So You Want To Write Your Own Cookbook, huh???

Creating your own cookbook from your favorite recipes to share with family and friends is a very satisfying accomplishment.

Hola, call me Michita. That’s the name I gave to my Mexican Chocolate Dessert eCookbook. It’s what my brothers and I called our grandmother, Mi Chita. A cutesy name only a toddler can come up with when they can’t pronounce, Mi Abuelita.

The idea for an ecookbook came after our experience in having our cookbook, Aprovecho- A Mexican American Border Cookbook, published the traditional way, through a publisher out of New York.

Oh, the joy of being accepted for publication! We had worked long and hard developing a website with all the recipes my mother and grandmother had taught me along with all the recipes I had saved or developed over the years.

First came all the selecting of recipes we wanted to feature in the book, making sure we weren’t going to be taking someone’s else’s work. Second, came all the testing of these recipes. Then of course I wanted to take pictures of all these delicious dishes. All this work took us months of preparation, though we had already done some of the work through the website, which I originally created on Geocities, for free.

We were finally ready to start submitting proposals to publishers. Rejection…rejection…rejection. On and on. Then, I happened to find a publisher on- line that would accept a proposal over the Internet. After going back and forth justifying why our cookbook was one of a kind, we were offered a contract. We signed so fast; our heads were still spinning months later.

We were very happy and felt very fortunate that our cookbook was chosen for publication.

There are a couple of ways to get published. The old fashioned way of sending out book proposals and waiting by the mailbox for a response hoping not to get a rejection letter or self-publishing through the Internet. Of course you can also self-publish by creating a master copy and going to the printer and having a multitude of copies made and then going out to market them. But I believe that doing it all online might be a better way to go about it. Electronic transmission is quick and easy. I would like to explore this option with you through my blog.

From someone who has published both the traditional way through an established publisher and by creating an ecookbook I’ll share all the pros and cons as well as tips on accomplishing both.
If you are already in the midst of preparing and testing your recipes, remember to keep the cost down. Wal-Mart was an incredible saver for me. Their prices are low, they have a wide selection, and I’m sure you can find one right around the corner.

I’d like to leave you with a recipe that is popular with us. Who says you can’t celebrate 5 de Mayo except on 5 de Mayo?

Strawberry Margaritas
(Makes 1 serving)

2 cups crushed ice
1 ½ shots Tequila
½ shot triple sec
1 shot frozen limeade
½ cup frozen strawberriesPut all ingredients in the blender and process till smooth and slushy. Garnish with lime slice or fresh strawberry.

Hasta luego,
Michita (Tere)
Co-author of “Aprovecho A Mexican-American Border Cookbook” and
“MiChitas, A Mexican Chocolate Dessert eCookbook”