Community cookbooks can be a great deal of fun to create but cookbooks are not easy; they are complex and they take time, even with the input from others. There is a way to go about creating community cookbooks and if you follow these steps, you’ll soon be cooking up a storm!

Collect the Recipes

Believe it or not, this is the most time-consuming part – getting the recipes from everyone involved. But you don’t want hundreds of scraps of paper so follow these tips:

Come up with a template for contributors to follow

Tell each person how many recipes you want from them

Ask for background on the recipe – it adds to the cookbook if you can make it personal

Think about the type of dish

Ask for photos or drawings

Remind your contributors that they cannot copy other people’s recipes without permission

Have a Deadline

If you need the recipes in by a certain date, tell your contributors and don’t be afraid to send out email reminders. Let them know that if their recipe isn’t in on time, it won’t be included.

Choose your Title

Enlist the help of the contributors and see what titles you can come up with. It needs to be catchy and it needs to be relevant to the content.

Test Your Recipes

So many times this step is skipped – it's easy to assume that the recipe contributor has already tested it. Test them – you need to know that they work!

Sort Out the Artwork

If contributors are supplying drawings or photos, you need to collect them in and organize them. You need to ensure that you have written permission from the owner of the photo or drawing so that you can credit them in the book.

Write Catchy Titles

For the recipes, the chapters, the introductions to each chapter; if the titles are catchy, people are more likely to read it.

 Edit the Cookbook

Make sure the format is the same for each recipe and that the recipes are clearly written. All other text must be free of errors and grammatically correct.

Proofread

The whole book. And then pass it on to a fresh pair of eyes to do the same.

Lay Out the Book

You can use a template for this, there are plenty of free ones online.

Design the Jacket

This is an important part – good looking jackets grab the eye. Get everyone involved in the book on this one and pool your ideas.

Submit for Publishing

If you are using a publishing company, they will have guidelines that they want you to follow. If you are self-publishing then it is more important than ever that you get it right the first time – you won't have the extra eyes to go over it.

When your book has been published, throw the mother of all launch parties! Cook up the recipes and serve them! If you have written the book to raise money for a charity, make sure the press is invited to the party and make sure that everyone involved is invited and publicly thanked for their contribution.