FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSEverything you want to know before you order.
We'll answer the questions nobody thinks to ask until they're already in the middle of something. If you don't see yours here, just reach out.
The most common question we get
"Is this a DIY service?"
Nope! Most cookbook services give you a design tool and send you on your way. We don't. You submit your recipes — we design every page, assemble the book, send you a proof, and handle the printing. Your only job is collecting the recipes.
Books arrive within
4–6 weeks
of your final submission
Revisions included
1 round
Additional rounds at $35
Approval window
14 days
to respond to your proof
Your order, start to finish
Purchase
Day 1
Submit recipes
Your pace
We review
1–2 days
Proof to you
3–5 days
Print & ship
2–3 weeks
If you're still deciding — here's what most people want to know first.
-
As many or as few as you have. The Heritage Starter holds up to 25, but you don’t have to fill every slot. You can still end up with a wonderful heirloom cookbook with 18 or 20 recipes. It makes it focused, deliberate, beautiful.
-
Start by estimating how many recipes you want to include, then add 10–15% for the ones you’ll think of later. If you’re still on the fence, the Family Legacy (50 recipes, $650) is the most forgiving — enough room to grow, not so much that it feels daunting (and it includes more books for sharing!)
-
Not at all! Phone photos taken in natural light work wonderfully. A dish on the counter, a pot on the stove, a handwritten recipe card on the table — all of it belongs in a family cookbook. Some of the most beautiful pages don’t have a food photo at all — just a family snapshot and a story.
Before You Order
View Our Packages
Once you've purchased, this is how it actually works.
Submitting recipes-
After you purchase, you’ll receive an email with a private link and password to your Recipe Submission Portal. Fill out one recipe at a time — there’s a form for the ingredients, the instructions, and the story behind the dish. You can upload photos directly from the form. No account to create, no app to download.
-
Yes — and we encourage it. Share the link and password with anyone who has recipes to contribute. Everything submitted through your family's portal stays together, ready for us when it's time to design your book.
-
Submit it as-is and let us know in the notes field. We’ll include the original language and can add a translation if you provide one.
-
Yes — and it's one of our favorite things to include! Scan it or take a well-lit photo of the card (front and back if there's writing on both) and upload it. We'll reproduce it as an image right on the page, handwriting and all.
One thing to know: we won't type out or reformat a handwritten recipe for you. If you'd rather have it appear as typed text instead of an image, you'll need to transcribe it into the Ingredients and Instructions fields yourself — we handle the design and layout, not the transcription.
-
That’s completely fine. Photos are optional — every recipe gets a designed page whether or not it has one. A page with a great story and no photo is still a great page!
What you're going to hold at the end of this.
The finished book-
Each recipe gets its own full page: the recipe name, category, yield, prep and cook time, ingredients, instructions, and a story section. If you’ve submitted a photo, it’s placed alongside the recipe or as a full-bleed feature. The result is an heirloom-quality cookbook — acid-free paper, perfect binding, the kind of book that lasts.
-
We print on heavy, acid-free text stock with a coated finish that feels matte and can be written on. Books are case-bound (hardback).
-
Heritage Starter: 3 books.
Family Legacy: 5 books.
Grand Collection: 10 books.
Additional copies can be ordered at any time — just get in touch!
-
Absolutely! You can visit our Sample Pages section to see examples— Every image there is from a real finished cookbook.
-
The sample photos are from the original family cookbook that started Held Co. — it has more recipes than any of our three packages, so it's a bigger book. The design on every page is identical to what you'll get. Yours will just be sized to your package, whether that's 25, 50, or 75 recipes.
The practical stuff.
-
Most families have their books in hand within 4–6 weeks of submitting their final recipe. The breakdown: 1–2 days for us to review your submissions, 3–5 days to prepare and send your digital proof, a few days for your edits and approval, then 2–3 weeks for printing and shipping.
-
One round of revisions is included with every package. A round means one consolidated list of corrections submitted at one time — not a back-and-forth. Additional rounds are $35 each. If we don’t hear back within 14 days of sending your proof, we’ll consider it approved and proceed to print.
-
Additional copies can be ordered at any point. Just get in touch and we’ll reprint from your final file.
-
We’re currently shipping only within the US. If you’re outside the US, reach out, and we’ll see what we can do!
Timelines & logistics
If you're still on the fence, the easiest thing is to just reach out. We're happy to talk through which size makes sense for your family before you order — no pressure, no pitch.