Very often, first-time publishers are eternal optimists. Staying focused on the positive is great-unless your financial estimates and timeframes are just not realistic and end up causing you unnecessary frustration. Instead of guesstimating your project, take a little time to do some research. Since you can print and assemble your own books, check out a binding system. Look at several types to find the one that is the best fit for your project. The spiral coil and plastic comb varieties are especially popular for school cookbooks. Pay attention to the capacity of the machines you are thinking of purchasing. Binding machines vary in the number of pages they can handle at one time, so consider the page count of your final publication.

If your cookbook will be a class book, planning for page counts can be quite simple. If you plan to have students (and yourself) contribute two recipes each, multiply the number of participants by two and add a few pages for the introduction, section dividers, and table of contents. If you are working on a school cookbook, you will have to spend some time establishing rules for submission so that you can effectively plan the printing and binding and so that recipe contributors don’t feel frustrated or cheated by rules they didn’t know about. If you believe you will be flooded with submissions, set a limit of one recipe per child or family.

Choose a point of contact to serve as a leader for the project. This person will help to divide project volunteers into groups dedicated to handling smaller parts of the overall publication. Responsibilities can be divided by section of the book (such as appetizers) or by task (such as typing or copying). Either way, make sure you have a backup plan in case someone doesn’t come through.

Advertise your upcoming cookbook in the school newsletter or website. You can also ask committee members to call parents asking for submissions. Remind older students to talk with their parents about recipes and put reminder stickers on younger students. Ask that recipes be emailed to you so that you won’t spend a lot of time typing. Simply asking others to type their own recipe is an indirect way of dividing the responsibility for the project among a very large group of people.

When you begin to assemble the recipes, make sure your team is using a consistent font and size for all of the recipes. This will ensure a polished look for your school’s publication. As you put the cookbook together, be sure to include a table of contents and dividers for the sections (if you have them). Check spelling and grammar carefully-feel free to call in some favors from the English department-before printing final copies of the cookbook.

You can hold a contest among students for the cover design. Again, set a few parameters to make publication easier. If your cover will be photocopied or printed in a single color, ask kids to create one-color illustrations. If you can print covers in color, kids can submit full-color drawings. You could even use a class photo and a signature collage on the cover. Once you’ve printed the covers, it’s time to bind the publication with your binding machine. When the book is finished, you can distribute copies to your class or you can sell copies to recoup some of the project’s cost or even turn a profit. Be sure to share copies with key administrators and advertise your cookbook online or in school communications if you are offering it for sale.