Want to combine all your cherished family recipes in one place? Maybe you’d like to assemble a cookbook of main dishes and desserts as a fundraiser for your church, school, or other group? Do your cookbook printing online at Publishing Xpress—we are your experienced, professional cookbook printer.
In these days of the digital world, it’s interesting that so many people prefer an old fashioned cookbook. There’s something very satisfying about having a cookbook laid out on the counter as you go step by step through the recipe. And if the recipe is one that has been handed down from generation to generation, you will probably never be able to find it on the Internet — a family cookbook is definitely the way to go.
So how does the cookbook printing process work? It’s easy. You compile your recipes in one file and submit to us for printing. You will have the opportunity to review a PDF version of your cookbook or a hard copy proof—whichever you prefer—before it goes to print.
Once we receive your approval, we will print and ship your cookbook within 4 business days — sooner if you select a faster processing time. Our online calculators can give you an instant quote on your printing project:
Printing cookbooks is one of our specialties. We offer a wide range of services and choices to make your cookbook one of a kind. It’s important that your cookbook is easy to use in the kitchen, so choosing the right binding is key. We can recommend the best option based on the size and shape of your specific cookbook: saddle stitching, perfect binding, plastic coil binding or wire-o binding.
As you prepare your cookbook publishing project, keep these tips in mind:
Decide on how you want to bind your cookbook printing project, keeping in mind that most users will want to lay the book out flat on the counter as they prepare recipes. Most cookbooks have lots of recipes, generally making saddle stitch binding, with a maximum of 80 pages, out of the question. We’ve printed many perfect bound cookbooks, but you will want to give us more than a couple of days to print it, so that we can bind the books on our PUR binder.
We need 4 to 6 processing days to bind on this machine, but it will be well worth it, since the book will not fall apart, even if the user forces the book to lay flat. You can’t go wrong with plastic coil or wire-o binding for a cookbook. The book lays flat with either binding option, making it easy for the reader to use.
Consider photos in your cookbook printing project, but make sure they attractively show your recipes. If the picture of the food is not appealing, the reader is not going to want to prepare the recipe! While it seems like it would be easy to take photos of your food, it’s really very difficult. Light plays an important role in making the food look attractive, and how the food is plated is also important.
Unless you’re a great photographer, you might want to ask a friend who’s an amateur photographer to take the pictures or pay a freelance photographer to take photos. Another alternative, if it is a family cookbook, is to include photos of the family gathered at various functions. This could also work for school, church, or other organization cookbooks.
And while we are on the subject of photos, make sure your photos are all high resolution (at least 300 dpi) and the color profile has been converted to CMYK.
The point of most cookbook printing projects is to have the book last for years. One way to do that is to make sure the covers are very durable. If you are using plastic coil or wire-o binding, you’ll want to use a heavy cover stock. Our heaviest cover stocks are 120# and 16 pt. Also consider adding gloss or soft touch lamination, which adds some thickness to the cover while also protecting it. Another option is to include a clear plastic cover on the front and a colored plastic cover on the back. Some of our clients use a laminated front cover with a colored plastic back cover.
Edit your cookbook carefully! Recipes have a lot of numbers and abbreviations. Sometime as simple as making 1 teaspoon of salt 1 tablespoon of salt will ruin a recipe! While you will definitely want to go over the recipes before the books is printed, you might also want to ask someone else to go through them as well. Sometimes when you have been looking at a project for weeks, it can be hard to see even simple typographical errors.
Make sure there is plenty of white space throughout your cookbook. Often, a reader will be trying to follow the recipe with dirty hands or with the cookbook a bit of a distance from the person. You want it to be as easy as possible for the person to follow the recipe. Consider double spacing the ingredients in a recipe and putting spaces between paragraphs — anything to make it easier for the person to follow the recipe.
When you are deciding on the layout of your cookbook, look carefully through other cookbooks that you like. How are they organized? How is each recipe set up? How large is the font in the cookbook? Are photos of the recipes included? What makes the photos appealing? Do this before you start layout out your cookbook, so you don’t have to go back and redo the layout.
If you’re looking for inspiration as you prepare your cookbook, check out our client spotlights:
Or check out these tips on how to write a cookbook. You might also want to read our blog article, Professional Cookbook Creation.
To learn more about online cookbook printing, contact our service representatives. You can call us at 1-877-977-3779, email us at help@publishingxpress.com, or chat with us online (chat is in the lower right hand corner of your screen). We can walk you through the self-publishing process—so you can create a unique cookbook that can be enjoyed for years to come. Choose Publishing Xpress as your cookbook publishing company. You may also want to check out our other book printing ideas.
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