Cookbooks or website?

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Ella

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I'm thinking of putting together my own little cookbook at some point, but wondered are people using the website more? Do people only buy books by celebrity chefs or offer them as free downloads and then encourage them to their website?

I've seen some e-books that are quite expensive and wonder who buys them as many recipes can be found on the web. I'm sure how successful they are, but cookery books are still good gifts in a physical form.

What's to stop people not buying the book and then using recipes from the website instead? Maybe I will only post a few basic ones and that will encourage people to buy the book? Any feedback?
 
I much prefer cookbooks. I only 'buy' ebook when they are free. Websites just don't appeal to me. There are too many of them, too often the same and too often not proof read or tested. It is also way too easy to lose a recipe you like online and personally I will not have electronics such as computers, laptops and tablets in the kitchen. I'm an it engineer by trade and have seen too many accidents and too many people expecting me to create another miracle and get their precious unbacked up holiday photos off said equipment after accidents. Paper survived water or more often glasses of wine, fat better and I much prefer browsing through books than looking at a digital screen all day!
 
+1 for the above. Here net access can be very iffy [non of this 'cloud' rubbish - we use hard wires and even then it has a habit of just dropping off, what then if you're halfway through a big recipe]. You can copy a recipe down from a site and use later but then isn't it easier to just use a book ? One more thing, almost all of these cookbooks end up in charity shops within a few years [months in some cases] so just buy them then and do some good at the same time.
 
At this point in my life it is far more convenient to use the internet. I am not settled, i almost live out of a suitcase and move approximately every 6 months so possessions are something i keep at bay. But I would love to compile a recipe notebook of my own some day.
 
I am fully settled and I still find websites more convenient. If I love a recipe, I make sure it's on Pinterest for me to reference at any time. If I hate the recipe, or want to alter it drastically, I don't have to feel like I wasted money on something that I'm not going to use again—I can just search for another recipe that is closer to what I'm looking for and alter less.
 
I enjoy looking through cookbooks, but I don't have a whole lot of room to store them. Most of the time these days I hunt for recipes online and if it is something that the family enjoys I save it in a file on the computer.
 
Okay, I will probably donate a percentage of the profits to charities like food banks and homeless charities, so would that encourage people to buy a physical book over an e-book? I could put a donate button on for each recipe page instead?
I know recipes aren't covered by copyright, so that's why website recipes are easy to copy, because they are a list of ingredients and a set of directions, so I want to add more of a twist and maybe make it more attractive as a gift?
 
Ella said:
I'm thinking of putting together my own little cookbook at some point, but wondered are people using the website more? Do people only buy books by celebrity chefs or offer them as free downloads and then encourage them to their website?

I've seen some e-books that are quite expensive and wonder who buys them as many recipes can be found on the web. I'm sure how successful they are, but cookery books are still good gifts in a physical form.

What's to stop people not buying the book and then using recipes from the website instead? Maybe I will only post a few basic ones and that will encourage people to buy the book? Any feedback?
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I like to use both. If I find a good cookbook at the thrift store I will buy it, but other than that I just use websites with video as well. I like to see the visuals from videos, it helps to see the step by step process and it's like having a chef in your living room!
 
I prefer to use cookbooks only when I need a complex recipe; since I don't trust online sources for more complex recipes. However, there are lots of odds and ends cooking that I don't know about yet; for those, I simply choose to use the online sources as a quick reference of how to go about making the more simplistic items I'd like to create. However, I don't trust some easy recipes to the online realm when it comes to foreign dishes like sushi; I use a book written by an expert in that type of food instead.
 
I too prefer cookbooks simply because I love to sit down at the kitchen table, or the couch, or the patio chair outside and look through them. There is always something new to discover each time I open a cookbook. I am not fond of digging around in the internet for recipes unless I know what I am looking for, and I have a binder in the kitchen that I have devoted to printed off recipe sheets. There is much more to a cook book than just recipes, you get to look inside the cook's life a little and read their story.
 
Woah, it's surprising to me how many people here still prefer cookbooks. I am definitely partial to websites. There are so many online sources for recipes nowadays, you can take your pick. Food.com is a really good website with recipes from reputable chefs. I think the only cookbooks worth buying anymore are by Marco Pierre White or Julia Childs
 
queenbellevue said:
I think the only cookbooks worth buying anymore are by Marco Pierre White or Julia Childs
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I can name plenty more that are worth buying!

These are all authors (but not a complete list of) that have survived every cull so far on my bookshelves and ones that I go to time and time again.
  • Madhur Jaffrey
  • Anjum Anand
  • Christian Mouysset
  • Dahlia Abraham-Klein
  • Jenny Chandler
  • Krishna Dutta
  • Sally Butcher
  • Joanne Stepaniak
  • Donna Klein
  • Denis Cotter
  • Rose Elliot
  • Nava Atlas
  • David Canter
  • Isa Chandra Moskowitz
The following all reside in my amazon wish list waiting for funds to allow purchase of their physical cookbooks
  • Sabrina Ghayour
  • Yotam Ottolenghi
  • Kaushy Patel
  • Anya Kassoff
  • Amy Chaplin
  • Suzanne Zeidy
  • David Bailey
  • Greg Malouf
  • Miyoko Mishimoto Schinner
  • Joy Pierson
  • Charlotte Bailey
  • Chandra Padmanabhan
 
I prefer cooking websites. Some cookbooks are very expensive unlike cooking website where all you need is a stable internet. I also have fun watching and downloading cooking guide videos from the youtube. I learn a lot of recipe from there.
 
When I was still starting to have an interest how to cook I am already reading the cookbooks of my mother and her original recipes which I all wrote on my notepad. It had been a good references for me wherein I tired to innovate some of my moms recipes to something new. Sometimes I do watch cooking shows on television or cooking events in malls. There are times also where I search on the internet mostly in youtube cooking tutorials and it is helpful too. And so cookbooks and website are both useful and an informative source of learning how to cook for me.
 
I prefer cooking websites over cookbooks but I do often buy cookbooks for others as gifts because even in this day and age not everybody has a computer or know how to use it for cooking. I have always liked cookbooks that are put together by church groups, schools, or individuals. I find that you always find the best recipes in those types of books and they have a more personal touch to them. A lot of recipes in those types of books are recipes that have been passed down through the generations.
 
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