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Kindle Cookbooks?

by jeremydenhartog
13 replies
For those of you selling cookbooks or recipe books on Kindle, are you including pictures with the recipes? If so, is there a place you can get them from and legally use them? If you don't use pictures with your recipe books, do you receive negative feedback because the lack of pictures or do most people not really care?
#cookbooks #kindle
  • Profile picture of the author Rbtmarshall
    Are you making this cookbook for multiple people to buy or is it made to replace grandmas index card file of recipes?


    If you are going to be selling people recipes why not show them an actual photo of when you are selling them? It would be best if you took the photos for each recipe, wouldn't you think?
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  • Profile picture of the author jeremydenhartog
    Yep, it would. Just wasn't sure what the expectation is out there and buying all of the ingredients and cooking everything simply to photograph would be a bit costly and time consuming. I'm not saying I'm not willing to do it...just was curious what others did or if there is a resource out there already that people use
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    • Profile picture of the author agmccall
      I would use a stock photo site such as istockphoto or 123stockphotos

      It is always a good idea to use your own photos if possible, but, (and I learned from experience) photographing food is not the easiest thing in the world to do. In fact, it is really difficult to get a good, appetizing photo.

      Buy them, or hire a photographer.

      I am not affiliated with this site but here is a link to a ebook on food photography.

      Tasty Food Photography eBook - Pinch of Yum

      The rest of the site is quite good as well

      al
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  • Profile picture of the author 7A
    Yes, actual photos of the recipes, or at least some of them would make your kindle book so much more unique.
    And, not that difficult to do. You could even sponsor a contest, have people make the recipes and send in their best.
    You'd have a bunch of pics you could use legally, and the prize amount would be cheap compared to the publicity and usable pics you could use.
    Just be sure to specify in the fine print that all pics become your property and that you can use them any way you'd like.
    I'm not a lawyer, so be sure to get yourself covered on this...
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Strictly based on my own observation, I think pictures are more important in print books than ebooks. I've seen far more bad reviews based on lack of photos for print books than for Kindle.

      I've downloaded several of the best-selling indie cookbooks, and looked at samples of many more. Most had no photos. In fact, most were simply recipe collections with no commentary other than a plug for additional books.

      I can't say I was impressed.

      You can always link back to a photos page and add photos as you can. That will still put you ahead of most of your competition.
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  • Profile picture of the author GuruGazette
    I'm a food photographer so I take my own. Being able to sell "tried and true" recipes is an excellent selling point. It does take a lot of time and effort, but that's par for the course with any business.

    I sometimes have client work that requires step-by-step photos so I'm used to buying the ingredients and taking photos as I go.

    I also buy cookbooks and I usually ignore the ones without photos.

    If need be, many really good stock photos can fill in the gaps for some types of recipes. Chicken and dumplings for example, or meatloaf. If you do a specific niche however, such as Paleo, gluten free, low carb or low calorie, you have to know the niche well and make sure there aren't any items in the photos that aren't used/allowed in that niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author ddavidlv
    While recipes are not copyrighted, photos are so if you are writing a book just take a picture of your finished product of each recipe. Why right a book of recipes that you have never tried yourself
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Tandan
    Actual pictures are surely the way to go. But I understand you may not plan on preparing every single dish prior to releasing your book. I've bought some recipe ebooks, and the picture doesn't necessarily need to be the 'final product'. It could simply be of some of the ingredients, or some pots and pans, anything kitchen related. Still gets your readers involved.
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  • Profile picture of the author leisurexperience
    For sure you need to put lot of pictures dude. People will get bored reading content with image
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    • Profile picture of the author agmccall
      Originally Posted by leisurexperience View Post

      For sure you need to put lot of pictures dude. People will get bored reading content with image
      Disregard this, Most home cooks are not children and do not need a lot of pictures.
      Some well placed pictures are a plus, but, no need for too many.

      al
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      • Profile picture of the author moneymakingpillarsx
        Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

        Disregard this, Most home cooks are not children and do not need a lot of pictures.
        Some well placed pictures are a plus, but, no need for too many.

        al
        I've read a few of the Kindle cookbooks and almost none had photos of the actual dishes, only a photo on the 'cover' or first page. As you say, a home cook won't need a photo to illustrate what the finished product should look like as the ebook is more for informational/how to purposes, than to entertain.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
    I go on cooking sites quite a bit, and it's something that has a photo that usually is what I wind up preparing.

    If I were putting together a cooking/recipe book I would most certainly be making everything I put in it - or at the very least would have made it in the past.

    You have to eat every day as it is, so just make something for breakfast lunch and dinner. That's over a thousand recipes in the course of a year.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Jill Carpenter View Post

      I go on cooking sites quite a bit, and it's something that has a photo that usually is what I wind up preparing.
      Same here, and nice, high-res photos on my laptop or 17" side monitor go a long way to helping me decide among the options.

      On the other hand, the same photo on my 7" tablet or someone's 2" phone might not look as good.

      If I were doing a physical cookbook, there would definitely be at least a section in the middle with some really good photos.

      Originally Posted by Jill Carpenter View Post

      If I were putting together a cooking/recipe book I would most certainly be making everything I put in it - or at the very least would have made it in the past.

      You have to eat every day as it is, so just make something for breakfast lunch and dinner. That's over a thousand recipes in the course of a year.
      Even one per week would give you enough for the typical Kindle cookbook. Just remember to put the word "Paleo" in the title whether the recipes fit the diet or not. I'm kidding! Check the reviews for some of the top indie Paleo cookbooks and watch them get shredded for not actually following the guidelines. Those come right after the glowing shill reviews.
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