Episode 104: The Difference Between Cookbook Publishing and Cookbook Printing

Aug 27, 2020

Welcome to another episode of the podcast. Today I want to talk about the difference between cookbook printing and cookbook publishing. Many of my students and those I talk to about writing cookbooks, start to look for cookbook publishers. But some are not clear in the understanding of what a cookbook printer does and what a publisher does. So today I thought I’d talk a little bit about that.

Printing

1. Printing is ONE aspect of the entire publishing process.
2. The key focus in new technology and adapting to the needs of the people who buy book printing through sales, managing materials.
3. Printers print for hundreds of publisher.
4. Publishers typically don’t have their own printing press.
5. A printer manufactures a physical product  - a book.
6. A publisher requests a print job.
7. A publisher pays the book printer to produce the book - they print it, and they bind it.
8. A publisher can order one book or a print run.
9. When the book is printed, the author or publisher receives a printed and bound book created to their specifications.
10. The publisher retains rights to the intellectual property of the book.
11. Some printers fulfill orders and some printers distribute books.

Publishers

1. The key activities of a publisher are: acquisition of manuscripts, editing, book design, coordinating the printing, and then marketing and sales of the book.
2. Primarily responsible for bringing books to market.
3. Publishers look for manuscripts to publish.
4. Publishers shepherd and move manuscripts through the process.
5. Publishers turn the raw manuscript into print-ready files.
6. Book publishers own the rights to the books they publish.
7. Book publishers make a profit from the sales of the book.
8. Book publishers obtain the rights to publish a book from an author, or if they are self-publishing they already own the rights.
9. Book publishers accept all financial responsibility for the production and promotion of the books they publish in return for the majority of the salves revenue from the sales of the book.
10. The author receives a royalty payment based on a percentage of each book sold.
11. Publishers organize and managing the printing of a book.
12. Publisher market the book.
    1. Editing with a professional editor
    2. Design to create the layout for the book, choose the fonts, and format the book style as well as design the front and back cover.
    3. The legal department of a publisher obtains the copyrights for the book, registers the ISBN and arranges contracts and other legal documents that protect the IP of the book.
    4. Market the book through indirect channels like wholesalers and booksellers
    5. Reach the audience directly through their website and events like conferences
    6. Act as venture capitalists for authors fronting an advance for use during book writing, recipe testing, and development.
    7. Marketing to get the book in front of the audience through social media, author appearances, and other marketing strategies.
    8. Distribution and warehousing hold the inventory of books and distributes them to retail outlets or the customer directly as the orders are received. Note: some publishers order print-on-demand copies of the book to reduce the need to hold the inventory
13. They also handle book production to include: