Know-How Exchange : Copywriting

1. Reliable publishers won't steal your material. And registering your copyright is only worth the effort if you are really prepared to challenge anyone who infringes.

2. First time authors -- even of recipe books -- will not find a publisher. It's too much risk for the publisher, without much profit potential. The risk isn't that the material won't be good; it's that the author may not be able to market the book, and books don't sell if the author can't market them.

3. Self-publishing is a good option in many cases, but it requires time, effort and money. Check out the steps and issues at https://www.dialoguepress.com/pubservices.htm .

4. Worth reading regardless: The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, by Tom and Marilyn Ross (https://bit.ly/9QbSEH) and 1001 Ways to Market Your Book, by John Kremer (https://amzn.to/aIC6Ci). Once you've read those books you'll have a much better understanding of the process, the costs, the risks, etc.

Nicole - don't worry about people stealing your ideas - with cook books, it is unavoidable. Anyone who collects cookbooks can see how most are compiled by junior editors from other sources and mistakes are rife.

Getting published is almost impossible as publishers use agents to submit manuscripts and agents don't generally read material sent in -- they are mostly interested in celebrity authors etc.

You need a great title, and this Marketingprofs 'copywriting' section is the right place to ask for help with that. Then create a pdf and offer the book for sale on the web. You'll need to publish some example free recipes on the site to get traffic. That is my advice, and although it takes time to get the book ready for converting to a pdf and build the site, if your recipes are unusual, then searches will pick up your book and you can charge for it through Paypal. It's how I sell my books and newsletters, and although sales won't be enormous, your book, if successful, will generate interest among the big publishers.

Best wishes

Peter Hobday