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Jul. 16--MATTESON -- Wendy Boughner Whipple believes that recipes bind generations of women together.
At the same time, she hopes families realize the gold mines of information in their kitchens and preserve those recipes and their stories.
With that in mind, she wrote her own family's cookbook. But not without trial and error. She found few resources to help her but did create a Web page on it that eventually grew into "Creating an Heirloom: Writing Your Family's Cookbook."
Q: What's in the process of writing a cookbook, not only in terms of time but how you go about the job? Like gathering the materials? Editing? Proofing? Art?
Whipple's first piece of advice is to set a deadline.
"Give yourself at leastâ??;three months -- and six is far more realistic -- and make sure your contributors stick to it."
Next, she said, tell family members about your project and ask them to contribute via letter that includes a self-addressed, stamped envelope to return recipe contributions. And, she added, start with your own recipes and transcribe them into a word processing document.
Whipple added still another hint: set up the table of contents and chapters at the outset because that makes transcribing recipes as they arriveâ??;that much easier.
Editing should be kept to a minimum, to preserve the tone of stories related, as well as the recipes and proofreading should be done by someone else, a fresh set of eyes.
Artwork can be family photos, clip art, kids' drawings.
"The beauty of self-publishing," Whipple said, "is that you can make your cookbook look however you want it to."
Q: What about the publication process itself? Do you think it's easier or more difficult to get a cookbook or novel published?
"That depends," Whipple responded.
She feels the commercial cookbook market is pretty saturated and highly competitive. After having worked for years in bookstores; she thinks there is always room for another new novelist, but a cookbook from an unknown author is a hard sell.
"If someone intends to create a commercial cookbook that Random House will pick up, it's not likely to happen unless they're a celebrity or have some 'hook.'
"I would guess it's a lot easier to publish a novel than a cookbook."
Q: Though several Bookmark authors have used publishamerica.com, this question hasn't been answered before: once you've gone throughâ??;this kind of publishing company, would you go with the same company again?
"The thing to keep in mind with PublishAmerica is that they do exactly what they say they will do and no more.
"When they tell the authors (right in the contract) that publicity and marketing is the responsibility of the author they mean exactly that," explained Whipple.
That being said, Whipple does not have complaints about how her book was treated. The company did what it said it would and "produced, in my opinion, a very handsome book."
The author did try a few other publishers first, with rejections.
But, she added, "One thing I would not do is go to a short-run printer that requires the author to pay for everything up front.
"There are people who do quite well with those printers but that is not financially an option for me."
Arlene Mannlein can be reached at amannlein@herald-review.com or 421-6976.
About the book
TITLE: "Creating an Heirloom: Writing Your Family's Cookbook" by Wendy A. Boughner Whipple
TYPE: paperback, 8" by 5," 122 pages
ISBN: 1413748945
PUBLISHER: PublishAmerica.com
LIST PRICE: $17.95
AVAILABLE: Haines & Essick, Decatur, and Waldenbooks, Forsyth, will order; Old Book Barn, Forsyth, will special order; www.creatinganheirloom.com; www.publishamerica.com; amazon.com; barnesandnoble.com.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Herald & Review, Decatur, Ill.
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