Ever had a book printed?

So the wife and I had an idea. Originally we wanted just to compile all our favorite recipes into one place so they're easy to find. Then we thought, why not make our own cook book and give them out as gifts to friends and family for Christmas.

Anyone here ever 'made' their own book and had them printed? Google shows me there's several outfits that will print your books for you, just curious if anyone here has used any of them and how your experience was.

I figure I need to go ahead and pick someone so I can get everything formatted correctly before we get balls deep into the project.

Also, what do you recommend (software wise) to do this? I'm starting in Word, but I'm wondering if I should use Microsoft Publisher instead...which I have no experience with, but I'm sure I can figure it out. And I'm sure it depends on who we have print them for us too, which file type they want.

Appreciate any guidance!

cool idea dustin.

i'll buy one if you promise to put some of those BBQ recipes in there!

This is very non-pro but maybe an economical solution but I have no idea what making an actual book is. What about just making a photo book of the recipes? Instead of uploading text make the text into a photo format.

we've printed many photobooks. for weddings and stuff.

used apple for it but cant remember the extension.


i believe costco offers this as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rec head

This is very non-pro but maybe an economical solution but I have no idea what making an actual book is. What about just making a photo book of the recipes? Instead of uploading text make the text into a photo format.

---

I think I know what you're saying. That's kind of what I want to do, I'm hoping to upload a PDF of the book with everything already formatted and looking how I want it to look. I just need to know what margins to set and stuff like that.

My mother self-published a few books both printed and electronic (PDF, Kindle) via Amazon and found it fairly priced and easy to use.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rec head

This is very non-pro but maybe an economical solution but I have no idea what making an actual book is. What about just making a photo book of the recipes? Instead of uploading text make the text into a photo format.

---

Text to photo is not a good idea if you want clear legible text. Remember, this is not just a photo caption which can be done that way but rather lots of text which needs to be very legible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dgaddis

I think I know what you're saying. That's kind of what I want to do, I'm hoping to upload a PDF of the book with everything already formatted and looking how I want it to look. I just need to know what margins to set and stuff like that.

---

PDF will keep the text as text (and will use replacement fonts if needed).

Adobe InDesgn in the industry standard and what most publishers can easily accommodate but it is expensive. Some might be able to use Word files but you are correct that each publisher may have different requirement so choose one first and then work within their technical and formatting requirements.

Quality (and cost) differs greatly between different companies.
Shutterfly and Snapfish generally offer decent quality — I know a few photographers that needed to make look books really fast and they used these services.
IIRC Shutterfly offers a free "design it for you" service.

As mentioned above, Apple creates books thru iPhotos. Simply collect photos in an album. Select album-create-book. You can even do it in a calendar format.
I've used them in the past and they turned out great. Nice hard cover and binding...
If you went this route, you could include step by step photo instructions with captions and personal touches, along with the recipe.
Pretty neat idea Dustin.

Hmmm... My original plan was pretty simple typical cookbook type layout. But, I like the idea of doing a photo book. When the book is open, on the left page is a photo of a notebook with a hand written recipe. On the opposing page is a photo(s) of the result.

I'll have to investigate the pricing on the photo book. I also have to decide how to balance the quality of the completed project vs how much time I want to invest in it throughout the year.

I will almost certainly do a test run in a few months at TheBookPatch.com - you can print 1-50 (that's right - you can print just one book) 8.5x11 full color spiral bound book (50 pages = more pages means more $) for less than $10 per book. I like the idea of doing a single book to check the quality before doing a big order. You just upload a PDF, which also means I could still do a photo book if I wanted.

This could become a huge time suck.

Rather than MS Publisher, take a look at Affinity Publisher. It would be closer to Adobe InDesign vs Word to do the project.

Hank Barlow (aka "Velotel" ATH) has:

Switchbacks by Hank Barlow | Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame

Dustin...our friend just self-published this kid’s book about birds. She had some costs tied up in illustration and I can connect you if you’re interested.

O'Hara resident releasing bird book at Beechwood Farms - FoxChapel

Keep in mind I'm not looking to publish it and have it for sale, I just want to print a dozen or two.

The change from purchasing to subscription licensing was a way for companies to game the system and get more out of you. Its also a way to game the system in your favor.

Something to consider about using Adobe products. They now use a monthly subscription Vs purchase to own. If you want to use Indesign anytime you like for years, it'll get pricey. If all the recipes, photos, etc etc are all ready to go, it might not break the bank to pay for a month, get your book complete, and then cancel the subscription. Maybe read up on the product before starting the free trial week to really get the most out of it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gt6267a

The change from purchasing to subscription licensing was a way for companies to game the system and get more out of you. Its also a way to game the system in your favor.

Something to consider about using Adobe products. They now use a monthly subscription Vs purchase to own. If you want to use Indesign anytime you like for years, it'll get pricey. If all the recipes, photos, etc etc are all ready to go, it might not break the bank to pay for a month, get your book complete, and then cancel the subscription. Maybe read up on the product before starting the free trial week to really get the most out of it.

---

This is a great idea.

For now I'm going to stick with Word, and when I get closer to ready to have them printed I'll look at other options if needed. Once I have the content I could probably get it all into Indesign in a week. But it's gonna take a while to get all the content.

Dustin, I put together a book of short stories (I've been writing them for years) last year and sent them off to a custom printer. The whole shebang was about $250 for 59 copies of a 120-page book. It was all black and white, on nice, heavy, acid-free paper with a heavy cover and some kind of resin binding. A cook book you might want color photos of the dishes and that will set you back 'cause those will count as color pages.

If you just send them a bunch of WP files they will charge extra for combining, collating, formatting, etc. I did all that myself, got everything (including a few B&W illustrations) into one great big Libre Office file which I then exported as a .pdf. Libre Office is free and uses an open source format. It can edit and size your photos or scanned drawings and then place them ina a written document, plus it paginates (this feature is somewhat cranky). You can set the page size and margins for the document size (I did mine up as a 6"x9" book and used an 11-point "Liberation" typeface.

I've used Adobe's publishing software before but I like the open source stuff better.

Good luck!

jn