Eating healthy is an evergreen topic, and there’s no shortage of influencers, chefs, and cookbooks to help you prepare food that’s delicious and nutritional. All you have to do is figure out body chemistry and learn advanced cooking methodologies, right?
No one has time to do that, especially those on a budget, working full-time, raising a family, or all the above!
The Anti-Cookbook
For those of us in the real world, Shelley Onderdonk and Rebecca Bloom have published The Anti-Cookbook: Easy, Thrifty Recipes for Food-Smart Living. Shelley and Rebecca seek to inspire readers to think creatively about making meals. It’s not a cookbook written by professional chefs, which is the point. Shelley and Rebecca have cooked in college, for their families, and on-the-go. With that experience in hand, both authors have learned what it takes to balance work and life and get a healthy meal on the table for dinner. The two shared their first kitchen while in college, and both authors have had their separate food and life journeys. Out of all that, there was more than enough experience to write a cookbook. Compiling the best parts, they wanted to share those lessons with their college-grad children who were going out into the world. It’s not that they are against cooking, by the way! It’s that they are against cooking being performative, cumbersome, expensive and intimidating.
The Anti-Cookbook also prompts readers to think independently about the deeper issues surrounding food and nourishment. Readers can be intentional about taking care of themselves through food without going broke. They didn’t mean to write a pandemic cookbook, but many readers have told them it was a lifesaver!
Underneath the recipes and entertaining personal commentary, Shelley and Rebecca hope to provide readers with a template for thoughtfulness around how they feed themselves.
It has become more than measuring out ingredients!
Shelley and Rebecca’s Approach to Publishing
After the writing, rewriting, editing, and proofreading, Shelley and Rebecca were ready to publish. Going the traditional publishing route meant losing creative control. Shelley and Rebecca also wanted to be able to give their book to worthy organizations. They would also need to make themselves more marketable as authors. To do that, both would need to build up their social media platforms. A large social media platform can make authors more bankable. That takes a lot of time and effort, however. Shelley and Rebecca decided it would take too long and it also wasn’t of interest to either of them.
They bet on themselves instead.
Going the independent author route, Shelley and Rebecca chose 1106 Design. They would maintain creative control. They would also get a fairer share of the proceeds. But the most important part was they could give The Anti-Cookbook away to organizations they felt were worthy, whenever they wanted to!
On top of this, they decided to go with print-on-demand publishing. Print-on-Demand publishing would create as little waste as possible, while also enabling booksellers, distributors, and the authors themselves a way to meet demand.
Selling The Anti-Cookbook
Although Shelley and Rebecca had a print book, they published an eBook as well. This would make it accessible to anyone. To increase their chances of connecting with readers, The Anti-Cookbook was free to download for the first year of the pandemic.
Beyond that, they were able to connect with quite a few independent bookstores for the book launch. Shelley and Rebecca also sold the book at events and made it available on Amazon.
Getting The Anti-Cookbook Published
Shelley and Rebecca wanted to be partners in the publishing process. This is why they chose 1106 Design.
Through 1106 Design they were able to procure services for cover design, marketing consulting, interior design, and eBook formatting. To Shelley and Rebecca, it was worth it to find experts who would help them execute their vision for the book. They decided it was like surgery; so why not go with someone how had done it a lot of times? Those are the people who would know what the challenges are.
For example; setting up a book to publish on Amazon is very tricky. Files need to be formatted. Without someone who knows the programs, this could take a while to learn from scratch. Rushing the process could result in a shoddy eBook. A poorly formatted eBook would hurt their chances of connecting with their target readers. Setting things up with printers was also a challenge, for similar reasons as Amazon.
Thankfully, Shelley and Rebecca had a partner to help them through this process. Time was saved and it was done right the first time. Thank you, Shelley Onderdonk and Rebecca Bloom, for choosing 1106 Design to help you publish The Anti-Cookbook: Easy, Thrifty Recipes for Food-Smart Living!
Ready to publish and not sure how? Explore the world of indie publishing with 1106 Design. Contact us today to discuss your book.
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The Anti-Cookbook: Easy, Thrifty Recipes for Food-Smart Living
Authors: Shelley Onderdonk and Rebecca Bloom
Genre: Cookbook
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Cookbook-Thrifty-Recipes-Food-Smart-Living/dp/0997585439
Website: http://www.anti-cookbook.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AntiCookbook/
Instagram: @anti_cookbook
