Hi Janelle,
I think compiling a book of all your favourite recipes is a great idea... but do it for the passion, not the money. You will obviously get some buyers from here, and you may also be successful on the internet. But as David will tell you, unless you get a best seller, you can't live off the proceeds. A lot of self publishers don't even make back the money they put into the project.
Many people won't buy a recipe book unless it is for a specific reason, as there are so many recipes for free on the internet. The ones that sell are because they are aimed at a specific niche market... which you have here... but your potential market is small. Or they do well because they are celebrities or there are lots of great pictures. Or it makes a great coffee table book. Marketing is the key to selling these books and that usually costs.
When did you last buy a recipe book? Why did you buy it? How much did you pay for it? These are the questions you need to ask about the audience you are writing for. Some people here have said they would buy it... how much did they have in mind when they said that? Will they expect just recipes or photos too? Will they expect a printed copy or e-book? If e-book, will the recipes be downloadable to a mobile phone so that people can take the list when shopping?
Do you only want to bake and put the recipes in a book or do you want to create a memory of your experience? What if your recipe book also included great photos or cartoons, AND, included the story of your journey baking and testing the recipes, maybe including the funny failures etc. Then it becomes historical, beautiful to look at, a good story as well as the recipes. It's a bigger project but more likely to have success with a publisher (who will do all the marketing).
I do think it is a wonderful idea, and there is certainly a niche market. I would just think carefully about what your expectations are, and how you can meet these in today's market, so that in the end you are satisfied and fulfilled from a successful project.
So, what would I pay? If it was a beautiful hard cover book with a story and photos I'd pay around $60. If it was an ebook I probably wouldn't be prepared to pay more than $10, and for that it would have to have pages that print easily and have at least 100 recipes. For a small paperback I would probably pay $20 but again, that would depend on how many recipes that I am likely to use myself.
So what would other people pay, and what would you expect for that?
