Self Publishing a Cookbook

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Here is a vlog post in which I spend 6 minutes discussing self publishing.

I used Kickstarted to fund my first cookbook, The Gourmet Grilled Cheese Cookbook. So much hard work as gone into the exciting, yet at times frustrating, process.

I am so glad that I used Kickstarter because I was able to go into the project knowing that I wouldn’t loose money. Kickstarter is also a great way to get your name out there. Lots of people have found me on Kickstarter and have contacted me wanting to help. A super nice guy from ShopLocket contacted me and helped me install their widgets on this site to facilitate presale of the book. Some people contacted me because they wanted me to hire them. Some were nice, some were not. Accept the positive, ignore the negative, and move on.

One of the biggest decisions is which service to use to print your book. There are four major services: Createspace, Lulu, Blurb, and Lightning Source. Each has its own pros and cons and own price point. Here were the factors I used to make my decisions:

• What is the cost? It varied greatly.
• Can I use the service to sell through Amazon Print on Demand?
• Can I sell hardcover books through Amazon?

Createspace is an affordable option. If you are looking to publish a paperback go with Createspace. They are owned by Amazon, so it is easy to sell Print on Demand through them. The drawback is that Createspace only sells hardcover copies to the author. They offer Print on Demand only for softcover books. I specifically wanted hardcover since people tend to prefer hardcover for cookbooks.

Lulu offers Print on Demand for paperbacks and hardcover, and you can sell through Amazon. It is a great service with one big drawback. It is expensive.

Blurb only offers Print on Demand through their own store. They are the most expensive. They do have great software for building your book. If you don’t care about price and want to make a book for friends and family without learning all the ins and outs of formatting a book, this is the service for you.

I chose to go with Lightning Source since they do Print on Demand color hardcover books! It is not easy. There are no templates, no forums, and no hand holding. It isn’t easy, but it is an affordable service for hardcover color books.