How to choose a book printing service for your cookbook

Self-published cookbooks must surely go all the way back to the invention of paper, when age-old recipe collections in someone’s head could finally be immortalised in script! Let’s face it, if you have been cooking for any reasonable length of time, you probably have the makings of your own cookbook in hand-written form by now, anyway.  

What is the advantage of self-publishing your recipes?  

With a little experience in the self-publishing world there will be an appreciation of the work it takes to produce a respectable and marketable digital book, or ebook. Printing a physical book, however, might be an altogether different proposition, depending on the genre and your courage! 

Taking ownership of your self-publishing journey is one that has to be carefully considered. Back in February we looked at the benefits of self-publication. You can read that here. 

If you decide to self-publish you will need a trusted book printing service to take your finished manuscript and turn it into real printed copy. Offset book printing, offered by commercial book printing companies, is the form of printing that publishers traditionally use. This can mean making print runs of a few hundred to many thousands of books at a time, meaning that the cost per unit can be lower the more you print. The upfront costs versus expected sales can be a tricky balance to manage, however, and is worth considering the implications of large print runs. If you know about self-publishing already, you’ll know that budgeting, distribution and marketing will be down to you, and you also might not have the capacity to store a large stock. Therefore, a commercial book printing service that offers flexibility for small or larger orders can be very useful while you gauge your market and balance costs. A print on demand service could also offer you that flexible approach towards producing larger orders later. 

A print on demand service for cookbook printing is perhaps the easiest way to overcome paying for and storing too much stock. This means that books are printed separately for every order and can be dispatched to customers at the click of a button. 

You want a printer who has the experience to lead you through the various covers, binding and paper options to suit your budget, market and overall feel of the final product. Someone who can help you through the entire process will give you the confidence to make important decisions and keep your project on track. Ask the important questions for you to make decisions. Talk about timescales and expected turnaround times. A cookbook is not a novel, and you want picture quality to be sharp, vibrant and correctly formatted, so dealing with a printer who can advise on how to get the best out of your staged recipe images is a must. You also want to know that print quality is going to be consistent, especially for print on demand services, with unit prices generally higher for this option, and making one-off prints more difficult to oversee. 

At Print2Demand we have the experience in self publishing to help you take the first confident steps into producing your book. Talk to us about our track record of printing books in multiple genres for publishers, self publishers and authors using the very latest digital and litho printing technology. We pride ourselves on our reputation for being easy to work with, friendly and very receptive to any challenges provided! 

Please call 01525 621742 or e-mail for further assistance.