How to Publish Your Own Cookbook for a Fundraiser
Cookbooks of all types consistently sell well in the United States; in fact, according to Nielsen, cookbook sales rose more than nine percent during 2010. Many of the cookbooks sold every year are published as fundraisers by nonprofit or charitable organizations. While creating a cookbook for your organization can be challenging, it can also be lucrative. Many cookbooks are sold for several years, creating an income source for the organization well beyond the initial printing.
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Instructions
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Prepare the Cookbook
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Develop a cookbook committee. Ideally, the core committee should have at least four, but no more than 10 members; a larger committee can become unmanageable. You can recruit additional helpers to assist with recipe sorting and testing at the appropriate time.
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Establish a budget for the project. Consider the printing, shipping and marketing costs.
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Research the options for publishing your cookbook. Several independent companies offer cookbook printing services and marketing help. However, if committee members have experience designing and editing cookbooks, you might be able to print cookbooks at a lower cost with a local printing company. Meet with local vendors to explore your options.
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Determine a theme for the cookbook. Some possibilities include family recipes, locally-inspired recipes, recipes for entertaining, desserts or budget-friendly recipes. Research the options available in your area to determine what niche you can fill with your cookbook.
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Collect recipes for the book. Ask members of your organization for recipes, or contact local chefs or prominent members of the community for their recipes.
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Select recipes to publish. Avoid recipes that are not original, unless you have copyright permission to republish them. Test all of the recipes that you select to ensure that they are appealing and there are not any significant errors in measurements or instructions.
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Prepare the book for publication. If you are using a cookbook publisher, in most cases you only need to send the recipes on the designated forms and choose a cover design and binding. If you are designing and printing the book yourself, work with the publisher to format the book properly.
Market and Sell Your Cookbook
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Establish a price for the cookbook. In general, the price of the cookbook should be approximately twice the cost of the printing.
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Develop a marketing plan. Make a list of potential sales outlets, including organization members, bookstores, gift shops, events and online sales. Assign committee members to contact the stores and ask them to sell the book.
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Publicize your cookbook. Contact local news outlets and ask them to run a story about your organization and the cookbook. Attend local fairs, festivals and other events and offer samples from the book's recipes along with the books for sale.
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References
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