Strange Question Regarding Publishing

[strawberryriddick]

Sort of a strange question, but does anyone know where I can get information about publishing a cookbook? I wouldn't know where to begin.

[dontxhide]

Have you googled it?

 

I know a bit about publishing novels, this is how it usually goes:

 

Write your novel.

Re-edit and rewrite at least 6-7 times. Until everything seems perfect.

Send it on to a publishing house with a query letter. They look at it, decide if the story is marketable.

If its not they throw it away. So you try a different publisher.

If it is and they want to publish, they send it to an editor, which will find everything wrong, no matter how thorough you were with the rewrites.

Once you rewrite again to their liking, they give you an advance and a contract, and publish the book.

 

(Its much more frustrating than this.)

 

I would assume cookbooks are the same.

 

The best thing to do is find a cookbook publisher that you like. Maybe you have seen books by them before or like the way they lay it out. Lets say you like the Skinny Bitch recipe books. Find their publisher and send your book into them, see what they say.

 

Most publishers want a query letter with your book. This query letter must be well written, short, but with enough information on what your book is about. For example; Say you do vegan recipes. Your query letter should state why your recipe book is going to be different than the hundreds or thousands of vegan recipe books already published.

 

You really should google it. There is tons of information out their for writers and how to publish. You can also self publish if the need strikes. There is information on that out there also.

 

There is a website called www.writersmarket.com that lists publishers and what they are looking for and the trends they tend to stay with.

 

I'm not sure but recipe books shouldn't be any different getting published than other books, except different publishers. I may be wrong though.

 

I'm going through the same thing. Im re-writing my first novel and writing a second one. I'm going to try to publish both of these, hopefully with a year or two.

[revolushuneyz]

http://www.publishers.ca/publishing-get-published.htm

 

It's Canadian info, but the markets work similarly.

 

In reality, getting published (if you're unknown) is all about cold-calling and marketing. The best advice I've heard thus far, first, find a publisher that publishes what you're writing. There are publishers that specialize in cookbooks, find them, contact them. If you can figure out a way to meet the person (i.e. stalking), do it. If not, contact the publisher and just ask them how they want manuscripts submitted (some want paper, some electronic, etc). Then follow-up.

 

From my knowledge, you do really need to know your market. Know how many vegans are out there, how many cookbooks, know the success (if you can) of those other books. In your proposal, be able to use $ figures to demonstrate how your book is different from everyone else's.

[revolushuneyz]

the other way to go would be through a more DIY organization (like your friendly local anarchist shop, AK Press). Those types of info shops would be far less capitalist (less bs, less $). You can also make the cookbook a zine. Get the zine out there. When you've somewhat established yourself, try for a full cookbook.

 

I don't work in publishing, but I work for the Government department that funds publishers, so I know a bit about how it works. Feel free to ask away and I'll do my best.

[robert]

Book Publishing Company from Tennessee is great!

 

I know those guys....they published Becoming Vegan and other books....tons of vegan cookbooks, etc.

 

Bob is a friend of mine, I see him 5 times a year. I could put you in touch with him perhaps....he is one of the guys who runs the show over there.

 

There are also "vegan" friendly publishers like Lantern.

 

Self-publishing is an option too.

 

Tons of options out there!

 

All the best!

 

Robert

[VeganEssentials]

I'll second Robert on Book Publishing Co. - they're a great business and print a TON of vegan books.

 

Otherwise, there is a new option for the DIY fans out there - Amazon.com now offers a self-publishing option, so if you've got about $1k to pay setup costs and print your first 100 copies, you can go through them. Jed Gillen, author of Obligate Carnivore (the authoritative book on a vegan diet for cats and dogs) just re-printed through them and it was pretty fast and painless. Took about 2-3 months from the start until we got our shipment, but if you don't have any other options, the Amazon publishing option makes it so anyone can print their book, and I will say, the copies we got look as professional as any other book I've come across. Hope this helps!