If you’ve written a cookbook, please use the following guidelines to apply the final formatting touches to your book. Please read each guideline carefully to be sure your book complies.

Table of Contents: A table of contents is necessary. Each recipe should be considered a separate “chapter,” and the chapter titles should be same as the name of the recipe. *If the recipes belong to a section or category, please list each recipe accordingly. Chapters and sections should not be numbered. Please do not include page numbers (since these will change) or Xs to hold the place of future page numbers. This will be taken care of at a later stage in production.

*Please refer to the “Begin here” page for how to format chapter titles.

Incorrect:

Table of Contents

Mudslide Chocolate Pie.………………………………XX

Chicken Bruschetta……………………………….…….XX

Chocolate Mousse..……………………………….…….XX

Raspberry Cream Cake………………………….…….XX

Rosemary Steak and Herb Roasted Potatoes………XX

Alfredo Broccoli Pasta…………………………………XX

Correct:

Table of Contents

Entrees

Chicken Bruschetta

Rosemary Steak and Herb Roasted Potatoes

Alfredo Broccoli Pasta

Desserts

Mudslide Chocolate Pie

Raspberry Cream Cake

Chocolate Mousse

Sidenotes: If your recipes have nutrition facts, cooking tips, or other tips please add, brackets included: [Note to Layout: Side Note] to designate that you would like the tip to be placed in the margin. For example:

Nutrition Fact 1

[Note to Layout: Side Note]

Photographs: Photographs in cookbooks and photography books are necessary and strongly encouraged. Images may exceed the 30 images limit, however, the limit may vary on recipe count and subject matter. This will be determined and approved by your graphic designer as you are in production. All photos must be taken by a professional photographer and approved by the design department. Please refer to the guidelines for photos and images for additional requirements. If you do not have photos of your recipes or are unable to use a professional photographer, stock photos will be used to supplement the recipes. Stock photos will be chosen at the discretion of your graphic designer.

BACKMATTER

The term backmatter refers to the text that will appear on the back cover of your book. This always includes a short teaser about the book and an author bio about yourself. Sometimes this can include endorsements, but endorsements are never necessary. Please be aware that because of limited space available on the back cover, backmatter must adhere to specific word count limits depending on the length of the manuscript. Typically, these are what those limits are:

Manuscript length: 0–20,000 words → Backmatter length: 200-250 words

Manuscript length: 20,001–80,000 words → Backmatter length: 225–275 words

Manuscript length: 80,001–up → Backmatter length: 300–325 words

Teaser: Your teaser should be a short paragraph that immediately hooks the reader by providing a small amount of information about what can be found in the book. A teaser should include the name of the book at least once and may or may not include the author’s name. In the editing phase of production, your editor will work with you, using the teaser you provide, to revise and refine it. Your editor may only use elements of the teaser you submit to make the back cover as marketable and intriguing as possible while adhering to the word count limit.

Sample Teaser:

Come along on a culinary journey around the world with Melinda Winner in her second cookbook, A Complete Illustrated Guide to Cooking with Arthritis, which will bring the millions of physically challenged individuals back into the kitchen pain free and fearless. As a physically challenged individual herself, Melinda shares pain-free techniques for creating mouthwatering recipes for everything from appetizers to desserts, as well as delicious rubs, sauces, and jellies.

Author Bio: Your author bio should be a short paragraph that provides information about yourself as the author. This can include but is not limited to: work experience, field experience that pertains to the subject matter of the book, education experience and achievements, current place of residence, and family information. Your editor may also work with you to revise the author bio to make it relevant and interesting and, again, adhere to the backmatter word count limits.

Sample Bio:

Melinda Winner has had a passion for cooking since childhood. She has won several national recipe contests, cooked off on a major television network, and published her first cookbook, Yankee Cooking with Southern Charm, in July 2008. In her spare time, Melinda enjoys horseback riding, swimming, traveling, and hiking. She has three grown children and five grandchildren.

ENDORSEMENTS

Endorsements are never necessary, but if you have one or two to include, please click the Endorsements link and follow the guidelines provided there. If your endorsement(s) cannot meet the criteria set forth in the guidelines, please revise it or omit it.

Congratulations! You’ve finished the last formatting step! Please proceed by clicking the Submit Your Manuscript link at the top of the page.