QuestionsEverything people
Everything people
ask first.
What it is
- What is a collaborative cookbook?
- A cookbook written by a group rather than by one person. Everybody invited contributes a recipe and usually a short message, and the collection is laid out and printed as a single book. They are made most often for weddings, big birthdays, retirements and as a way of keeping a family’s recipes in one place.
- How does A Moose Boosh work?
- You make a book, choose a cover and share one link. Everybody you send it to adds a recipe and a few words from their phone, with no account and no app. We lay out every page, you read the whole thing before anything is printed, and it comes back as an A4 hardback.
- What makes it a guest book as well as a cookbook?
- The lower half of every recipe page is left blank on purpose. The recipe and the contributor’s note sit in the top half, and the space underneath is for whoever is holding the book to write in, on the day or years later.
- Who is it for?
- Weddings, big birthdays, retirements, new babies, leaving gifts for colleagues, books in memory of someone, and families who want their recipes in one place. It suits any group where more than about fifteen people would each have something to add.
Making one
- How long does it take to make?
- Making the book takes about a minute. Collecting the recipes takes three to four weeks, which is the part that sets the timetable, and printing and delivery adds one to two weeks on top because hardbacks are printed to order.
- How many recipes do I need?
- Twenty to thirty makes a book that feels substantial. There is no minimum — a book of eight recipes will print — but under about fifteen it reads as a pamphlet rather than a cookbook.
- Do contributors need an account?
- No. They open the link, add their recipe and their message, and that is the whole of it. No account, no app, no password, and nothing to install.
- What if somebody only has a handwritten recipe card?
- They photograph it and we read it for them. Handwriting is the most common way a recipe actually exists in a family, so the contribution form takes a photograph of a card as readily as typed text or a pasted link.
- Can I edit what people send?
- Yes. Every recipe is yours to correct before it prints, which matters because contributors leave out oven temperatures and write their own name in capitals. The messages are best left exactly as they are.
- Can I see the book before I pay?
- Yes. Before you unlock anything you can read your cover, your dedication, the opening page of a course, one full recipe page and your closing note, all typeset exactly as they will print.
The book itself
- What is the book actually like?
- An A4 hardback, printed and bound to order, on uncoated cream paper. The cover is full colour, the inside pages print in black, and every recipe gets its own page with the contributor’s name and note underneath it.
- Are the inside pages in colour?
- No, the interior prints in black on cream. That is a deliberate choice rather than a limitation: it keeps the type crisp, it costs less per page, and it is why there are no photographs inside the book.
- Are there photographs in the book?
- Not inside. The interior is typeset text, so there are no dish photographs on the recipe pages. The cover can carry your own photograph if you choose one of the framed designs, and that prints in full colour.
- How many covers are there?
- Twenty-five designs across two ranges. The signature range has fixed artwork and your own words on the front; the framed range leaves a window in the middle of the cover for a photograph of your own.
- Can I put my own photograph on the cover?
- Yes, on any of the framed designs. You upload a photograph, it sits in the window in the middle of the front cover, and the date prints underneath it. The title goes on the inside first page and up the spine.
Cost and delivery
- How much does it cost?
- Making the book and collecting the recipes is free. The PDF is £59, a printed A4 hardback is £99, and every extra copy in the same order is £49. Nothing is charged until you choose to unlock the book.
- Is it really free to start?
- Yes. You can make a book, choose a cover, send the link, collect every recipe and read a preview without paying anything or entering a card. You pay only when you want the finished book.
- Can other people chip in towards the cost?
- Yes. Contributors can put money towards the book when they add their recipe, and whatever they give comes off what you pay. Chip-ins are anonymous to you — you see the total and never who gave what.
- Where do you deliver?
- The United Kingdom. Printing is done to order, so allow one to two weeks between sending the book to print and it arriving.
- Can I order more than one copy?
- Yes, up to 20 in a single order. Extra copies are £49 each and travel in the same parcel, which is why a second copy costs about half what the first one does.
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