Using cookbooks for fundraising is a great way to go! They never expire, you can have them printed on demand (if need be) and they are much more personal then selling candy bars. I always recommend focusing on personal stories to go along with the cookbook. Everyone has a special chocolate chip cookie recipe and having a story about how it was passed down from mother to daughter can go a long way. Also make sure the photos are amazing! It doesn't matter how tasty the recipe is, if the photo of the dish looks bad, people aren't going to try the recipe. Most shoppers now a days focus on the images first, so don't skimp on this area! If you have a local college, maybe ask around the art program to see if there are any fledgling photographers out there that would want to gain some experience.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the importance of picking a theme. Try not to have a random hodge podge of recipes if you can help it. Instead I recommend focusing on a specific category like desserts or baked goods or healthy snacks.
yes, we did two years ago and we're still sitting on over a hundred of them!! My advice would be to buy less than you think. You can always reorder. I think it's a great project, we just ordered WAY too many! We did just get a local coffee shop and gas station to agree to sell them, so I'm hoping they sell!
My daughters school printed and bound their own cookbook years ago. It was easy, and really fun to do. Each participant (in our case it was the kids) prepared a certain item and took various pictures throughout the session. They then placed the photos in a word doc, with parents help, and added the type. They were creative with colors, fonts and clip art. And the photos were hilarious! The file was emailed to the school and printed and bound in house. The school made a certain number of copies per class and they all sold out in a few hours! I think the cost was $40 each.
