Write a Cookbook

Welcome to the final installment of my 8-part mini-series, 8 Truths Rachel Ray Hopes You Never Find Out About Writing a Cookbook. Today’s Truth prevents many would-be cookbook authors from beginning to write and publish their cookbook, especially during tough economic times. To discover a solution, read on …

Truth 8: I need to purchase a “garage full” of cookbooks so I can ship orders to customers when they purchase from me. The image of the author with a garage or basement full of unsold books is cliché, almost comical.

The thought of making a large up-front cash investment to purchase hundreds or even thousands of books before making a single sale holds many people back from writing and publishing their cookbooks … especially during uncertain economic times. How can a cookbook author overcome this obstacle?

Enter Print-on-Demand Publishing (POD). POD is a product of the internet and it permits authors to print their books – in a cost effective manner – one at a time as they are sold.

Basically, with POD, your cookbook is stored as an electronic file, an electronic book, on the printer’s computer. When a customer arrives at an online bookstore, they’ll see a picture of your cookbook, a compelling description, possibly customer reviews, and other details of your cookbook – think Amazon.com here – and an option to purchase your cookbook.

When the customer places an order for your cookbook the printer goes to work. They’ll print and bind your cookbook and ship it to the customer, all within a couple of days.

Of course the printer keeps a small fee for printing, binding, and shipping your cookbooks. (Note: This fee, as well as the quality of printing and binding, varies from printer to printer so shop around for the best deal.) They then send you a check for your profits, aka your royalties.

Publishing your cookbook by POD totally eliminates the need to pay for and store hundreds or even thousands of cookbooks. You don’t even have to fulfill the orders. All you have to do is some marketing and promotion, which you’d have to do even if a leading publisher published your cookbook, and cash the royalty checks the printer sends you. Oh, and get started writing your next cookbook.

I don’t mean to make POD sound simplistic. There’s still a lot of work involved. But I think that if you’d spend a couple of hours investigating several different POD companies you’ll be sold on the benefits it offers to many cookbook authors.

Well, that’s all for this series. I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think in a comment.

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