Recipes are one of the hottest topics when it comes to the internet. The reason is because everybody has to eat! Think about just how many different dishes you or the cook in your house makes. That number is probably pretty high on its own, but take into consideration all the different people and types of foods out there and your list just grew 100-fold, at least. The possibilities for the types of cookbooks you could create are endless.
To see just how popular recipes are on the net, do a quick search of the term “recipe” using this keyword research tool (http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/). Take a look at how many times per day the term “recipes” alone is searched.
When I did the search it came up 16,890 times! That’s a lot of hungry people isn’t it? Think about this: this keyword tool doesn’t take into consideration ALL the search engines people use either. So in all actuality, that number is low.
Though you can start an offline cookbook business, it's much, much easier to run an online cookbook business, so this post will focus on your online cookbook empire business. However, you can use the same principals and ideas offline if you so choose.
Getting Started
First and foremost, you'll need to know WHO you're targeting with your recipes and cookbooks. Once you figure that out, you can then cater each of your cookbooks to those people.
To help you get started we’ve compiled a list of possible target markets that search for and buy cookbooks online:
- Moms – working, stay at home, work at home, single, married
- Newlyweds
- Grandmothers
- Cooks
- Chefs
- Men
- Dads
- Cooking Students
- High School & College Teachers
- Kids
- Frugal Families
- Caterers
- Wedding Planners
- College Students
- And more…
One example would be the busy mom. In order to really pique her interest in your recipes, create a cookbook that offers healthy snack ideas that are quick and easy to make.
Don’t compile a bunch of homemade recipes that take all day to make when putting together a cookbook for busy mamas. Save that for someone else who has time on their hands and really enjoys creating things from scratch – maybe cooking students or grandparents.
Where Do You Get All These Recipes For Your Cookbooks?
Now that you know how to attract the right audience for your cookbooks and how to get them to your website, it’s time to start compiling the recipes to include in your cookbooks.
There are numerous places to find recipes and we’re going to give you a few of them in just a bit, but first let’s discuss some legalese.
Copyright Information & Recipes
Recipes and copyright information can get a bit tricky so here’s information straight from the source:
“Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.” - U.S. Copyright Office Website
As you see above, the ingredients in a recipe are not copyright protected.
However, the directions or instructions might be, so in order to keep from violating any copyright laws, you’ll absolutely want to be sure that any recipe you use does not contain the original directions word for word.
Let’s look at what the U.S. Copyright Office has to say about that shall we?
“A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a collection of recipes as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.”
Now, does this mean that all recipes are copyrighted? No, of course not and honestly the majority of them probably aren’t, but you should still be cautious when using recipes that are not your own or from a trusted source.
Now, let’s talk about 4 ways to find recipes that can be used in your cookbooks.
Recipe Sources
These are:
1. Your own recipes
2. Recipes from family & friends
3. Hire a writer
4. Private Label Rights (PLR) recipes
Your Own Recipes
Do you have recipes that you create at home? These can be recipes that have been passed down to you, that you’ve created on your own or that you’ve adapted to your family’s tastes?
If so, get them on your computer and use them for your cookbooks. If you have enough you could create your very own recipe book (Smith Family Recipes, Taste of Myers, etc.) or use the recipes separately in other cookbooks that you will create later.
Family & Friends
Does your family have a recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation? How about something your favorite Aunt brings to Christmas dinner every year that everyone loves?
Ask your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. to contribute their favorite recipes to your collection.
Hire a Writer
Another way to compile recipes for your cookbooks is to hire a ghostwriter to write them for you. This is a great way to save time and focus your energy elsewhere be it on your website, marketing efforts, or something else.
Keep in mind that hiring someone will cost money. However, for most the cost is worth it when you look at the time and effort necessary to do it yourself.
Need a recipe writer? Here’s where we go for all our needs: Shelancers.com
Private Label Rights Recipes
The fourth (and our personal favorite) way to get recipes for your cookbook is to purchase PLR recipes. The great thing about PLR recipes is:
- You don’t have to write the recipes yourself.
- You don’t have to pay someone else to write them for you.
- You can edit the recipes as you wish or leave them just like they are.
- You can split them up; add them to other recipes, pretty much do whatever you’d like with them to create a product, freebie or something else.
- You can get tons of recipes for cheap. Some PLR memberships sell them for less than $1 per recipe.
So, be sure to check the rules before purchasing any PLR content.
One other tip: always edit your PLR recipes so they are unique to your website.
An easy way to do this is:
- Leave the ingredients as they are.
- Rewrite the directions.
- Change the title.
- Add a little something to it – i.e. suggestion of foods or drinks that would go well with the recipe.
Become a member at YummyPLR.com and you’ll receive 30 recipes and 10 cooking articles each and every month. Simply compile them all together and Viola! You’ve got a ready made cookbook every month.
Putting Your Cookbooks Together
Here is a sample cookbook outline to help you get started with your first cookbook.
I. Title Page (be sure to include your website link)
II. Disclaimer (Feel free to use something similar to the one in this report, but adjust it to fit your specific needs.)
III. Include an introduction about the types of recipes, a story about yourself or even an article.
IV. Recipes (each recipe should have it’s own page)
i. Recipe Title
ii. Ingredients
iii. Directions
iv. Extras (tips, complementary dishes, etc.)
v. If you have made the recipe yourself or have a graphic to help add to the quality of your cookbook add it to your recipe pages as well.
V. Closing – Upsell, Offer More Information, etc.
It’s a wise investment, especially if you don't have the time, desire or skill, to have graphics and ecovers made for your cookbooks. This will also come in handy if you plan to incorporate an affiliate program later.
Here are a few places you can get graphics including ecovers, banners, buttons, and more made.
http://GetECovers.com
http://DesignDelites.com
http://ClassicCreationsDesign.com
How to Make Money with Your Cookbook
There are a ton of things you can do now that you have your cookbook pulled together and ready to show the world. Here are just a few of the more popular ways to monetize your cookbook, which includes:
- Giveaways/Freebies
- Sell It
- Use Your Affiliate Force
- Monetize it with Back End Sales & Upsells
#1 - Give it Away
I know what you’re thinking. “Are you crazy? How does giving away my cookbook make me any money?”
Think long term. By giving away your first cookbook, you can give people a taste of what’s to come. Make it stand out above the rest and offer superb quality and those who see it will come back for more, in return creating revenue for you.
Here are a few ideas for giving your cookbook away:
- Thank you for signing up!
You can easily give everyone who signs up for your newsletter a cookbook of a variety of recipes so that you are sure to cover everyone’s tastes and diets.
- Bonus offer!
Offer your cookbook as a bonus for a paid product of yours or someone else’s. Of course, make sure the product is relevant to cooking, homemaking or other related topic that recipes would go well with.
Although some Internet marketers add bonuses to their products from every niche you can think of, it’s a smart move to target what products your cookbook will compliment to ensure it actually gets looked at. You wouldn’t want to add your cookbook to a product that teaches consumers how to rebuild a car engine.
- Contests & Giveaways
Holding a contest on your blog? Offer up your cookbook as a prize. Or better yet, there are always bloggers looking for prize contributions, so offer to give the winner or even everyone who enters the contest a copy of your cookbook. Remember, the more eyes that see this freebie the better. Again, try to create just one cookbook with a variety of foods specifically for giving away.
#2 – Sell It
This is probably more of what you were thinking when you read the title of this report, Create a Recipe Empire, wasn’t it? The second way to make money with your cookbooks is to sell them online. Because you created one specifically for giving people a taste of what you have to offer, you can easily turn all the others into paid products.
If you’re creating a cookbook each and every month, it’s easy to add new ones after the first one has been set up. Creating a website just for your cookbooks is a great way to showcase all of your cookbooks in one place and offer each of them for sale individually, package them together, and even offer discounts for those who purchase more than one during their visit.
You can even create targeted sales pages for each of your cookbooks should you decide to.
There are a lot of different ways to put your cookbooks online for sale, and the details are beyond the scope of this post.
Research and choose the best for your budget and skill level.
Option#1: Affiliate Programs such as Clickbank and RAP Bank
Both programs handle everything for you – your merchant account (to accept credit cards), refunds, and paying your affiliates. It’s a beautiful thing. The problem is that Clickbank does have some limitations. Let’s take a look at clickbank a bit further.
Who should use clickbank…
- If you prefer SIMPLE and easy.
- If you want to spend time playing rather than handling accounting and affiliate payments – and sending 1099s, etc.
- If you don’t want to pay a monthly fee for your shopping cart, or aren’t confident or big enough yet to take on that commitment.
- If you don’t want to handle setting up a merchant account to accept credit cards.
- If you only offer downloadable ebooks or audios or videos and have no plans for creating physical books, CDs or DVDs.
- Anyone who wants COMPLETE control over their online business. Clickbank is wonderful, but, for those who want complete control over their business, this may be a source of frustration. Read their legal terms for more information.
- If you *ever* plan to offer a physical version of your ebooks, teleseminars, or videos, then Clickbank becomes more difficult.
- If you want to sell tickets to a seminar or offline expo, then skip Clickbank. (That’s also against their rules.)
If you want CONTROL over your online business, then you may wish to have your own shopping cart.
RAP Bank
RAP Bank has most of the limitations and benefits of Clickbank, however, one major benefit RAP Bank has over Clickbank is that RAP Bank pays you for every sale immediately. You do have to have a verified PayPal business account, but this is a simple matter. There's no cost to upgrade your PayPal account, and getting your account verified (if it isn't already) only takes a little while, and costs you nothing.
Keep reading for your options.
Option#2: Shopping Cart
If you wish to have more control over your online business, then signing up with a shopping cart service will give you exactly that. Control. But, with control comes more work.
There are tons of shopping carts (or ecommerce solutions, if you want to be fancy) to choose from. Just search google.com if you want to go into an immediate state of overwhelm.
Paypal has a great shopping cart, and it's free. They even provide all the documentation to install, use and get the most out of it. And, of course, because it's through PayPal you know it's secure and supported.
Use Your Affiliate Force
If you don’t have an affiliate program set up for your products, GET ONE!
This one money making tool alone can be the most profitable portion of your business and the best part is, someone else does the work when it comes to promoting your cookbooks. You pay them, but ONLY when they make a sale.
Again – SET UP AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM!
If you'd like to learn more about setting up your own affiliate program, I'd recommend Affiliate Army Profit Videos
Now, Let’s Talk Money and Passive Income.
Once you have your ecommerce system set up, please don’t make the same mistake most other marketers make.
They NEGLECT their affiliate programs.
They sweat over their products and their advertising campaigns to make them perfect. They’ll spend days on their sales page and hours setting up their shopping cart.
Then, they get to the affiliate part. And, they get lazy. Sure, they might plop a few buttons or banners in the affiliate area, but that’s where it ends.
Then, they run themselves ragged, trying to market their website – all by themselves, and wonder why they don’t have PASSIVE income!
I’ll tell you why. Because they haven’t recruited an ARMY of affiliates doing the exact same multitude of tasks that they are struggling to do. With an ARMY of affiliates, many of those tasks would be done for them by folks who don’t get paid unless they bring in sales.
Their affiliates would be …
- Blogging about them.
- Posting their articles on forums.
- Submitting articles.
- Buying ezine ads.
- Researching keywords & buying Google™ Adwords campaigns.
- Buying classified ads in newspapers.
- Posting on Craigslist.
- Creating Squidoo pages.
- Writing reports and ebooks that send traffic to their affiliate link.
- Making JV deals with the free reports from the affiliate center.
- And, more.
I hope YOU won’t make the same mistake, in neglecting your affiliate program, and missing out on passive income.
Affiliate Products, Upsells and Back End Sales
The final way to monetize your cookbooks is to promote inside of them.
Affiliate Programs
Here is one program that would fit perfectly inside any of your cookbooks.
Menu Planning Central (www.MenuPlanningCentral.com)
This particular program pays $20 per referral and is a wealth of information when it comes to meal planning. Throw in a promotion at the end of your cookbook that reads something like this to help monetize your recipes:
======================================================================
I'm saving time and money and you can too!
Ever since I found this program, I'm spending less money on McDonalds, Wendy's ... well, you know the drill. Instead of picking up the kids and wondering what I can pull together for dinner, I've started to plan my meals in advance - and you can, too. Stop by this site and pick up a free report about Menu Planning. I think you'll like it.
Your Affiliate Link Would Go Here!
======================================================================
See how easy that is? Just place your affiliate link inside the text box and you’re good to go!
You can find tons of affiliate programs that go well with recipes of all different types. Just do your research and match your programs and products with the content in your cookbook and you’re good to go.
The profits don’t stop inside your cookbook either.
Upsells & Back End Recommendations
Once you’ve sold a product, you don’t want your customer to just take it and run, right? You’ll want to keep them around for a bit longer and make the most of every second of their attention you have.
One way to do this is through the power of Upselling. Have you ever been to McDonald’s, ordered a burger and the cashier asked you “Would you like fries and a drink with that?” This friend is what is called an upsell and you can do the same thing with your cookbooks.
When you customer downloads their cookbook, why not offer them another one of your cookbooks that harmonizes with the one they just purchased? You can simply offer them the cookbook OR you can go one step further and present them with a one time offer where they can purchase the second cookbook for a lower price.
For instance, let’s say your customer has purchased a vegetarian cookbook. When they get to the download page you’ll give them the download link but also offer them another cookbook full of healthy vegetable snacks.
See how that works? Upsell with each and every cookbook you sell because it’s easier to make a customer a repeat one than it is to get them as your customer the first time.
Another way you can easily monetize your cookbooks is to have back end product recommendations. How this works is like this:
Your customer purchases Cookbook A from your site. They are then directed to a Thank You page where they can download the cookbook. On this page recommend another affiliate product like Menu Planning Central or something else comparable.
Either way - DON’T WASTE THIS SPACE! Use it to make more money!
Other Ways to Use Recipes to Create Revenue
Creating cookbooks is not the only way to make money with recipes. Here are a few more places you can utilize recipes in order to make a profit.
Blogs
Create a recipe section and post new recipes each day. There are even scripts you can use that will allow you to post a new recipe each day and spotlight it as the “Recipe of the Day.”
Newsletters & Ezines
Add a recipe to your newsletter or ezine. Spotlight the area to make it stand out.
Autoresponders
Create an autoresponder of nothing but recipes and articles regarding cooking.
If you don’t have an autoresponder yet, we recommend Aweber.
Each of the above places can be used to showcase recipes and then add product recommendations for your own cookbooks, affiliate products, and/or pay per click advertising such as Google Adsense.
Here’s a Checklist to Help You Complete One Cookbook Each and Every Month
(This timeline is based on purchasing PLR recipes. You’ll obviously need to adjust as necessary if you chose another avenue for your recipe creation.)
1st – 5th
Receive your monthly PLR recipes and cooking articles from YummyPLR.com and begin editing the content with your own personal touches, adding graphics, tips, food substitutions, and more.
5th (or once you have your topic)
Contact graphic designer regarding the graphics you’ll need for the current cookbook topic. (If you plan to create a new cookbook each month, which you should since it’s so easy to do you can actually get some designers on retainer so that you know your graphics will be delivered each and every month.)
5th – 10th
Continue editing your recipes and formatting them into a cookbook.
10th – 12th
Add content to your site, blog, newsletters, etc. to attract people to your site and position yourself as the expert.
12th – 15th
Create a sales page for your cookbook. Set up any discount pages, etc.
15th – 20th
Add cookbook to your shopping cart or Clickbank account.
Test your shopping cart to make sure orders will process and products will be delivered correctly.
20th – 25th
Add affiliate tools and resources for affiliates to promote the cookbook. Let your affiliates know you have added a new cookbook and give them a date to begin promoting.
25th – 30th
Make it Live! Let your lists know your newest cookbook is available and offer them a special discount for being a customer/subscriber.
Be sure to post about it on your blog, website, in your newsletter and social networking sites.
If that sounds like a lot of work, you’ll want to check out this site to learn how to outsource: www.OutsourceWeekly.com
Additional Resources
Affiliate Army Profit Videos
Affiliate Program Launch
The Ultimate Cookbook Collection
There you have it! Today's home business idea. If you enjoy food, enjoy cash and enjoy working for yourself, then a home based cookbook business is probably a good choice for you.
Until tomorrow,
Terry
