How to Make a Cookbook

Have a few favorite recipes? How about family recipes? There are plenty of ways to save them from index cards in a box to jotted in a notebook. But what about a way to save them and share them? That's where Blurb comes in. With Blurb's help, you can create a cookbook in minutes and print as many copies as you want. Print one for yourself, one for your best friend, one for your mom (hint: Mother's day isn't that far off), one for your child as a new home or wedding gift. Really, the options are limitless.

Now, wondering how to do it? It's easy and requires no fancy design skills. Start with Blurb's free BookSmart software and, just like your recipes, put together your book one step at a time:

1. Organize:Gather your recipes and do a process of elimination. Once you’ve narrowed your favorites down, you can gather accompanying images—just make sure you’re giving the recipe and image files the same name to make it easier when it’s time to upload. Keep everything in one folder on your computer.

2. Flow it: Next, determine how you want your cookbook story to flow. Do you want to sort your recipes by age, popularity, or even something else? Once you’ve determined the order, you’ll have done the bulk of your creative decision-making.

3. Get the tool: Download our free book-making tool, BookSmart, choose your book size (Standard Portrait and Standard Landscape are the most popular for cookbooks) and input your title and author name. Then choose “Cookbook” as your starting point — this will give you the best layouts for the job. Then pick a source for your images — from iPhoto, your computer, even Flickr or Picasa. Lastly, choose a theme. Now you’re ready to put together your cookbook.

4. Lay it out: This is where the real book-making comes in. BookSmart will provide you with 20 pages in our standard recipe layout, but you’ll find plenty of alternate layouts in the “Choose page layout” panel on the upper left. You can also add additional pages ­­— including photo pages — by clicking “Add Pages” in the top toolbar.

5. Just add copy: Our layouts provide space for stories, introductions, and those all-important ingredients and directions. Paste in your copy and you’re golden. Then garnish with photos. Don't forget to run BookSmart’s spell check feature.

6. Preview and review: Click “Review book” and go through page by page. If you’re not a natural-born proofreader, ask a friend to take a second look.

7. Order: Make any last minute edits, click “Order,” and follow the prompts to checkout. Remember to order extra copies for friends and family—or sell it in the Bookstore. Order now and save 15% on all print book orders through April 30th with code TAKE15%.

That's it! Your cookbook is complete. Just sit back and wait for your package to arrive.

FTC Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.