Writing a unique ethnic recipes book - feedback needed

[juguar]

Hi everyone,

I'm writing an ethnic recipes book.. It will have a pretty unique angle to it, definitely healthy recipes. I'm so excited about it!

I have a couple of questions for all you folks that love all kinds of ethnic food.

- Should I write my book in e-book format or in traditional paper book?
- Besides the recipe, what do you like the most in an ethnic recipe book?

I'm interested in ** your ** opinion of what you would prefer, not in what would be convenient for me

Many thanks.

Best,
Jug

[GB]

I am a techie sort of guy. I love my gadgets. I have an iPhone 4 and I have a Kindle, both of which I love. That being said, when it comes to cookbooks I like them in hardcover.

The most important thing for me in a good cookbook, aside from good recipes obviously, is quality color pictures. A cookbook without pictures is not one that really draws me in. There are exceptions to that rule of course, but for the most part that would be something that would be very important to me.

Welcome to the site.

[juguar]

Thanks GB. We need more of your kind of CEOs :)

[GB]

Now if only I could get paid for that position

[Andy M.]

I also prefer a hardcover cookbook. In addition to great photos of the finished dishes, I really appreciate some histories of the region and the specific dishes. This helps you understand why things evolved as they did.

Above all else, test the recipes and have others test the recipes in their homes with their gear to ensure the work.

[LPBeier]

Me three for hardcover cookbooks

....that being said, I take my favourite recipes out of those books and enter them into my recipe program so the books stay clean and I can manipulate the servings, etc.

[Alix]

I prefer my cookbooks coil bound so I can open to the recipe I want without messing with the hard cover. I also agree with the pictures bit GB mentioned.

[juguar]

Originally Posted by Alix

I prefer my cookbooks coil bound so I can open to the recipe I want without messing with the hard cover. I also agree with the pictures bit GB mentioned.

That is awesome feedback. So I could conceivably either ship coil-bound or create an e-book which folks can print and put into a binder.

Thanks.
Jug

[Kayelle]

I agree with coil bound, and lots of pictures.

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by Kayelle

I agree with coil bound, and lots of pictures.

I prefer a three ring binder format. it has a spine that can be printed. Coil bound books are easy to use, but they are 'good citizens' on the book shelf as you can't read the title of the book.

[SweetTeboho]

I agree with every comment posted so I second the book format with the coil and great pics with a history behind the dish.

The other is that I like cook books that can offer a variety that cater to special diets (mine would be lactose intolerance). It's disheartening when someone gives me a cookbook because they know I love to cook, but I can't eat a darn thing in it.

That may be too specific but I can say that those of us with special needs would LOVE if someone would give sections of their great ideas to us. We'd still buy the book, because we still cook for people who don't share our needs so we cook those dishes for them and the others for us.

I think there would be money in that market if someone would cater to it, but I understand that more people don't have needs than those that do (I would guess).

[BreezyCooking]

Since I collect & read cookbooks like novels, I definitely prefer regular hardcover books. Looseleaf & spiral-bounds look cheap & cheesy to me, & I only buy them when/if they're interesting & on the sale/remainder rack.

[juguar]

Originally Posted by BreezyCooking

Since I collect & read cookbooks like novels, I definitely prefer regular hardcover books. Looseleaf & spiral-bounds look cheap & cheesy to me, & I only buy them when/if they're interesting & on the sale/remainder rack.

Aah, the food romantic. One after my heart!

[juguar]

I do find that every fifth person I know has some thing or other that they can't consume. The many mysteries of the world..

[buckytom]

coil bound, waterproof pages work well with cookbooks, i've found.

ethnic and healthy? that sounds really interesting. a lot of what people call ethnic foods lean more to peasent dishes, which often aren't the healthiest in today's world of lack of exercise.

i'd be very interested in any healthy cookbook since that's all dw will eat, and we're trying to teach our son to eat heathfully as well.

good luck with it.

[Kathleen]

I seem to agree with the others: Hardback book, lots of quality pictures. I prefer to see my titles on the bookshelf. For ethnic books, I also appreciate knowing what ingredients can be substituted if there is something hard to find - or where I can obtain some harder to find ingredients. Also, I like knowing how to make-do without special cooking instruments and step-by-step pictures of special cooking techniques that are unique to the type of food.

I have a lovely Spanish cookbook that has these things. I love to use it because it made the dishes, though somewhat complex due to the unusual ingredients, easy and attainable for me.

~Kathleen

[GrillingFool]

Paper printed of any kind.. coil or hardbound...

with a CD version in a folder inside! :)

[mollyanne]

A "must" for me is to have a mouthwatering, color-saturated photo accompanying every recipe (which seems to echo everyone's sentiments here). I just bought a Mediterranean hardcover (but somewhat padded) cookbook 6 1/2" X 8" with over 100 recipes (recipe on left page and full-page photo of the dish on the right page). The binding is only about 3/4" but there are 240 high quality gloss white pages in it. Each and every picture is to die for. It was published in 2009 by Parragon Publishing. Name is simply, "Mediterranean".

The back says, "The Mediterranean diet has become widely recognized in recent years for it's many health benefits". It's a simple, colorful, and delicious cuisine, consisting mainly of a stunning range of nutrition-packed fruits and vegetables, with fresh seafood and a little meat and cheese. Plenty of olive oil, with it's heart-protective properties, completes the picture of a way of eating that promotes an enviably long and healthy life..."

There is a lot of competition out there so do a thorough market research first. This high-quality little book was only $4.99 at TJMaxx (originally $9.00).

I've never purchased nor even searched for an e-book...although I can only imagine the low-overhead and ease of distribution the seller can enjoy. I just have zero interest in e-books.

If you have a winning Hollywood personality then consider marketing your book through an agent and hit the talk-show circuit. That's the most effective in this highly competative market.

Good Luck

[MSC]

[QUOTE=juguar;909518]Hi everyone,

I'm writing an ethnic recipes book.. It will have a pretty unique angle to it, definitely healthy recipes. I'm so excited about it!

I have a couple of questions for all you folks that love all kinds of ethnic food.

- Should I write my book in e-book format or in traditional paper book?
- Besides the recipe, what do you like the most in an ethnic recipe book?

I'm interested in ** your ** opinion of what you would prefer, not in what would be convenient for me

Many thanks.
I'd like to ask some questions to provide some more understanding of what you want to learn from input, and make some general comments.
First, is this a self-published project? If so, then the economics of doing everything necessary to publish a first-rate work will dictate expenditures on all publishing, printing, shipping and advertising costs.
If this is a contracted publisher's project, then you will have been given a budget to coveranything including pro food photography, an expensive item depending on the size of the work.
As a general comment, "ethnic" pretty much covers the entirety of world cuisine, so you've set an extremely ambitious task for yourself. That begs the question of how many recipes are you intending to include and how many different cuisines will be represented, lastly how many recipes of each cuisine will make the cut.
I wish you luck as it's a daunting task and one that will occupy much of your time for a long period.

[juguar]

Hi MSC,

Certainly my own project. Budget is certainly a constraint, so e-book would be great for me. But if people don't want it or use it, then there's no point in doing it. That's kinda my thought process.

Also, I'm thinking of a Thai/Indian/Indonesian theme.

Thanks.
Jug