Our new lead-in promotional video for Publish-Me! is now complete.

We recently had a request for help on how to prepare a recipe book fundraiser of parents’ favourite recipes. So if you’ve found yourself on a book committee at your school, here are some tips we hope will help:

1. Think about the format of your recipe book: how many recipes can you get based on the number of parents you think will contribute at your school – use 1 recipe per page as a guide. You can then get design and print quotes up front so there are no cost surprises.
2. We suggest 170 mm x 220mm is a nice recipe book format and is relatively economical to print. Alternatively A5, that’s half an A4 page is also a good size if you want something smaller.
3. Prepare a brief and template for contributors outlining what they need to supply, including:
• Number of photos and that these should be delivered in electronic form at the highest resolution their camera can work.
• The number of words they should supply, that is: 1 recipe should include the ingredients list and perhaps 100-150 words on preparation. This will help keep the recipes relatively easy.
• Request that all measurements are metric (this should be obvious in Australia, but it’s not always)
4. Provide some ideas about how to photographs their recipe, for example, if it’s a BBQ meal, suggest they photograph it outside on a table, or by the pool; if it’s a picnic salad, perhaps on the lawn or at the beach on a picnic rug. You get the idea: ask contributors to think about some interesting place that is relevant to the recipe so you don’t end up with every shot of a meal on a kitchen bench.
5. Provide them with guidance about which categories they should submit recipes to ensure you have a range of meals from entrées, through salads, and main courses to desserts.
6. When you send the letter out to the parents at school, include a line saying: ‘The compilers of this recipe book reserve the right to edit your work’, as some people can get funny about others touching their recipes/writing.
7. VIP: tell parents that their recipe should be an original or variation and not copied directly from a recipe book, or you may have copyright troubles.
8. Work out some hard deadlines for submission of recipes and include these on your call for recipes letter to parents. For example working back from delivery date you may need:
• If you want stock of the books to sell by 1 August …
• You need to go to print in mid June (if printing overseas, which I would recommend due to cost factors)
• You should start designing early to mid May
• You need to have all photos and recipes in your hands to submit to design by 1 May (or even better mid-April) ready for editing and photo retouching. Depending on the number of people that need to sign-off on the recipes and book design – this can be a complex task if you have a book committee so be sure to allow time!

This post from David Longfield, hopefully contains some useful tips about writing and remaining clear and motivated. Click here to go to David’s blog post.

Publish-Me! offers authors a free Sales and Marketing Guide to get you started on the road to selling your book.

If you would like a copy, please email us and we’ll be happy to send a PDF copy to you.

Listen to the interview with Publish-Me! author, John Hanlon about his new book Golf: A course in Life …

A great book for any golfer this Christmas, the book trailer for John Hanlon’s book is now on YouTube…

View the Censored Health book trailer …

Brad Ryder talks about how he sold his history of South Sydney Leagues’ Club.

‘They Wear The Red and Green was released in July 2009 and has sold 2,000 books in a little over 2 years.

Strategies used in promoting it included a planned media exposure on talkback radio and the newspapers, then we set up my own Facebook page holding the book advising where the book can be bought. A big market is through the South Sydney Rabbitohs website where it is advertised online and the book also sponsors a player at the home games. This means that it gets advertised on the big scoreboard when the player scores.

There is also word of mouth and I always have books in the boot of my car so they are on hand for an unexpected sale. It has become a small business for me. With the help of Publish-Me the book has been a success and I would recommend them to any prospective author.’

Robin Grille, author of ‘Parenting for a Peaceful World’, is a regular speaker in Australia and New Zealand about parenting and the psychology of parenting. We were talking about his success in sales recently and he commented how his presentations really do help:

‘Since my first book was first released in 2005, there have been a number of dips in sales. What has in every instance brought the book back to life – and is keeping sales bouncing along to this day – is the fact that I regularly speak publicly about themes related to my book.

Public speaking gigs at libraries, schools, radio – wherever I go – seem to have a remarkable flow-on effect on book sales and it is clearly visible in sales reports.

If the subject of your book lends itself to further public discussion, I thoroughly recommend this tool for prolonging the life of your treasured creation.’

One of the things we, at Publish-Me!, regularly advise authors is that, to make the most of their hard work, they should treat their books as a small business. Robin’s experience is a great example of this. So think about how you can link your book to your business to help keep sales kicking along.