Beth Bee Books evolved from books I threw together for my own use and gifts to friends since the late 1990s.  I found that a lot of people seemed to like the design and aesthetic of my books, so I slowly moved toward making a number that I could sell to others.

The blank recipe journal book and the addressbooks are very much hand assembled and available only in moderate quantities. I do plan to work with printers to get more components pre-cut and die-cut so I can get more of 'em out there for people to give as gifts and enjoy!

Rabbit Food Cookbook was first published in 2002 and has had a number of new recipes and some editing changes since that time.  For several years the book was published more like a 'zine: 50 at a time with a lot of hand assembly including sticker-sticking for the tabs, hole-punching, cover-cutting out, stamping, and coallating. About 250 books were produced in this way from 2002-2006. 

That worked for a while, but I got tired of making the books in my ridiculously labor-intensive way knowing that print shops have equipment and production methods that are much more efficient. The book still requires a lot more hand work than is conventional for printing in the US, especially in a short-run printing, but I wanted to keep the design I'd already established and keep the production in North America. It took a while to figure out how to do this and still keep the retail price reasonable—through my research I found that almost all books with handwork details, dividers, etc. are being produced in Asia. Most printers I contacted in the US wouldn't even work up a quote for my project! At long last I found printers and a bindery in Portland to work with me to produce the book in in an initial run of 500 and established Beth Bee Books as an official publisher. I went ahead later with a second run of 500 of the same edition for 1000 total made of the 5th edition. 

Over the past few years, the popularity of the Blank Recipe Book has really grown. Christmas/holiday sales keep growing, and I continue to enjoy the chance to sell the books directly to my customers through etsy.com! I have new cover ideas in the works that I will be adding to the shop, once I get my studio remodeled!

In 2011, the opportunity presented itself to work on a new edition of Rabbit Food Cookbook with Sasquatch Books, a publishing house located in Seattle, Washington. I love the handmade look of the 5th edition, but my ability to make many copies and distribute them effectively has been very limited. I decided to go ahead and put Rabbit Food in Sasquatch's hands and let them take it further than I have taken it. The new edition looks similar to my handmade 5th edition, but not identical. It has some exciting new recipes and updated resources! Since it isn't going to be handmade, I won't be able to sell it in my etsy.com shop, but you can look for it starting in October, 2011 in all kinds of bookstores!

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Last Update 10/30/11