Thursday, March 27, 2014

How To Make Your Own Cookbook with Blurb

 

How to Make a Blurb Cookbook
(This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated if you purchase through these links)
Ever thought of putting your favorite recipes into a beautiful book you can give as a gift or pass down the generations?Blurb is a company that lets anyone create beautiful books from their favorite content, and get those books shipped in any quantity (even just one copy). Not a designer? That’s ok, Blurb’s free BookSmart software is an easy route to a great cookbook

What's the best way to get started? Holding off a bit. It’s tempting to want to dive right in, but thinking a bit and getting organized is worth it in the end. Make the most of your time by dividing each step into chunks so you can tackle them at different points in your book-making process. 

And here we go:



1. Organize: Gather your recipes and do a process of elimination. Once you’ve narrowed your favorites down, you can gather accompanying images—just make sure you’re giving the recipe and image files the same name to make it easier when it’s time to upload. Keep everything in one folder on your computer.

2. Flow it: Next, determine how you want your cookbook story to flow. Do you want to sort your recipes by age, popularity, or even something else? Once you’ve determined the order, you’ll have done the bulk of your creative decision-making.

3. Get the tool: Download our free book-making tool, BookSmart, choose your book size (Standard Portrait and Standard Landscape are the most popular for cookbooks) and input your title and author name. Then choose “Cookbook” as your starting point — this will give you the best layouts for the job. Then pick a source for your images — from iPhoto, your computer, even Flickr or Picasa. Lastly, choose a theme. Now you’re ready to put together your cookbook. 

 

4. Lay it out: This is where the real book-making comes in. BookSmart will provide you with 20 pages in our standard recipe layout, but you’ll find plenty of alternate layouts in the “Choose page layout” panel on the upper left. You can also add additional pages ­­— including photo pages — by clicking “Add Pages” in the top toolbar.

5. Just add copy: Our layouts provide space for stories, introductions, and those all-important ingredients and directions. Paste in your copy and you’re golden. Then garnish with photos. Don't forget to run BookSmart’s spell check feature. 

 

6. Preview and review: Click “Review book” and go through page by page. If you’re not a natural-born proofreader, ask a friend to take a second look.

7. Order: Make any last minute edits, click “Order,” and follow the prompts to checkout. Remember to order extra copies for friends and family—or sell it in our Bookstore. Order now and save 15% on all print book orders through April 30th with code TAKE15%. 

That’s it, you’re done. Give yourself a toast, a pat on the back, and a moment in the sun. Congratulations! 

Now, I think I am going to make a cookbook.  I have been thinking about putting all of my recipes together for a long time, and I think the time has finally come.

This is a great offer.  I hope you'll at least take a look.
Have a great week.
Debi

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for showing the process. It looks simple and basic - as long as you stay organized. This may have to go on my bucket list. :-)
    Happy Friday~
    Kim @ Curtain Queen Creates

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Kim,
      It does look really easy. I'm going to give it a try. If you do, let me know what you think. I think I may post about the process along the way.
      Have a great week.
      Debi

      Delete
  2. Wow, I am pinning this for future use! My husband and I run a community theatre in our town and we offer free desserts that myself and other bakers make every month. We have been wanting to make a cookbook of those desserts, called Desserts with an Impact (the theatre is called Impact Theatre). We looked into other services that started at $500. Thanks for sharing this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ann Marie,
      This would make such a cool fundraiser for the theatre also. What a great idea. I love that. How fun!
      Have a great day.
      Debi

      Delete

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