Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Im writing a cookbook and I bought In design to help me with designing my pages . It is so challenging? Do you think its better if I buy a license for a cookbook template?
Thanks
Anu
write the book first on word. design later. doing both you will not get this done.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
InDesign is a professional publishing application with a steep learning curve, you will also need some knowledge of Photoshop if the book is illustrated and also of printing processes. If you're prepared to take some training you can do it yourself, templates may help, alternatively you might consider hiring a professional designer.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I was contacted several years ago by someone asking the same question. They wound up hiring me to design the book.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
write the book first on word. design later. doing both you will not get this done.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Yes, Jonathan makes a very good point – use a word processor for producing your manuscript.
(I would also suggest you get someone to proof read the MS when it's written and also get someone to try each of the recipes, and finally if it's to be illustrated with photographs – and why not! – get a first class food photographer.)
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Agree with Jonathan.
Start in Word. Use Styles for everything with no overrides. Use Paragraph Styles for paragraphs, and create and use Character Styles for Bold, Italic, etc.
In addition, use this time to start learning InDesign. You can't just sit down and start using it without learning it first. Watch InDesign 2021 Essential Training with @davidblatner on LinkedIn Learning and try using your files to play with in addition to the course files.
~ Jane
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Maybe this response is a bit beyond the scope of the forum, but I would also add a word of caution OP. If you're producing the cook book to give to family and friends, you might as well stick with MSWord for your text, adding some photographs, and producing a PDF for circulating to these people.
If you're thinking of producing a cook book for commercial distribution, remember, that apart from the production issues you neeed to deal with, there are many thousands of cook books for sale and, unless you have a very specialised topic and you know how to reach this market, or you have a celebrity/ media tie-in for your book, it may get lost in the myriad of such titles.