We just received our cookbook yesterday. It looks fantastic and I think it'll be a hit. This is the 2nd time we've done it. Our first cookbook netted over $4,000, we're hoping for $6,000-$7,000 this time around. Total cost per book is between $3 and $4 with 150 recipes. We're selling it for $10. It's a real hit right now around the holidays. We use G&R publishing. They give you everything you need and it's an easy fundraiser. Only 2 of us worked on it with a minimum amount of effort. They do a great job. Let me know if you need any more information.
I just finished my family's cookbook. My dad is one of 13 kids and I did one about 13 years ago the old fashioned way with a typewriter (I'm now on my 4th computer, but then I had only a typewriter) and my best friend - KINKO's and I made all the copies and bound them ourselves. Total cost at that time for a book of 149 recipes, was close to $8.00. At my grandmother's request, and with 13 sets of aunts & uncles, 46 first cousins and the next generation entering their teens - we did another one - this time using Rasmussen (www.cookbookprinter.com
). Must say that I knew to start looking for a vendor at PTOToday - thank goodness. Looked into several, for my personal needs they had the best deal going. For a book of almost 200 recipes - the price was just over $4.00 per book. We did not do this as a fundraiser - I've charged I think $4.50 per book because of the other expenses I had with mailings and copies. We are expecting our books by Thanksgiving so can let you know then how they look. The company sent me a form which I sent to all participants, MUST follow the form (take the pressure off your committee) and must be legible. You send the forms in to the publisher - you don't type them. It really worked for me and I hope the information is helpful to you.
Now - for my PTO experience - while president I had a parent request these so I put a post out there on this very board before doing anything. The response I got from folks here who had done it was to keep the price down, and not expect this to be multiple sales per family nor to have it as an annual event. If your school is having a significant anniversary or something like that, it might not be a bad idea. Have reasonable expectations. People are probably not going to pay $20 for a cookbook, and probably won't buy 5 books. Count on selling one per family (if that). Just what I heard when I asked the question.
Various books including Year books often have a mixed review. First the problem is how to get them published at a reasonable price.
Next, you need to be very careful where the reciepts are coming from in a cookbook!
But that aside. We are currently looking into building our own publishing capability. Right now it looks like we can do this for a little bit over $1500. With the technology today anyone can become a publisher.
I will report back in a month or so as we finalize the proposal on this. We are looking at very high grade capability, but still labor intensive. The labor saving will increase the investment costs a lot depending on how much labor we want to save.
We're doing one this year and we're hoping to do well. Not our main fundraiser, but something several parents have requested. We're putting them together ourselves using the recipe book on Word Task Launcher and it has been going quite well. We're also translating each recipe into Spanish (or into English depending on who sent it). I would think that this project depends on how many volunteers you can get to help type and what kind of consumer you have. We're also having a contest to design the front & back covers, and the inserts...figured it would add to our sales! :cool: Good luck!
Our PTO hasn't, but our teachers have. It didn't go over very well. I love the cookbook, but their sales were low. They sold for $10 and they still have boxes left over from last year. They were competing with too many churches in the area and everyone knows little ole' church ladies can cook up some food!
