sound correct. If you see any red lines under the text, it means the spellchecker thinks a word may be misspelled. Next move on to any custom pages you may have created and do the same thing.

Next it is time to review the recipes. Go to view recipes by table of contents and select the first category. Check you recipes for:

• Misspelled words underlined in red
• Consistent use of measurement abbreviations
• Ingredients used in the recipe but not listed
• Ingredients listed but not used
• Are the directions complete and understandable?
• Does the recipe fit on one page?

Save any changes you made.

View the recipe in your selected layout by clicking on the “See your recipe” button above the recipe title. This will show you how the recipe will look in your cookbook. If only a few words appear on the second page, consider shortening the directions or personal notes to make it fit on a single page.

Be sure to save any changes before moving to the next recipe. Use the dark green buttons on the top of the recipe to move forward and back without having to go to the table of contents each time.

Next, it is time to look at the overall layout of your cookbook. Start by generating a proof by clicking on the link to “Preview cookbook” in the black navigation bar in your editor account. You can review it online in your browser and the pages will be laid out just like a printed cookbook.

• Check for text that creates extra pages and consider rewriting to shorten.
• Look at the placement of the photos
• Look for blank pages. Most will be be necessary for the layout so that key pages, like category dividers, always appear on the right facing page.
• Make sure the contributor list does not contain duplicate names. If so, go to the view recipes by contributor and correct the names so they match exactly.

Once you have completed your edits and saved everything, you are ready to place your print order!

Bill Rice is founder and Co-Publisher of the Great Family Cookbook Project, a website that helps families and individuals collect and share food memories through customized printed cookbooks filled with treasured recipes. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!