How to Write and Self-Publish a Cookbook

If you love cooking and like sharing recipes, creating a cookbook can be a fun and even profitable project. In this article, I'll show you an easy way to write and self-publish a cookbook with a very minimum budget.

1) First, register with Lulu.com or a similar website that will allow you to self-publish for free.

I like Lulu because they don't charge you any upfront costs to publish and only make money when you make money.

2) Next you'll need to download a template for the size of the cookbook you'd like to create.

I've found that the US Trade (6" by 9") size is the most economical if you want to sell physical paperback or hardback books. If you want to do e-books only, that doesn't matter as much.

3) Type up all of your recipes in the Word document, keeping one recipe per page for easy reading.

You can use "Save As" and use the same template over and over to keep from having to download it again for each book that you do.

4) Select the "Publish" tab of the website to get a program wizard that will give you instructions on how to upload the Word document, pick a cover, and determine what you want to charge for your book.

If you wish, you can then buy copies for yourself at wholesale. It's not a requirement however.

5) Lulu will create a unique web page for your cookbook.

You can then link to this site from your blog, personal website, or social networking website. I've made money just from doing this without spending a dime!

Additional Tips:

• If you play with the dollar amount using different bindings, etc., you can come up with a cookbook that you can reasonably use for fund raisers or for personal profit.
• Don't copy and paste other people's copyrighted work (including recipes) into your book without permission.