The Family Cookbook Project

Category: Editor Tips

  • Stuck inside? Now is the time to add recipes to our family cookbook!

    We at Family Cookbook Project know that the Corona virus is a health concern for everyone. Dealing with our current pandemic is no fun for anyone. Specially with so many people now out of work and having to shelter in place, unable to keep up with their busy lifestyles.

    If you are looking for something interesting to do while you are stuck home, consider adding a few new recipes to your family cookbook.

    Adding a recipes is as easy as filling out a short form on our cookbook’s website. If you cook the dish, you can also take a photo of your food and add it to your recipe.

    The other idea to try while you are shut in is to cook one of the fabulous dishes that have already been added to our cookbook. If you like what you try, please add to the story at the bottom of the recipe and let others know what your thought.

    You can also use Family Cookbook Project’s communication tool to reach out to your contributors and suggest they use this free time to submit recipes. Go to the Communication Center in your Editor’s Account and click on the “Contact existing contributors” link. Here you can select the people you want to receive the email and send them as message. Use the text below to populate the message field and then modify for your own personal use.

    Subject: Stuck inside? Now is the time to add recipes to our family cookbook!

    We know that the Corona virus is a health concern for everyone. Dealing with our current pandemic is no fun for anyone. Specially with so many people now out of work and having to shelter in place, unable to keep up with their busy lifestyles.

    If you are looking for something interesting to do while you are stuck home, consider adding a few new recipes to our family cookbook COOKBOOK TITLE. Adding a recipes is as easy as filling out a short form on our cookbook’s website. If you cook the disk, you can also take a photo of your food and add it to your recipe.

    Your personal log in instructions are at the bottom of this email.

    The other idea to try while you are shut in is to cook one of the fabulous dishes that have already been added to our cookbook. If you like what you try, please add to the story at the bottom of the recipe and let others know what your thought.

    While the impact of this pandemic will be hard on many people, it does give us an opportunity to get caught up on many things that we have not had the time to do in our busy lives.

     

    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!

  • How Many Recipes Should My Cookbook Have?

    One question every cookbook editor wants to know is how many recipes should my cookbook have? Too many and printing costs are higher, not enough and the cookbook is not as valuable. What’s a family cookbook editor to do?

    Looking at the thousands of cookbooks we have printed over the past decade, there is no real number of recipes that make up a good cookbook – you have what you have. We have printed cookbooks with just 15 great recipes and as many as 1200! However, that 1200 recipe book was 750 pages – HUGE!

    The average size seems to be around 150 recipes and that is why we use that number in our cost calculator.

    When a great cookbook has less recipes, often the editor includes other content to augment the food offerings. Photos of each dish, a section of family photos, a family tree or family stories about people remembered can really add value to a smaller cookbook.

    Larger cookbooks can be impressive simply by the number of recipes it contains. However, since printing cost is directly related to the number of pages that need to be printed, it is important to be mindful of your design choices when choosing your layout options.

    At the end of the day, your cookbook is exactly that – your cookbook. You need to balance the number and quality of the recipes included with the needs of your family.

     

    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!

  • Anatomy of a Great Recipe

    One of the keys to a great family cookbook is to have great recipes that your family and friends have come to love. Here are some simple tips to help you capture the magic of the food you make.

    1. Use catchy titles. Using a catchy title will make your recipe sound more interesting. It is more interesting to people when they see the title “Gooey Triple Chocolate Cake” rather than just “Chocolate Cake”. When you are writing a title for a recipe, try to think of not only what the final dish will be, but what makes it special as well.

    2. Include photos. Using images in your recipes can allow the person reading your cookbook to see what the final dish will look like and give then a guidepost to follow. Next time you make one of your special dishes, snap a quick photo and add it to your recipe the next time you log in.

    3. Be specific with your Ingredients. For many cooks, include a can of crushed tomatoes in your recipe and they know exactly what you mean or maybe not. Tell them to include a 12oz can of crushed tomatoes and everyone will know exactly what your recipe needs.

    4. Use step by step instructions. You might have made this recipe a thousand times, but someone new will need detailed directions for how to do it. Remember to include pan sizes, cooking times, the order that ingredients are added and how to tell when a dish is done. Also adding how many servings a recipe can make will help with meal planning.

    5. Add personal notes. One of the things that make a family cooks so important is that it helps to capture the family traditions. Include a note with each recipe about how you first were introduced to the recipe and when it is typically served in your household. It makes the recipe more interesting and more meaningful to later generations.

     

    Chip Lowell is Co-Publisher of the Great Family Cookbook Project, a website that helps families and individuals collect and share food memories. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!

  • Be Proud of your Family Cookbook!

    Family Cookbook Project has helped thousands of families and individuals create lasting treasured Mementos and preserved family recipes for future generations.

    We have received hundreds of great comments about people being Family Cookbook Projects. You can see many of these comments in our what they’re saying about family cookbook section of our blog.

    In fact, in a recent survey of cookbook editors 94% said that they would recommend Family Cookbook Project to a friend.

    While we have loads of great comments, we have very few photos of cookbook editors with their finished product. And this is where you can come in.

    If you’ve printed your cookbook, please have someone take a picture of you with your cookbook and send it to us. We would love to share these photos on social media and in our monthly newsletter.

    It’s important that people looking to start a cookbook can see that real people like you having already done so successfully.

    Send your photos to bill@familycookbookproject.com

     

    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!

  • What To Do Once You’ve Printed Your Cookbook

    You’ve done it. You have collected your recipes, got others to contribute their recipes, picked a cover and recipe layouts and used Family Cookbook Project.com to publish your very own cookbook.

    Now what?

    The good news is just because you publish your first cookbook doesn’t mean that you have to be done.

    Here are some ideas on how to continue using your Family Cookbook Project.com account

    Online recipe box. Many people find that they continue adding new recipes to their account even after publishing and printing their personal cookbook. It’s easy to add recipes and it’s convenient to have them all in one place.

    Use the mobile app – Access to your online recipes is only a few clicks away with the award-winning Family Cookbook Project mobile app for both Apple iPhones and android devices.

    Print a second volume for your family cookbook – Often times once a book is printed new people see its value and want to contribute recipes. Creating a second volume for your family cookbook is a great way to get additional people involved and to keep the project alive.

    Create a Best of cookbook – Our family cookbook has over 250 recipes but I personally have about 50 that I like cooking all the time. I created a separate cookbook just of my go to recipes which allows me to find what I’m looking for so much quicker. I printed one copy and keep it right into the kitchen where I can find it quickly.

    Create a personal cookbook – If you have created a family cookbook, you were allowed only to include so many of your recipes in order to give everyone a chance to participate. Consider creating a cookbook with just your recipes which will allow you to enter many more then or in the family cookbook.

     

    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!

  • Sports Teams Can Raise Money with Team Cookbooks

    Team sports are a great way to instill valuable life lessons to our youth. Teamwork, hard work, perseverance, how to both win and lose. These things are learned by being part of a team. However the cost for running team sport program can be more than what many families can afford.  Team organizers often turn to fundraisers to help defray the costs of expenses like gear, travel, field and court time and more.

    For many years, youth football programs, youth soccer programs, cheer squads, have used fundraising cookbooks as a way to bring the team and it’s community together. The team members share their family food traditions and at the same time create a lasting reminder of their membership on the team and even or raise funds for worthy causes.

    Family Cookbook Project, using the power of the Internet, has been helping teams create team fundraiser cookbooks successfully and profitably. Our step by step guidance and simple online make creating a successful fundraising cookbook a breeze.

    Family Cookbook Project recently added 5 new sports-themed cookbook cover option to our already extensive offerings. And more are on the way!

    Cheer Fundraising Cookbook Soccer Fundraising Cookbook Cheerleading Fundraiser Cookbook Soccer Fundraiser Cookbook Football Fundraising Cookbook

     

     

     

     

     

    To start your own team fundraising cookbook project, go to our fundraising specific site www.CookbookFundraiser.com

     

    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!

  • Why Blank Pages are Important in a Family Cookbook

    One of the questions we get a lot as Cookbook Publishers is “how do I remove the blank pages in my cookbook?”

    It seems that when people preview their family cookbook on FamilyCookbookProject.com, they see the cover, then a blank page, then the title page, then another blank page, and so on. They want those blank pages eliminated to lower the cost of printing.

    In publishing, especially cookbook publishing, a cookbook needs to be laid out in a specific way in order for the most important pages to be on the right side when the book is opened. Think about it, Whenever you open a book, the title page is the first thing you see and it is always on the right page of a two page spread. Same goes for the Introduction, Table of Contents and the section dividers.

    On FamilyCookbookProject.com, if you create a preview cookbook PDF, you want to open it in your Adobe Reader program and select the option to view “Facing Pages” or “Double-up” (look under the View menu), you’ll see how the pages back up to each other.

    Now with that said, there is no reason why those pages have to be blank. The inside front cover can have a family photo photo or bio of the cookbook editor. The same goes for other blank pages as well. If your introduction is one page and after it is a blank page, consider writing more, adding a photo or even making the text larger to fill up that extra space.

    One benefit form using FamilyCookbookProject.com is that we provide a complete set of handy kitchen information that can be used on the back of the recipe category dividers with the touch of a button.

    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!

  • Top Blog Posts of 2019

    Family Cookbook Project is very proud of our blog Creating A Family Cookbook Project. Each week we post articles on what’s new for Family Cookbook Editors, recipe writing hints, How to make a better family cookbook articles and general cooking tips for our readers.

    Here are the  most read articles of 2019:

    1) 4 Family Cookbook Mistakes to Avoid 
    2) How To Scan Recipe Cards into a Family Cookbook
    3) Top Cookbook Covers of 2018 
    4) How To Make A Bridal Shower Cookbook
    5) Anatomy of a Great Recipe
    6) The Easiest Way to Preserve Family Recipes
    7) Highlighting recipes with recipe symbols
    8) Common Peppers at your Grocery Store

     

    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!

  • How Family Cookbook Project Stacks Up

    A while back Family Cookbook Project did an informal survey of other cookbook publisher to see how our online cookbook software compared to the competition. We were very pleased at what we found:

    Recipe Collection

    US THEM*
    Email blast to invite recipe contributors Yes No
    Email reminders to some or all contributors to keep motivated Yes No
    A growing message library that you can use to keep contributors motivated Yes No
    Online storage of recipes Yes No
    Send email of individual recipes easily Yes No
    Show how many times a recipe has been viewed online Yes No
    Track which contributors have logged in and how many recipes they have entered Yes No
    Track and list recipes by contributor Yes No
    Offers a unique URL for contributors to reach your website Yes No
    Offers an online forum for sharing cookbook ideas and questions Yes No
    Allow contributors to edit their own recipes Yes No
    Lock recipe input for final editing Yes No
    Monthly newsletter with editor tips and helpful ideas Yes No
    Online audio help to make entering recipes easy Yes No

    Cookbook Design

    US THEM*
    Offers pre designed color covers and dividers Yes Yes
    Lets you design your own custom covers and dividers at no cost Yes Some
    Offers unlimited sections and dividers Yes No
    Offers unlimited free black & white photos in cookbook Yes No
    Offers several recipe layouts to choose from Yes Yes
    Offers Non-continued recipes FREE Yes No
    Offers Graphics clipart and Quotation filler FREE Yes No
    Lets you see cookbook proof for each recipe layout if you wish Yes No
    Online audio help to make designing and editing your cookbook easy Yes No

    Cookbook Printing

    US THEM*
    Low minimum print orders – just 5 copies Yes No
    Offers online tool to determine how many copies your contributors will want Yes No
    Fast printing turnaround using 100% digital high speed printers Yes Some
    Online audio help to make printing your cookbook easy Yes No

     

    We are so confident that you will find Family Cookbook Project print prices so affordable that we offer you the ability to download a high resolution PDF file of your completed cookbook and take it to another printer if you wish.

    If you are interested in selling your family cookbook or creating a fundraising cookbook, Family Cookbook Project also helps you sell your cookbook at a profit.

    Cookbook Promotion

    US THEM*
    Online profit calculator Yes Some
    Sample promotion information Yes Some
    Offers ISBN numbers and bar codes Yes No
    Gets your cookbook listed on Amazon.com Yes No
    Gets your cookbook offered on eBay Yes No

     

    Bill Rice  is Co-Publisher of the Great Family Cookbook Project, a website that helps families and individuals collect and share food memories. Create your own customized cookbook today. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!

  • How to Bold Text in a Family Cookbook Recipe

    Have you ever wanted to call everyone’s attention to a specific line an a recipe?

    Do not cook longer than 10 minutes!

    Add ingredients in this specific order!

    Do not preheat your oven!

    Certain directions are critical to the outcome of a favorite dish and Family Cookbook Project as made it easy if you want to bold your text in a recipe.  You just have to learn HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language, the programming language of every website on the Internet.

    Now before you say “I’m not a computer programmer, I can barely turn on my laptop”. It’s super easy for what you want to do.

    In directions, comments and ingredients when you are adding a new recipe, you can use simple HTML tags like:

    <b>BOLD</b>
    <i>Italic</i>
    <u>Underline</u>

    Replace the word between the tags with what you want to appear in that format. It’s as simple as that!

    For example <b>Do not cook longer than 10 minutes!</b> looks like this Do not cook longer than 10 minutes!

    If you use Do not cook longer than 10 minutes! it will look like this Do not cook longer than 10 minutes!

    and if you use <u>Do not cook longer than 10 minutes!</u> it will look like this Do not cook longer than 10 minutes!

    The most important thing to remember is that all tags start with “<>” and end with a “</>”. If you forget the /> then every thing else in your recipe will be based on the tag you used. Don’t forget your “</>”!

    Family Cookbook Project is always looking for ways to make your favorite recipes come to life for you and your family.

     

    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!