The first step should be to form a cookbook committee of at least five, but no more than ten members. Appoint a chairman and co-chairman who can be the go between for your committee and the publisher you choose.
Decide on a name for your cookbook and begin contacting book publishers. See links to some of the larger publishers in the Resources area at the end of this article. The publisher should be able to quote you a price, based on the size of the book, the number of pages and chapters, and whether there are photos, black and white drawings, cover design and choice of binding.
Once you have the information you need from the publisher regarding the cost to print, your committee will need to decide the book layout, and selling price. You may want to first decide how much money you need to cover your cost for each book, then decide how much profit you would like to make, highest first. Then decide the lowest profit you want to make from each cookbook. Plan to start selling your cookbooks for the highest price first. If your sales are slow, you can always reduce the price.
When you are ready to ask and collect recipes from your church congregation, ask that a small notice be put in your church bulletin at each service and weekly get together. Designate one or two committee members to collect the recipes or to be contacted for recipe submissions. Provide an e-mail address as well. This will make it easier for many people to submit their recipes.
Once all of the recipes have been collected, it will be time to organize them according to types of recipes. This may be the most challenging task, but perhaps the most enjoyable. In addition to the tried and true cookbook chapters such as cookies, appetizers, meats, and vegetables why not have a chapter for low calorie dishes, microwave dishes, meals a man or the kids can cook. Your sales should soar if you can include more than one or two unique chapters.