Last Updated on September 28, 2020 by Jordan Alexo

Today, let’s talk about how you can format your cookbook for Kindle Amazon. I’m not going over the top. The formating I’m going to explain is fast and straightforward. Thus, don’t expect a fantastic looking cookbook similar to one belonging to an author. However, it will still look sleek. The main idea here is to produce affordable and simple cookbooks. Nevertheless, your cookbooks will make bank. You should include images for each recipe, as I already explained before in my other post here.

If you ordered your cookbook from a company like Urban Writers, then the formating is nearly done. Yet, it would help if you made a few adjustments, so you don’t run to problems later down the road. Also, make sure whenever you use their service to add my coupon code, “JA5” to receive a 5% discount on your orders.

How To Format A Cookbook For Kindle Publishing [Video Guide]

What Tools Do You Need To Format Your Kindle Cookbook?

WPS Office or Microsoft Office: You need to have a text editor, this may be Microsoft Word. This software typically comes with your Windows installation. However, sometimes you might not have wanted to purchase their software. In this case, you may download and install WPS Office. This software is similar to the one I mentioned before but free.

Although throughout my tutorial, I use WPS Writer, the options should be similar to Microsoft Word. Furthermore, once inside your text editor, select to show paragraph marks. Later, you need these markers to more easily format your cookbook.

 

 

STEP 1) Front Page Formatting

You want to go on the first page of your cookbook and, if needed, make the necessary adjustments. Remove any unnecessary enters, resize your title, subtitle, and add your author name below. The title should be your main keyword, and subtitle supposedly should hook readers to purchase your cookbook.

If you have a diet cookbook, then don’t mention how much weight someone may lose because this goes against Amazon’s policies. For instance, “50 Recipes To Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days”. 

You should also include “page break” whenever you want to pass to the next page.

STEP 2) Clean Your Cookbook

You should check your book and remove unnecessary paragraph marks, such as enters, double spacing, and configure headings. Hover each one of your headings and define them appropriately. Your chapters should start with heading 1, and each subtitle should be heading 2.

In case your heading has too much after and previous spacing, then you may adjust them. Just select the heading you want to configure, left click with your mouse, and choose to modify the style. Afterward, follow the next show steps.

Alter the spacing “before” and “after,” depending on what you need. Next, press “ok” on the opened windows to close them.

On the last window, select yes to alter all the paragraphs on your document.

Afterward, read through your cookbook and remove unnecessary spacing and enters. Do this until everything looks clean.

Sometimes ghostwriters add enters until the chapter passes to the next page. You should instead remove them and add a page break prior.

STEP 3) Font Family

Choose the font family would like for your cookbook. My recommendations are Georgia, Times New Roman, Verdana, or Arial. I use the same font family for my entire cookbook. However, you may pick another one for your headings. In terms of font size, it can be either 12 or 14 pixels. Furthermore, once you have decided on a particular font configuration, make sure to use the same one for the next books in the series.

STEP 4) Add Images

You should add images to each recipe, as this makes your cookbook look more appealing to your readers.

I recommend you check Pixabay and Adobe Stock to find images. Pixabay has high-quality free images. However, often it may be hard for you to find the right ones for your cookbook. Therefore, you should try Adobe Stock. Although, you get ten free images by subscribing to their website. Afterward, you may get a monthly subscription.

The final solution is to search images for your recipes on Google. However, I suggest being careful with this because most images are copyrighted. Your book may get removed by Amazon.

Search for images that make sense for each recipe. If your dish has tomato sauce, then its respective photo has none, then it doesn’t make sense. Finding images is typically a pain in the arse, and it may take several hours.

After you downloaded your images to your computer, you want to open them on Photoshop or another image editor. You should change your image resolution to 300. This way, you avoid having problems once you pass your cookbook to paperback. Go to image size, and on the windows that open, change the resolution to 300 dpi.

You may also want to set a specific size for your images. So, you won’t have one image looking larger than another on your cookbook. For this, use the “selection rectangle tool,” then select the area you want and crop it.

Afterward, save your image as a .jpeg file and add it below your recipe heading. On WPS Office, choose where you want to place your image. Go to the insert tab and click on pictures, and select the right one.

You should repeat the same process for each one of your recipes.

STEP 5) Add a Table Of Content

You should add a new page after your copyright. On this blank page, write “Table of Content” and make it a heading 1. Example:

Where you have the “enter” mark, click there to select that area. Go to the references tab, table of contents, and insert the table of content.

On the opened window, I often only show levels one and uncheck, “Right align page numbers” box. Make sure to leave the rest of the option and then press ok.

Once you added your table of content, select and remove the unnecessary information, such as “Table Of Content.”

After you cleaned everything, added images, etc., you want to save the file and upload it to Kindle Amazon. I am going to explain the rest of the process on my next post here.

Last Thoughts…

Cookbooks may be extremely profitable. I used to make 6k per month selling them. I suggest you giving them a try. I stopped producing them mainly because I got tired of spending hours trying to search for images. Also, be careful with diet cookbooks. Nowadays, with the crisis, this niche has been severely impacted.

On the positive side, you can produce inexpensive and highly profitable books. You should expect mostly to make money selling paperbacks and Kindles. If you have any questions, make sure to leave it right below. Thanks for reading!