Cooking The Books: How To Displace Rachael Ray
I know, it’s a whimsical idea. Rachael Ray is irreplaceable. Even I watch her every weekday, download loads of her recipes and buy her books.
But, hey, anyone with mouth, stomach and capable hands can write a cook book. Even I am writing one! And these days, one can even create one’s own TV cooking show as well. For some writers, here’s an unusual way to break into print and build a “platform” of sorts.
It’s easier to write and publish a cookbook than you might think. After all, many local groups put out cookbooks as fundraisers. Here’s an off-beat avenue for a writer to get some first-hand experience. Just volunteer.
My fellow expat friend Lanaya Dix has done some exploration and came up with two companies that make cookbook publication easy.
Morris Press Cookbooks, for example, announces on its homepage, “As a cookbook printer, we can help you self-publish your community cookbook, personalized cookbook, or keepsake cookbook.” The company has set up several cookbook formats, each with lots of options regarding type of binding, covers, size, paper stock, fonts, and internal organization. It even declares that “you supply the recipes and we’ll do the rest.” And, buried within its publication kit materials, is the information that recipes are not protected by copyright, so even those can be “lifted” from other sources, perhaps with the courtesy of rewording. As a matter of fact, most organizations that produce cookbooks do look for “original” recipes. I even contributed to such a cookbook put out here in Mexico as a fundraiser.
Another company offering similar services is Fundcraft.Publishing, which just celebrated its 100th birthday. This company even has a subsidiary company, Instant Publisher, that specializes in self-published books in any genre, in quanties from 25 to 5000. The forum at Writers Weekly has an interesting and positive thread about this company, with commentary from writers who have used its services to self-publish poetry, science fiction, anthologies and the like.
Fund-raiser cookbooks are one thing. But what about a personally written cookbook, carrying our own name as author? As far as I can tell, such books can also be produced via these publishers. Of course, there will be limitations and format restrictions, but a creative writer can certainly still come up with a cost-effective way to produce a book. And remember, cookbooks are probably the most popular genre of all.
Among the many web 2.0 start ups is at least one that targets cooks who like to communicate their passion for food. Group Recipes not only hosts contributed recipes, it also encourages its participants to create their own TV shows. Its TV Show Section features its own list of popular, self-produced cooking shows and links to individual show episodes. And the site proclaims, “we’d like to give everyone their own show.” The site even provides brief instructional guidelines.
So, watch out Rachael. Print-hungry writers may jump on this opportunity and give you some competition.
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