How to self-publish a cookbook: Raise $200,000+ on Kickstarter
May 12, 2017 6:22 AM Subscribe
The co-owner of restaurant Alinea and its cocktail sibling, Aviary, explains why they will be self-publishing their next book after going a somewhat more traditional route with the first book. Restaurateur Nick Kokonas (who co-owns world-renowned Alinea with chef Grant Achatz) talks about his experience with the publishing industry — including rarely discussed sales numbers and dollar amounts — and sets out his plan to avoid it the next time around. (It involves a rented studio and a 27-item list of equipment and supplies. Plus staff.)
Previously: What it's like to be a cookbook ghostwriter. Previouslier: Behind the scenes of making a cookbook.
Previously: What it's like to be a cookbook ghostwriter. Previouslier: Behind the scenes of making a cookbook.
Seems that paying for the value of a publisher to market your cookbook would benefit primarily mostly unknown authors without a significant fanbase. But I don't recall seeing many such cookbooks. They tend to go for already famous folks.
Building the audience for your book is the hard part; if you've already got that, what do you need a publisher for? You can hire photographers and editors.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:53 AM on May 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Building the audience for your book is the hard part; if you've already got that, what do you need a publisher for? You can hire photographers and editors.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:53 AM on May 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Seems that paying for the value of a publisher to market your cookbook would benefit primarily mostly unknown authors without a significant fanbase.
I don't think it's quite that cut n dried. Certainly if you are a famous celebrity you can probably get a cookbook deal if you want. But there's a difference between, say, Cher wanting to publish a book of smoothie recipies and the guys from the new hot hipster BBQ joint in X city wanting to publish a cookbook. You can have lines out the door of your joint every night, that's still no where near enough national recognition on the My-mom-saw-you-on-the-Today-show level to move 100k cookbooks without support. 5,000 fans on a kickstarter, sure. But that would mean reproducing 75% of the incredible amount of legwork this guy did, and like him, likely paying triple or quadruple the production costs. Say the amount of work you'd need to do is equivalent to work for one person for a year, and you're able to get all the other production costs to net out to $20 a book; you'd net about $150k on a print run of 5,000. Or in other words, about what the publishers were offerring. It's possible you might sell 100k of course, but that's probably not a realistic goal for most authors. Grant Achatz has been pegged as one of the greatest and most innovative chefs of his generation.
posted by Diablevert at 7:11 AM on May 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
I don't think it's quite that cut n dried. Certainly if you are a famous celebrity you can probably get a cookbook deal if you want. But there's a difference between, say, Cher wanting to publish a book of smoothie recipies and the guys from the new hot hipster BBQ joint in X city wanting to publish a cookbook. You can have lines out the door of your joint every night, that's still no where near enough national recognition on the My-mom-saw-you-on-the-Today-show level to move 100k cookbooks without support. 5,000 fans on a kickstarter, sure. But that would mean reproducing 75% of the incredible amount of legwork this guy did, and like him, likely paying triple or quadruple the production costs. Say the amount of work you'd need to do is equivalent to work for one person for a year, and you're able to get all the other production costs to net out to $20 a book; you'd net about $150k on a print run of 5,000. Or in other words, about what the publishers were offerring. It's possible you might sell 100k of course, but that's probably not a realistic goal for most authors. Grant Achatz has been pegged as one of the greatest and most innovative chefs of his generation.
posted by Diablevert at 7:11 AM on May 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
Building the audience for your book is the hard part; if you've already got that, what do you need a publisher for? You can hire photographers and editors.
A number of the authors on here have discussed this at length, but the short version is that not every author is either willing or capable of taking on all the responsibilities and duties that a publisher normally handles. And that's not a bad thing - not every author is going to have the skillset or the wherewithal to handle every part of the publishing process, so choosing to work with a partner who does is a logical business decision!
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:16 AM on May 12, 2017 [5 favorites]
A number of the authors on here have discussed this at length, but the short version is that not every author is either willing or capable of taking on all the responsibilities and duties that a publisher normally handles. And that's not a bad thing - not every author is going to have the skillset or the wherewithal to handle every part of the publishing process, so choosing to work with a partner who does is a logical business decision!
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:16 AM on May 12, 2017 [5 favorites]
Hahah oh god I stopped reading when they got to the point of shopping it around to multiple publishers, then getting the "self publishing" offer from 10 Speed. I don't think "10 Speed would help us do the copy editing, we’d get the benefit of their relationships and sizable orders with printers, and of course they’d warehouse and distribute the book in North America" plus "no advance but the publisher would front the printing costs" really counts as "self publishing".
I mean just the fact that "the publisher" is mentioned should be a major clue to this dude that he is not, in fact, "self-publishing". When you are self-publishing, the publisher is, in fact, you. And sure you get a bigger percentage of the sale of each book but you have to do all the work involved in creating, laying out, advertising, and supply chain management (thank you for the major insight that supply chain management is a huge part of What Publishers Do, cstross) for the book. Or you have to figure out how to persuade someone else to do these things for you. Good luck finding someone willing to work cheap enough. And good luck finding the time and energy to work on your next book while you're doing all that.
I have self-pubbed. I am in the tail end of self-pubbing a book RIGHT NOW. Currently I am going back and forth with Amazon Fulfillment trying to convince them that "stuff it in a bubble envelope and hope for the best" is not the right way to send out my oversized softcover graphic novel with 5-color printing throughout. I raised all the money to print it on Kickstarter, threw in a significant chunk of my own to deal with the various mistakes I've made, and I sure as hell don't have anyone who helped me bring the price of the book down to $4/book - I did a run of a thousand books and it cost me like $12/book. If I want my books in bookstores I have to bring them by and try to convince them to sell them myself. I would love to have the opportunity to only make a few percentage points of each book, if that meant a print run an order of magnitude larger that got put in a distribution system that gets it in a zillion stores. And submitted for awards. And sent to reviewers.
Oh yeah and I bet that if these guys show up at a book fair it'll be because 10 Speed paid for and managed the booth, and they just show up for a couple hours to sign it, too.
I'd read more of their post but I'm afraid I'd sprain my eyes rolling them.
posted by egypturnash at 8:01 AM on May 12, 2017 [10 favorites]
I mean just the fact that "the publisher" is mentioned should be a major clue to this dude that he is not, in fact, "self-publishing". When you are self-publishing, the publisher is, in fact, you. And sure you get a bigger percentage of the sale of each book but you have to do all the work involved in creating, laying out, advertising, and supply chain management (thank you for the major insight that supply chain management is a huge part of What Publishers Do, cstross) for the book. Or you have to figure out how to persuade someone else to do these things for you. Good luck finding someone willing to work cheap enough. And good luck finding the time and energy to work on your next book while you're doing all that.
I have self-pubbed. I am in the tail end of self-pubbing a book RIGHT NOW. Currently I am going back and forth with Amazon Fulfillment trying to convince them that "stuff it in a bubble envelope and hope for the best" is not the right way to send out my oversized softcover graphic novel with 5-color printing throughout. I raised all the money to print it on Kickstarter, threw in a significant chunk of my own to deal with the various mistakes I've made, and I sure as hell don't have anyone who helped me bring the price of the book down to $4/book - I did a run of a thousand books and it cost me like $12/book. If I want my books in bookstores I have to bring them by and try to convince them to sell them myself. I would love to have the opportunity to only make a few percentage points of each book, if that meant a print run an order of magnitude larger that got put in a distribution system that gets it in a zillion stores. And submitted for awards. And sent to reviewers.
Oh yeah and I bet that if these guys show up at a book fair it'll be because 10 Speed paid for and managed the booth, and they just show up for a couple hours to sign it, too.
I'd read more of their post but I'm afraid I'd sprain my eyes rolling them.
posted by egypturnash at 8:01 AM on May 12, 2017 [10 favorites]
I was foolish enough to say Yes when a big traditional publisher offered to publish a book based on my already established and successful website. We wanted a design leaning toward understated and minimalist, and they knew that. The design they ultimately decided upon was based on a tabloid newspaper, quite the opposite of what we wanted to convey. If anything, it hinted that the information within was unreliable (and we are sticklers for research and fact-checking).
I protested the cover, but the publisher was indifferent. I sought assistance from my agent, he told me to just cooperate with the publisher. That's when I learned that one's agent is not one's advocate, they are just there to make the initial introduction and take a percentage of the sale.
Consequently I was quite unhappy with the book design. The publisher was furious because I declined to splash it all over our home page. Reviews of the book were quite positive, but sales were lousy, probably because the publisher's whole marketing strategy was for us to convert our website into a billboard for the book. The publishing failure, along with the knowledge that much of my body of work was now saddled with this lousy contract, contributed to a deep, dark depression that was almost the end of me.
My next paper publication will be self-published for sure. Traditional publishers can be important for new, unproven authors, but for those like me who already had an audience, the publisher's contribution was a net loss for us.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 8:08 AM on May 12, 2017 [6 favorites]
I protested the cover, but the publisher was indifferent. I sought assistance from my agent, he told me to just cooperate with the publisher. That's when I learned that one's agent is not one's advocate, they are just there to make the initial introduction and take a percentage of the sale.
Consequently I was quite unhappy with the book design. The publisher was furious because I declined to splash it all over our home page. Reviews of the book were quite positive, but sales were lousy, probably because the publisher's whole marketing strategy was for us to convert our website into a billboard for the book. The publishing failure, along with the knowledge that much of my body of work was now saddled with this lousy contract, contributed to a deep, dark depression that was almost the end of me.
My next paper publication will be self-published for sure. Traditional publishers can be important for new, unproven authors, but for those like me who already had an audience, the publisher's contribution was a net loss for us.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 8:08 AM on May 12, 2017 [6 favorites]
If you read the rest of the post, you'd get to the part where their experiences with producing an award winning cookbook via a unique contract with an independent press led to their decision to go completely independent for their forthcoming book.
Pride in one's own ignorance is such a rare quality in an author.
posted by Diablevert at 8:11 AM on May 12, 2017 [3 favorites]
Pride in one's own ignorance is such a rare quality in an author.
posted by Diablevert at 8:11 AM on May 12, 2017 [3 favorites]
Hahah oh god I stopped reading when they got to the point of shopping it around to multiple publishers, then getting the "self publishing" offer from 10 Speed. ... I mean just the fact that "the publisher" is mentioned should be a major clue to this dude that he is not, in fact, "self-publishing". When you are self-publishing, the publisher is, in fact, you.
The book they published with 10 Speed was the first book, not the self-published one. They talk about the self-published one after that.
posted by rory at 8:12 AM on May 12, 2017 [10 favorites]
The book they published with 10 Speed was the first book, not the self-published one. They talk about the self-published one after that.
posted by rory at 8:12 AM on May 12, 2017 [10 favorites]
That was fascinating. I actually think it makes a successful argument against self-publishing (for most people; not these guys). Look at how much work and expertise it takes to make a nice book! I think most would-be self-publishers don't understand that.
posted by the_blizz at 8:29 AM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by the_blizz at 8:29 AM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
Great article. Thanks for posting it.
I have self-pubbed. I am in the tail end of self-pubbing a book RIGHT NOW.
How very odd. You seem to be a writer, which I assume means you're a reader, and the post is about self-publishing, yet you don't even have the grace to read the whole article before spouting off about YOU.
Your post could not have been more off the mark.
posted by dobbs at 8:35 AM on May 12, 2017 [7 favorites]
I have self-pubbed. I am in the tail end of self-pubbing a book RIGHT NOW.
How very odd. You seem to be a writer, which I assume means you're a reader, and the post is about self-publishing, yet you don't even have the grace to read the whole article before spouting off about YOU.
Your post could not have been more off the mark.
posted by dobbs at 8:35 AM on May 12, 2017 [7 favorites]
Look at how much work and expertise it takes to make a nice book!
That's who Alinea is, no compromises, best possible effort final product. That they would cheap out even a little on production quality would be a break with their artistic sensibility and their brand. Though I suspect they both, Kokonas and Achatz, care much more about the former than the latter, they still want this to work financially.
Another successful perfectionist, say Tufte, can do stuff like this, but I'd regard this less as an object lesson for others and more as what's possible if you have the resources (including access to skills!) to refuse a commercial system optimized around profit.
posted by bonehead at 9:03 AM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
That's who Alinea is, no compromises, best possible effort final product. That they would cheap out even a little on production quality would be a break with their artistic sensibility and their brand. Though I suspect they both, Kokonas and Achatz, care much more about the former than the latter, they still want this to work financially.
Another successful perfectionist, say Tufte, can do stuff like this, but I'd regard this less as an object lesson for others and more as what's possible if you have the resources (including access to skills!) to refuse a commercial system optimized around profit.
posted by bonehead at 9:03 AM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
I was met with responses that were akin to me asking for state secrets that were highly classified. No one would talk.This is true in many industries - I know it well from buying large file servers. From the customer's point of view, it's ridiculous and unhelpful. An open, free market has its problems, but one of the nice things that it does is let you know what the going price is for a given thing that you might want to buy. How much were various suppliers willing to sell for, and how much were your peers willing to pay? But if you're buying file servers or printing contracts, the seller wants you to know as little as possible about price. (And often your own company's owner doesn't want you to know the final price they negotiated, either.)
Sometimes I've wondered if keeping prices (of previous transactions) private should be illegal. It makes the market considerably less efficient, and all it does is shuffle money around; it doesn't create any value.
posted by clawsoon at 9:05 AM on May 12, 2017
I mean just the fact that "the publisher" is mentioned should be a major clue to this dude that he is not, in fact, "self-publishing"....
I'd read more of their post but I'm afraid I'd sprain my eyes rolling them.--egypturnash
You just read the first part where they say they used a publisher. If you bothered to read more of the post, you'd get to the self-publishing part.
posted by eye of newt at 9:07 AM on May 12, 2017
I'd read more of their post but I'm afraid I'd sprain my eyes rolling them.--egypturnash
You just read the first part where they say they used a publisher. If you bothered to read more of the post, you'd get to the self-publishing part.
posted by eye of newt at 9:07 AM on May 12, 2017
Hahah oh god I stopped reading when they got to the point of shopping it around to multiple publishers, then getting the "self publishing" offer from 10 Speed.
That wasn't the "self-publishing" bit. The self-publishing part is later in the story. But enjoy your virtuous ignorance!
posted by Shmuel510 at 9:26 AM on May 12, 2017
That wasn't the "self-publishing" bit. The self-publishing part is later in the story. But enjoy your virtuous ignorance!
posted by Shmuel510 at 9:26 AM on May 12, 2017
It's ironic that everybody who's piling on egypturnash for failing to read to the end of the article have failed to read even two comments further down to see that the counterpoint has already been covered... :->
posted by clawsoon at 9:35 AM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 9:35 AM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
Am I reading it wrong, or is he saying that doing it the conventional way through the publisher would cost $130,000 to break even, while doing it themselves with their preferred layout is going to cost $450,000?
posted by clawsoon at 1:17 PM on May 12, 2017
posted by clawsoon at 1:17 PM on May 12, 2017
clawsoon: "Am I reading it wrong, or is he saying that doing it the conventional way through the publisher would cost $130,000 to break even, while doing it themselves with their preferred layout is going to cost $450,000?"
Seems that way. The data they have from the big publisher was a production cost of $3.83 per book and their own production cost was going to be $13.80 - $15.20 per book, a bit under a 4x difference. Some of that is surely due to economies of scale but I suspect that probably some of that might be due to either higher or idiosyncratic production requirements.
posted by mhum at 4:01 PM on May 12, 2017
Seems that way. The data they have from the big publisher was a production cost of $3.83 per book and their own production cost was going to be $13.80 - $15.20 per book, a bit under a 4x difference. Some of that is surely due to economies of scale but I suspect that probably some of that might be due to either higher or idiosyncratic production requirements.
posted by mhum at 4:01 PM on May 12, 2017
I don't think it says that. With a publisher, it seems they would have to sell 32k books to recoup their advance and start getting royalties. Also, that the publisher would make $130k just selling 5k books to the authors at half-price. But I don't think it explicitly says when the publisher would break even.
posted by snofoam at 5:22 PM on May 12, 2017
posted by snofoam at 5:22 PM on May 12, 2017
I am deeply skeptical about the $3.83 number, but maybe that's just because I'm usually dealing in 10,000 as a high quantity as opposed to 30,000 or more
posted by (Over) Thinking at 7:09 PM on May 12, 2017
posted by (Over) Thinking at 7:09 PM on May 12, 2017
This previously documents a fairly positive experience with Ten Speed, who seem to be a fairly decent lot.
As a drone within the UK industry, I'm often dismayed at the way This Sort Of Thread goes - of course publishers occasionally screw up a book, but authors aren't immune to not understanding themselves what a book can need, too. The immediate casting of publishing houses as vampire buggy-whip (thank god that term seems to have left the site) peddlers can be frustrating.
posted by ominous_paws at 11:54 PM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
As a drone within the UK industry, I'm often dismayed at the way This Sort Of Thread goes - of course publishers occasionally screw up a book, but authors aren't immune to not understanding themselves what a book can need, too. The immediate casting of publishing houses as vampire buggy-whip (thank god that term seems to have left the site) peddlers can be frustrating.
posted by ominous_paws at 11:54 PM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
Am I reading it wrong, or is he saying that doing it the conventional way through the publisher would cost $130,000 to break even, while doing it themselves with their preferred layout is going to cost $450,000?
First book deal offered: Need to sell 42,222 books for $250,000 advance (which would just about cover production costs)
10 Speed Press: 100,000 copies sold, the numbers aren't exactly broken down, but if they made $15 on each copy thats $1.5 million.
New book: Need to sell 17,400 books to break even.
So it's not just that if they sell enough copies, they will make a bigger profit, but that they need to sell fewer copies before breaking even. Of course if the book flops, they will be looking at a bigger loss.
posted by Lanark at 3:53 AM on May 13, 2017
First book deal offered: Need to sell 42,222 books for $250,000 advance (which would just about cover production costs)
10 Speed Press: 100,000 copies sold, the numbers aren't exactly broken down, but if they made $15 on each copy thats $1.5 million.
New book: Need to sell 17,400 books to break even.
So it's not just that if they sell enough copies, they will make a bigger profit, but that they need to sell fewer copies before breaking even. Of course if the book flops, they will be looking at a bigger loss.
posted by Lanark at 3:53 AM on May 13, 2017
You could say with the second book, they're getting their advance direct from their customers, via Kickstarter. For $200k, they're still on the hook for the books, just like a more traditional advance from a publisher. But they get to keep the wholesale profits this way. Of course, they're also bearing a higher level of risk and effort, at least in the project management side.
posted by bonehead at 10:26 AM on May 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bonehead at 10:26 AM on May 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
I know a fair amount about the publishing supply chain. I would be extremely surprised if they sold 10,000 copies, let alone the 17,400 they need to sell to break even.
Also, one of the benefits of using a traditional publisher is that you avail yourself to the wholesale distribution network that gets books into libraries, independent bookstores, etc.
$60.00 cocktail coffee table books are not my thing so I recognize that I am not their target market.
posted by lyssabee at 1:07 PM on May 13, 2017
Also, one of the benefits of using a traditional publisher is that you avail yourself to the wholesale distribution network that gets books into libraries, independent bookstores, etc.
$60.00 cocktail coffee table books are not my thing so I recognize that I am not their target market.
posted by lyssabee at 1:07 PM on May 13, 2017
Surprised to see Houdini Indie and Neuron mo-cap on the equipment list.
posted by bz at 12:28 AM on May 14, 2017
posted by bz at 12:28 AM on May 14, 2017
I would be extremely surprised if they sold 10,000 copies
They sold 10x that of their previous book. I don't think they're worried.
posted by dobbs at 2:15 PM on May 15, 2017
They sold 10x that of their previous book. I don't think they're worried.
posted by dobbs at 2:15 PM on May 15, 2017
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This is a solved problem; man should've borrowed an autopen.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:50 AM on May 12, 2017