You have the content.
I have the vision.
Let’s make a book!

It’s really as simple as that. Cookbooks are my passion. For most of my 25-year career, I’ve either been designing cookbooks or directing/styling food photography. I can guide you through a simple six-step process to turn your existing content into a beautiful, high-end, book.

The Process

  • This is just a quick, 30-minute Zoom or good old-fashioned phone call. I find out a little bit about you, your brand, and what you are hoping to see and achieve with your book. And you can ask me anything you like about my work and the process.

  • Based on the information I gather from you during the consultation, I’ll put together a proposal that will outline the main specs of your book, the timeline, the process we’ll follow together, and the estimated pricing. If you want to proceed after reviewing the proposal, I’ll put that information into a contract and send over for you to sign. Then 50% of the estimated cost will be due before design begins.

  • I’ll ask you to gather some visuals of what you like in terms of fonts, colors, and general style, along with your book’s trim size, final title, subtitle, byline and any photos you’d like to see on your cover. I’ll provide four to six front cover design options for your review. We’ll narrow these down and revise until you are happy.

  • In this step we work on the look of the interior of the book. I’ll ask you to provide around five recipes of varying lengths, their corresponding photos, and your working table of contents. I’ll provide you with an interior design that works with your approved cover design, and we’ll revise until you are happy.

  • Once you have approved the sample design, the layout of the full book can begin. This is where it all comes together! You’ll supply all the photos needed and the final copy-edited manuscript. (If you need a copy editor or indexer, I can send you a list of great ones I work with.) I will design and layout the entire book to match the approved sample design and provide you with a PDF for your review. After your review, I can make any text revisions you’d like to see until you approve the interior for printing.

  • Once we have a final page count for the interior, I will get the cover template from Firewire, and I will design the full cover; adding the spine and back cover to the approved front cover design. I will also design any additional items you need at this time: endsheets, shipping box, etc. We will revise until you approve all the items for printing. I will transfer the approved files to the Firewire and will work with them directly on any production issues that might arise during the printing process.

 FAQs

  • The design process varies a bit based on book length and how quickly you turn around feedback for revisions in all the steps. While it could go faster, you should plan on the design process taking about 12 weeks and the printing process taking 15 weeks. So if we start the design process on January 1, you’ll have printed books in your hands the beginning of July.

  • For a hardcover book, I recommend having a minimum of 50 standard two-page recipes to give you the page count you need for the expected bulk of a quality, hardcover cookbook.

  • Yes! If you are doing a printed hardcover book, an interactive PDF ebook is included in the estimate. However, if aren’t sure you are ready for printing and distributing yet, and you just want a beautiful ebook to test out interest, we can do that, too! The design cost for an ebook will be just slightly less than the design cost of a printed book.

  • When you sign the contract, I’ll make a working folder on Google Drive that we can both access. Firewire will also access this folder for the final, printer-ready files.

  • You can pay via Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal (with an additional 3% fee).

  • Absolutely! Sometimes clients love the design of their book so much, they want to update their existing logo and branding to have a similar feel. Whether you’re starting from scratch, or your existing logo just needs a little facelift, I can help. I do everything except web design: logos, branding, brochures, labels, packaging, you name it. 

Pricing

Let’s chat!

If you’d like to set up a consultation, or just have
additional questions, please feel free to reach out!
You can use this form or email me directly at tara@dottedline.net