Rennie Cookbook

[lys1022]

If I may make a suggestion?  Every really enjoyable cookbook that I own is enjoyable because it is more than just a collection of recipes thrown together.  They all have something in common:  stories about the food and the people making the food.  I would suggest that each person who submits a recipe also submit a story about themselves at faire.  It could be something relating to a time that they made / brought that recipe to a faire function, talking about their first time at faire, or just something fun that happened to them at faire. 

Obviously there's no guarantee that every story would be used, but I think that it would make the cookbook more interesting to the general public if they knew a little more about the people contributing and just what faire means to the contributors.  Not to mention the humanizing factor, because if it is a book to raise money for a charity, you want to connect with the people involved in some way.  Otherwise, it's just another recipe collection.

Just my thought.

[DonaCatalina]

I've submitted a couple, one was just a family recipe and the other was a multiperson SCA cooking research project for which I included some background. I suspect this will be similar to the Rescu calendars, most people who buy it will do so just because they want to support Rescu.

[Merlin the Elder]

All suggestions will be considered. Will they all make it through the final cut? Don't know at this point, but when things are in a more "congealed" state, I will be passing this around to those who have volunteered to proof/edit/layout/etc and it will be done according to a broader view than just mine. I'm just acting as the "collector of stuff" (the technical term) for the moment.

Anyone with any actual real experience in putting together cookbooks is more than welcome to chime in and offer services.

[Rani Zemirah]

Ok... I'm in.  I also have a suggestion for anyone submitting recipes for this project.  It would be really helpful if you were to make the recipe, and then take a picture of the finished product to send in with your submission.  Otherwise someone else will have to set up a test kitchen, spend money to make the recipes that are included, and then photograph them for the book.  Recipes and stories are wonderful, and necessary... however, a cookbook with pictures will appeal to people on an entirely different level, and since the major senses are all connected in many ways, a picture can trigger the salivary glands, which can set off a cascade reaction ending in the "buy now" response...    

Oh, I almost forgot... LULU.com is a POD (Print On Demand) publisher who will take orders and drop ship, and you can even get items they publish listed on Amazon.com and I believe in Barnes & Noble for order only books.  We might ask Blackbead for some info about them, as he has experience with their service. 

[Anna Iram]

I'll send in a recipe or two. I agree pictures would be a nice addition. Would that add much to the cost of publishing?

[Rani Zemirah]

I think it might depend on how many images were used, and how large they were, but if most everyone sends a pic with their submission then they could be narrowed down to the ones that would work best for the book. 

[Auryn]

I agree with the pictures being necessary.
I personally won't buy a cook book that has no pictures.

It would increase the cost of the printing depending on how its organized.
For example if the picture is right next to each recipe then all the pages would have to be full color.
However we could do an insert in the middle of the book with all the pictures-foot note referencing the location of that particular recipe- and that wouldn't be anywhere near as expensive.

I agree about the humanizing factor- good call on including stories.

Gwen I think that would be brilliant, I would vote for that definitely being in there.

[DonaCatalina]

I'll send in a recipe or two. I agree pictures would be a nice addition. Would that add much to the cost of publishing?

Color Photos almost double the cost of publishing. I know this from the catalog our company tried to publish. They cut the color back to just the cover.