How many times have you said to yourself, "I need to get all these family recipes into a book"? I know I've said it numerous times over the years. I'm heading into the "I should turn this blog into a cookbook" stage and I've checked out the web for sites that help with that sort of thing, but I've never really been satisfied with what I found out there. The bindings weren't right, I couldn't customize my cover, the layout changed if I wanted to choose more than one binding ... the list goes on.
Create My Cookbook is the perfect solution to all of those problems; and more. This site was developed with both the creation of the cookbook and its use in mind. Here are just a few of the things that make Create My Cookbook worth a look:
1. The covers are fully customizable. Choose your own photo or one of the many in stock and you're on your way to a completely unique look. Who wants a family cookbook that looks just like the one you bought from the church down the street?
2. There are multiple binding styles to choose from and you can have the same book printed in more than one binding without losing the integrity of the layout. That's a huge plus when Aunt Mabel insists that spiral bound is the only way to go, but Cousin Phyllis has to have hardback. This way you really can please everyone.
3. Collaboration! Now you can write a book with a family member or two. You know how it goes, Grandma catches wind of a family cookbook being written and she has to be Editor-in-Chief. Now she can join in and help with it without having to stop by for a visit. She can stay home in her rocking chair with her laptop and add recipe after recipe to the new family tome.
4. These recipes are YOURS, not something you pulled from a list of recipes in a database that everyone has added to. Nobody wants a recipe for Hilda's Apple pie when there's no Hilda in the family!
5. This is software developed expressly for cookbooks. Drag and drop is the name of the game and it doesn't get any easier. After all, Uncle Ed isn't too good with a keyboard and this will enable even the most technologically challenged person to create a real cookbook.
6. Add your own photos. These can be the whole gang eating like there's no tomorrow at the family reunion, or the professional-looking photos you've taken for your blog. There's no limit to creativity here.
7. Dedication. Yes, there's a customizable dedication page. Everyone who deserves such an honor can be proudly acknowledged on this page - even if it adds up to 123 people. This is where Grandma gets her name in print, even if she didn't collaborate.
8. Play before you pay. Upload those photos, type in those recipes, move it all around and make sure you love it before you purchase it. Sign up, look it over and don't pay one red penny until you're sold. They won't email you daily asking why you didn't purchase yet. They're nice like that. I promise.
Now, if that isn't enough to make you head on over to CreateMyCookbook.com and check things out, I may be able to bribe you with cookies. Let me know.
Interesting. I did one on a different site recently & my biggest pet peeve was not being able to design my own cover so this sounds good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the offer of cookies. I would like to know a ball park figure before checking into this.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking about doing the same thing, but then I keep adding to my cookbook.
Cas
This sounds like another good resource for self-publishing your own cookbook.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit...any "recipe" book I put together would have restaurant names next to phone numbers for reservations. *L* This sounds interesting, though. Almost makes me want to get more into cooking...almost. ;)
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking this morning that I should sit down and start writing out my favorite recipes as Christmas gifts for my daughter and daughter-in-law. What a wonderful idea! Will have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the COOKIE? :)
Hey, Miss Anne. What a great find. My sister-in-law, the great doer of our family, has been talking about doing a family cookbook for years, and this might be just the ticket. Thanks so much for sharing! Here's what I'm wondering. Have you found any way on any of these programs (one like this or one for organizing your personal recipes in general...) to be able to scan the recipes into a Word file? And if not, how very cool would that be? To me, that is the greatest headache/hiccup/hurdle/you name the next h word here. I have collected soooo many recipes over the years, and they are now such a mess that I am hard pressed to find any of them anymore. It's depressing to say the least.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a way to scan them into Word, so I could easily go digital, I would pay almost any price (easy to say when no one is naming the price, huh?).
Molly
Molly, many scanners today come with what is called Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. This software will scan any text doc (that is in decent readable condition) and convert it to text. You can then open in with Word and, hopefully, you'll just have to do a little clean-up.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
I've been meaning to try that and see if it really works. I think my husband's scanner may have that capability, so I'll give it a try! Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteM
this website is not there...I was using it and now it is gone....any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteI was able to pull up the 'about' page - see if this works for you: http://createmycookbook.com/about_us
ReplyDeleteI would like to know of a service that will take my recipes and scan them or retype them into a useful format. I know there was one I found in the past but have now lost the information. For 39 cents or less a recipe they would do the work for you. Does anyone know about this? Can you share the information with me? Thank you!
ReplyDelete