Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Recipe for a Cookbook, by Gloria Chadwick


Recipe for a Cookbook,
by Gloria Chadwick

I just finished reading Gloria’s book on a complete how-to in developing your own cookbook. How I wish I’d had this book back when I was first attempting to publish.

The book is filled with much valuable information and it sells for the price of $14.95 in print and only $10.00 as an ebook.

Recipe for a Cookbook is 8 chapters long and has 7 appendices added to the end. These appendices are worth a mint on their own. The reference material contained in these last 7 additions to the book takes a great deal of time to research and she’s already done that for you. She includes information on book formatting, design, printing options, contests, reviewers and marketing. Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask, in fear of sounding like a newbee to the publishing world.

Gloria is a food writer, trained culinary expert, published author of 26 books (an accomplishment in itself), and an excellent cook. As with most of us food bloggers, she started out writing down her recipes because of the call for help from her family and friends for cooking and recipe ideas. Once she started writing them down, there was no stopping her.

She says in her book, “This book is a guide that shows you how to create, cook and serve your cookbook with style and flair.” She does this and more.

These are some of the ideas that you will find in her book:
*A timeline for taking your book from conception to publishing.
*The different aspects contained in the traditional versus the self-publishing methods.
*Ideas and suggestions for the presentation and formatting of your cookbook.
*Pricing and promotional materials.
*Marketing recommendations. This includes what you are already doing with your blog.
*A huge list of websites, magazines, book fairs, and tradeshow to look into.
*The benefits of online marketing and direct mail.
*There is a sample query letter and a sample book proposal to send to publishers.

On top of all of this, there are recipes dispersed throughout the book that you can make while you take a break from reading.

Was I impressed with her book? Absolutely. She’s an accomplished writer and trained cook. Do I recommend this book? Yes I do. If you have filled your life with your passion for cooking and you would love to get your work published, get this book first. It will save you a lot of time and research frustrations. It will answer questions you may have about leaping into the world of publishing.

Kudos to you Gloria. Job well done. My best wishes on the next one, Foods and Flavors of San Antonio.

On a side note, she has just started up a new blog on diabetes. Gloria was diagnosed with diabetes several years ago and is now blogging about alternative methods of control and maintenance of this distressing condition. It’s a lovely read. Go to Doable Diabetes to read her new blog and please recommend it to anyone suffering from this illness.

6 comments:

Gloria Chadwick said...

Teresa,

Wow. You've had a busy day! First you create the perfect book cover for my coffee book, then you write a wonderful review for Recipe for a Cookbook. :) Thank you so much!!! I wrote the book I wish I'd had when I self-published my first cookbook. Hugs.

Adam said...

Cool review Teresa :) While I don't know if I would ever publish anything, it's nice to know that there are good people always out there willing to help you. Weren't you thinking of doing a cookbook? You have a lot of great southwestern knowledge, I would think about it if I were you :)

Núria said...

Hola Teresa! I'm coming from Jenn's FFFs where your blog is chosen!

This seems to be a great book. Thanks for sharing :D

Ivy said...

Hi Teresa. Congrats for being chosen to feature amongst the FFF. This sounds like a very interesting book.

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

congratulations, you little FFF, you!

I think an ebook called Recipe for a Cookbook is in my future. For real. I want to be just like you when I grow up, and have a cookbook published, too.

Anonymous said...

People should read this.