How to Write Your Own Cookbook Template for Free

Along with self-help titles, cookbooks have remained among the top-selling nonfiction texts in the United States for over half a century. Whether you're planning to formally publish your recipe collections or compile them in binders for holiday gifts to friends, family and co-workers, the key to a useful--and successful--cookbook is consistency in the presentation of its material and the effective use of photos, graphics and color.

Instructions

1. Study existing cookbooks in your collection as well as at bookstores to get layout ideas. Take into consideration the target demographic (such as beginners versus seasoned professionals) and the correlation between the amount of text and the number of accompanying images. Apply these observations to defining your own readership and the simplicity or complexity of the recipes you'll be instructing them to follow.

2. Make a list of supplemental components you want to include in your template beyond ingredients, measurements and preparation steps. For example, if your recipes call for tools or appliances that may not be readily available in a beginner's kitchen, you may want to have a section that makes note of these. Perhaps your recipes have an interesting family history or are tied to cultures and traditions of other countries. Consider supplemental sections for photographs, recommended side dishes, substitutions or quick-fix tips.

3. Decide on a simple layout that will be easy for readers to follow and which will lend itself to all of the recipes you plan to include. Consistency is the key in presenting instructional steps.

4. Create your template in a word processing or layout program. Open a new document, and create text boxes for ingredients, measurements, supplemental information and graphic elements. It doesn't matter whether your layouts are horizontal or vertical as long as each element's size and layout is consistent throughout the book.

5. Consider the order in which readers would like information presented to them. A short anecdote or cultural reference, for instance, should be placed just below the picture, in a sidebar or at the end of the recipe rather than right in the middle of the cooking instructions where it could be confusing. Place recommendations for pairings, substitutions and fixes at the end.

6. Choose the font you want to prevail throughout the text. Choose a typeface that's easy to read, such as Bookman, Times New Roman, Courier or Palatino, and a size that's no less than 12 points. Make the recipe titles stand out by choosing a different, larger font size.

7. Save your document as a template, and assign it a title. Each time you open the template to enter a new recipe, it will need to be saved under a separate file name.

Tips & Warnings

• For visual variety, consider assigning your text boxes different pastel colors. Be sure to maintain consistency. If your text box for ingredients is light yellow, for instance, it should be light yellow on every page.

References

• The Recipe Writer's Handbook; Barbara Gibbs Ostmann, Jane Baker; 2001
• The Self-Published Cook: How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Own Cookbook; Marilyn M. Moore; 1995
• Layout Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Building Pages in Graphic Design; Kristin Cullen; 2007

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Layout Cookbook
• How to Write and Publish a Cookbook