The Family Cookbook Project

Category: How to Ideas

  • How Many Recipes Does My Cookbook Need?

    spiralbinderclosedOne 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.

  • Easy ways to add recipes into your cookbook

    CookbooksMany people who have entered recipes in the past into a word processing program, like Microsoft Word, often of ask us for a way to import these recipes into Family Cookbook Project.

    Unfortunately, there is no automatic way to import these recipes into our system because each source uses its own layout and there is no way for us to identify what information needs to needs to be entered into our fields.

    Cut and Paste

    The good news is that it’s quick and easy to copy and paste a recipe into Family Cookbook Project using cut and paste on your computer.

    Here’s how: Simply highlight all the ingredients in your source document and hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the “C” key on your keyboard. Next go to “add a new recipe” in your family cookbook site. Click in the ingredients box and now hold the Ctrl key while pressing the “v” key. This pastes what you have copied into the field. Repeat for title, directions and notes and you are done!

    This process also can be used to import recipes from other websites. However, remember to credit the source of the recipe in your recipe notes.

    Scanning recipes

    Another way editors look to add recipes is by scanning. The problem with scanned recipes is that the system can not read the text to create titles and indexes and other parts of the cookbook. The computer just sees them as photos.

    Here is a blog post that should help answer your questions:

    http://www.familycookbookproject.com/theblog/2014/03/scanning-recipes-into-a-cookbook.html

    Moving recipes between cookbooks

    If want to transfer recipes from one cookbook to another, you can do so by using the Recipe Transfer Tool.  Go to Editor Tools>Multi-book Dashboard. You will find the link at the bottom of the page since it is still in the testing (beta) phase. This tool offers step by step instructions on how to move your recipes to the new cookbook

  • The most important part of your recipe – the title

    495379recipepic65541-Jacques-Torres-Secret-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-RecipeYour recipe title is the single most important element of your recipe. This is because your title is a headline, and the headline in any type of content has one special and powerful property.

    Think about how you read a cookbook looking for a recipe to try.  You don’t start in the front and read every page like a novel then pick the one you want. No, you scan the pages looking for a photo or recipe title that catches your eye and looks interesting!

    Of all the elements in your recipe, the title has the greatest power for grabbing your readers’ attention and the greatest responsibility for enticing them to continue and read your recipe It follows that the better your title, the higher the chance of turning a recipe scanner into a recipe reader (and ultimately a recipe user).

    For a recipe title to be effective it needs to consider several things:

    Grab Attention – Like any headline you need to grab the readers attention.

    Describe the food being prepared – “Gruel” is one of my son’s favorite dishes, however it no one outside the family knows what it is. Including the main ingredient of the dish and even how it us prepared make the title more useful. “Baked Hamburger Gravy” would be a more descriptive title for our gruel.

    Be different and unique – If you have seen the recipe title before, it does not belong on your recipe!

    Include the source – In family cookbooks, certain people are associated with certain recipes. Grandma’s Apple Pie or Lou’s Lemon Bars help the reader image exactly what dish you are referring to. It just does not help anyone who is not at family gatherings!

    Sell the sizzle as well as the steak – This means to highlight the benefit, the reason why this recipe is worth making.

    Recipe titles that address cooking and eating needs are more likely to seduce the reader into the recipe itself. A good title clearly shows the reader which of their cooking and eating needs the recipe addresses. Every readers’ need is different. For example, it could be for something indulgent or something low fat, or something quick and easy or something sophisticated and thus involved, or something refined or something rustic.

    Consider the following recipe titles: ‘Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies’, ‘Quick ‘n’ Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies’, ‘Grandma’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies’, ‘Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies’. Notice how each title addresses a different need and even appeals to different audiences. Quite simply, as the chocolate chip cookie examples show, it’s all down to the words you choose for your title.

    With a little thought and imagination, your recipe titles can stand out and make your readers give your recipes the attention they deserve.

    Bill Rice 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!

  • Cost of Printing A Family Cookbook

    CookbookPileOne of the most frequent questions asked by people wanting to create family cookbook is “How much will it cost”.

    There are two expenses you will incur to create your own personalized family cookbook. The first is the membership fee and the second is the actual printing of the cookbooks.

    The membership fee allows Family Cookbook Project to maintain it’s servers, maintain the software, hire designers to create new covers, and cover the other costs of doing business. We have tried to keep this fee as low as possible and allow it to be paid either monthly, annually or with a lifetime membership.

    The other cost of creating your personalized cookbook is the actual printing. There are three major aspects to your cookbook that will impact the cost of printing.

    The most significant is the page count. The more pages in your cookbook, the more it will cost to print. Raw materials, such as paper and ink play a factor here.

    The second consideration the use of color. Color inks cost more than black inks and that is why if you include more color in your cookbook, especially photos, we are required to charge extra.

    The final consideration is the number of books printed. Each cookbook must be set up on the press for printing. The cost of that set-up has to be distributed to each of the cookbooks printed. That is why the price per book when you order only five cookbooks is so much more than when you order 100.

    You will find the complete pricing for the use of the site at http://www.familycookbookproject.com/price_to_print_a_family_cookbook.asp
    You will also find a way to estimate the cost of your cookbook printing at the bottom of the page, however the actual cost will be determined by the number of pages contained in your cookbook when you send it to print.
    There are also ways an editor can lower the cost of printing. Check out our blog post Lowering the Cost Of Printing Your Cookbook for some ideas.

  • Why Cookbooks Make a Great Fundraiser

    fundraiserFunding worthwhile projects can be a challenge. While there are many fundraising programs that happen year after year, it’s always good to try something new every once in a while to keep people interested.

    A fundraising cookbook not only can help you find important projects and activities, but it also can help to bring a community together in a fun activity that everyone can benefit from.

    Who doesn’t like to see their name in print? Having a recipe submitted and included in a community cookbook gives added incentive to buy those cookbooks and share them with friends and family.

    Here are some ideas on how to get the most from your fundraising cookbook project.

    1) The more people you get involved with your cookbook, the more people will likely be your target audience to buy that cookbook once it is printed.

    Cookbook fundraiser.com has built-in tools to invite as many people as possible to contribute to your cookbook. We make it easy!

    2) Include advertising from local businesses and individuals to help support the cost of printing the cookbook. That way the proceeds from the sale of the cookbook can go directly to the worthy cause.

    Cookbookfundraiser.com allows you to add as many extra pages to the back of your cookbook as you would like. These make it easy to add advertising pages!

    3) Most fundraising cookbooks seem to be priced between $12 and $20 and contain about 150 recipes. Determine how much money your organization wants to raise and that will help you determine how many copies you need to sell and at what price to reach your goal.

    Our website has a great cost estimator to help you determine what to expect from your printing cost. We also offer many hints on how to format your cookbook to decrease the cost of printing.

    4) Reach out to not only those who contributed recipes, but all those in your community to pre-order the cookbook before you go to print. The more copies you presell, the more copies you can order which will lower your per copy cost.

    Our pre-ordering tool makes getting orders from contributors a snap. You can also order a single copy of your cookbook to display at community events and help to generate additional sales.

    5) Add an ISBN number and bar code to your cookbook and you can sell the cookbook at local bookstores and online on Amazon.com. This can provide ongoing revenue for your organization.

    Family cookbook project offers a marketing package that includes an ISBN number and barcode. We also will get your cookbook listed on Amazon.com!

    6) Ask local retail stores to also sell your cookbook to their customers. Often grocery stores and small retailers will support community fundraising efforts at no charge by offering the product at their checkout counter.

    These are but I handful of ways to help you get the most from your cookbook fundraiser project. However, as with every fundraising project, it takes one individual to get the ball rolling.

    To get started with your cookbook fundraiser project, go to www.cookbookfundraiser.com and create a free account today!

  • Wanted: Grandparents who cook

    logo_800x

    Cooking Channel’s hit show needs Grandmas and Grandpas for Season 3!! You (or someone you know) could be featured on the series The New Yorker calls “charming” and Parade Magazine calls “maybe the best (cooking show) on TV”.

    They are looking for…
    Grandmothers and Grandfathers
    All ethnicities anywhere in America
    50 to 100 years old
    Big personalities who can cook delicious dishes
    Real characters: warm, fun, outgoing, eccentric, lovable, sweet, fiery, or even curmudgeonly
    Great families
    Accents and English as a second language not a problem

    HOW TO APPLY

    If you know someone who might be who they are looking for, go to the website http://www.grandparentswhocook.com/ and complete the simple application. It does not cost anything to try and you might get your grandmother on a TV show!

  • Still More Family Cookbook Editor Comments

    A few months ago, we asked our Family Cookbook Editors what they thought about our website, our software, our customer service and our cookbooks. 

    Here are some of the comments they wanted to share:

    “As I high school teacher with 160+ students, I am delighted by how this project puts the recipe together for you.  I love the pride my students exhibit when they see it published!”
    Brenda Grueneberger

    Class of 2013 Cookbook Project

    “We have had many people tell us that the Sample Family Cookbook is their favorite cookbook, even many outside our family.  We really enjoyed being able to do this to honor our mom who taught us to cook and our dad by the donations we made to the Parkinson’s Foundation with a portion of our proceeds from the sale of our cookbooks.  Dad battled Parkinson’s Disease for many years but remained the pillar of our family until his death.”
    Joy Coles

    The Sample Family Cookbook
    “The ease of use has been impressive and I think once I get the rest of my family on board we will have a great book that will stay in our family for years to come.”
    Debby McKenzie

    Family & Friends Cookbook
    “I was delighted to find this website to create our family cookbook – had been searching online to find what I wanted and was not able to find it until reaching the familycookbookproject.com website – thanks so much for the creation of your site!” 
    Carol Cruise

    Cruise Family Cookbook
    “Easy to use and format.  Allowed me to easily create a “memory generator” for family members”
    Carol Haley

    The McDonell/Borle Family Cookbook
    “This cookbook together was easy and quick.  Talking with family members and sharing memories brought back so many wonderful meals that I had forgotten.  There is a wonderful Personal Notes spot that you can share memories about that recipe.   My children had never met my grandparents but now they will always remember where those recipes came from and why they are special.  Great experience and we now have an heirloom we will pass down for years to come.”
    Darcy Bauer

    Glenn Family Cookbook Project
    “Working on my family cookbook, The Bisceglia Family Cookbook, with familycookbookproject.com was an absolute joy. The site is so easy to use and has everything you could want at your fingertips.  Any questions I had were answered quickly by Chip, who was extremely helpful and friendly. The final cookbook is beautiful and has become a family treasure.  Starting to work on a second edition now! Thank you, thank you!”
    Eileen DiGregorio

    The Bisceglia Family and Beyond Cookbook
    “I am really having fun working with my dear elderly friend in creating Elean Ragan’s family cookbook to pass on to future generations. Thank you,”
    Gayle Waylett

    Elean Ragan’s Family Cookbook

    “Being able to create a family cookbook of recipes from 4 generations and including photos of these family members has been a wonderful gift to our family.”
    Dana Hoffman

    Mercer Graham Maitland Family Cookbook

    “I created a cookbook to give to our customers when they came here for a user group meeting. They loved the idea and were very pleased. It was a great hit with the customers and well as our employees.”
    Christina Rude

    The 2013 MAJIQal Cookbook
    “It’s a great way to collect and publish all of your treasured family recipes. It’s easy to use and manage.”
    Julie Lichty

    The Lichty/Cope/Holthouse Family Cookbook Project
    “I really like the family cookbook project.  My cookbook is taking longer than I would like and I hope you never impose a deadline. Your site, while great for putting a cookbook together, it is also a great online recipe box.”
    Jeffrey Davis

    Davis Family Recipes
    “This is the second volume of our family cookbook.  The first one was done by me, using publishing software and manually entering everyone’s recipes.  This way is SO much easier!  Everyone puts their own recipes in, eliminating a source of transcribing error, and there is plenty of time to correct any errors before committing to print.  Our last cookbook had many errors that were not corrected before printing.  This way multiple people can test the recipe before it is printed, and directions can be clarified if necessary.”
    Cyndie Snoddy

    The Benson Family Cookbook Volume 2
    “I have been so pleased with Family Cookbook, the ease of using the program and the reminders to keep me going!”
    Audrey Stewart  

    Thru The Kitchen Window

    “After celebrating our mother’s 90th birthday, my computer wiz sister collected family memories centered around Mom.  Most of those memories involved food, meals and favorite recipes.  So I thought it would be nice to assemble our favorite recipes in a family cookbook.  Went on line looking for a site that would help me and found you!  Invited family members to add recipes and off we went!  That was almost 4 years ago.  The younger members of the family do not do paper.  They cook with their laptops on the counter and look at recipes on line.  So we decided not to make a paper book.  I then joined for life so everyone could just look up a recipe.  I think it is cool how you share our recipes with others.  My sister, Phyllis got the most hits on her turkey roasting recipe.  But I love the comment entry where we can share stories about our recipes.  That is the most unique item in your site that I enjoy very much.  Thank you.  Can’t tell you how many friends I have shared your site with.  What a wonderful service!” 
    Libby Welter

    Welter Family Cook Book

     

    “After looking around for cookbook formats online, I decided on familycookbookproject.com.  It was the easiest and most user friendly for me.  I found that when I had any issues or questions, I only had to email you and got a solution very quickly.” 
    Donna Weston

    Tastes of Love from Cajun Hearts

  • How to get your recipes into your cookbook

    How to get your recipes into your cookbook


    Many people who have entered recipes in the past into a word processing program, like Microsoft Word, often of ask us for a way to import these recipes into Family Cookbook Project.

    Unfortunately, there is no automatic way to import these recipes into our system because each source uses its own layout and there is no way for us to identify what information needs to needs to be entered into our fields.
    Cut and Paste
    The good news is that it’s quick and easy to copy and paste a recipe into Family Cookbook Project using cut and paste on your computer.
    Here’s how: Simply highlight all the ingredients in your source document and hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the “C” key on your keyboard. Next go to “add a new recipe” in your family cookbook site. Click in the ingredients box and now hold the Ctrl key while pressing the “v” key. This pastes what you have copied into the field. Repeat for title, directions and notes and you are done!
    This process also can be used to import recipes from other websites. However, remember to credit the source of the recipe in your recipe notes.
    Scanning recipes
    Another way editors look to add recipes is by scanning. The problem with scanned recipes is that the system can not read the text to create titles and indexes and other parts of the cookbook. The computer just sees them as photos.
    Here is a blog post that should help answer your questions:
    Moving recipes between cookbooks

    If want to transfer recipes from one cookbook to another, you can do so by using the Recipe Transfer Tool.  Go to Editor Tools>Publishing Tool. You will find the link at the bottom of the page since it is still in the testing (beta) phase. This tool offers step by step instructions on how to move your recipes to the new cookbook

  • How Many Recipes Should a Cookbook Have?

    How Many Recipes Should a 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.

  • Why your recipe title is the most important part of your recipe


    Grandma’s Amazing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Your recipe title is the single most important element of your recipe. This is because your title is a headline, and the headline in any type of content has one special and powerful property.

    Think about how you read a cookbook looking for a recipe to try.  You don’t start in the front and read every page like a novel then pick the one you want. No, you scan the pages looking for a photo or recipe title that catches your eye and looks interesting!

    Of all the elements in your recipe, the title has the greatest power for grabbing your readers’ attention and the greatest responsibility for enticing them to continue and read your recipe It follows that the better your title, the higher the chance of turning a recipe scanner into a recipe reader (and ultimately a recipe user).

    For a recipe title to be effective it needs to consider several things:

    Grab Attention – Like any headline you need to grab the readers attention.

    Describe the food being prepared – “Gruel” is one of my son’s favorite dishes, however it no one outside the family knows what it is. Including the main ingredient of the dish and even how it us prepared make the title more useful. “Baked Hamburger Gravy” would be a more descriptive title for our gruel.

    Be different and unique – If you have seen the recipe title before, it does not belong on your recipe!

    Include the source – In family cookbooks, certain people are associated with certain recipes. Grandma’s Apple Pie or Lou’s Lemon Bars help the reader image exactly what dish you are referring to. It just does not help anyone who is not at family gatherings!

    Sell the sizzle as well as the steak – This means to highlight the benefit, the reason why this recipe is worth making.

    Recipe titles that address cooking and eating needs are more likely to seduce the reader into the recipe itself. A good title clearly shows the reader which of their cooking and eating needs the recipe addresses. Every readers’ need is different. For example, it could be for something indulgent or something low fat, or something quick and easy or something sophisticated and thus involved, or something refined or something rustic.

    Consider the following recipe titles: ‘Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies’, ‘Quick ‘n’ Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies’, ‘Grandma’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies’, ‘Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies’. Notice how each title addresses a different need and even appeals to different audiences. Quite simply, as the chocolate chip cookie examples show, it’s all down to the words you choose for your title.

    With a little thought and imagination, your recipe titles can stand out and make your readers give your recipes the attention they deserve.

    Bill Rice 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!