Serve and Savor E-Book is Now Available!

On October 14th, the e-version of my first cookbook Serve and Savor was available on Amazon and more distributors are being added every day. Think I’m just a little excited? Heck ya! Writing a cookbook was part of the inspiration to begin blogging five years ago and accomplishing that goal feels amazing.

Right after submitting the e-book to the publisher it was time to design and format the print book. Let me just say, you don’t know what you don’t know, until at last, you absolutely know. I thought I was prepared but I was not. Through a conversation with a friend who works in publishing, it became crystal clear the design and formatting would have to be done in InDesign. I was in a panic. Already tired and weary from the push to finish the e-book, the thought of learning a new program and formatting the book just about sent me over the edge. The alternative was to hire a designer to do it which meant additional expenses.

Have you ever had someone show up in your life who fit the puzzle piece you desperately needed, at just the time you needed it? I have. They are an answer to prayer. Cary was a Godsend. She did the interior design and then trained me how to do the formatting in InDesign. Within three weeks from our initial meeting, the print book was ready to publish.

Ten days ago I sent the finished print copy to the publisher. My first cookbook. Surreal. I was exhausted. Relieved. Accomplished. Almost too tired to feel excited. Then the hard copy proof landed on my doorstep. I could barely contain myself; ecstatic to finally hold it in my hands (it’s still on the counter so I can randomly touch it). It was beautiful and I was grateful once again for Cary’s talents.

I won’t bore you with the countless delays we’ve gone through getting this project done. What I have learned is to appreciate delays that give to time to catch mistakes. When you’re tired you miss things. When you’re pressed for time, you miss things. But there was one delay that almost had me in tears … evidently the publisher had a glitch in their online system, and I was the one who uncovered it. The 8×10 size was not available for print on demand (POD) and the book has to be reformatted to a different size. I THOUGHT I WAS DONE! (Deep cleansing breath.) Not quite.

While the publisher started reformatting to an 8 1/2 square, I continued to scan the book for any other issues one more time as well as post some photos of the book on social media. Guess what? Somewhere between publishing the e-book and formatting the cover for print, the “o” in nourishing went missing. Do you see it? UGH! It took two days to catch it and I’m not the one who caught it. A friend did. Someone who hadn’t assumed it was right or already looked at it a thousand times. And do you realize like I did, that if the glitch hadn’t happened I would have ordered books like that?! So thankful for productive delays. 🙂

So the print copy is almost done (really, I promise), but you can download the e-book, which I love having on my e-reader in the kitchen, by clicking on the sidebar link or here. Thanks for staying tuned and all your encouragement along the way—it means the world to me.

Here’s a sneak peak at what’s inside!