Jane @ EYB Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I am the co-founder of a new website, www.eatyourbooks.com, which is a search engine for recipes in your cookbooks. We are looking for more data inputters - that is entering into a database the recipe name and then selecting from pre-entered lists the main ingredients, ethnicity, recipe type, etc. Culinary knowledge is a definite plus but accuracy is as important. This is work you can do from home in your own time. You will get the cookbooks from your local library (or you may own them). If you are interested apply to jane@eatyourbooks.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mame11 Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 I am the co-founder of a new website, www.eatyourbooks.com, which is a search engine for recipes in your cookbooks. We are looking for more data inputters - that is entering into a database the recipe name and then selecting from pre-entered lists the main ingredients, ethnicity, recipe type, etc. Culinary knowledge is a definite plus but accuracy is as important. This is work you can do from home in your own time. You will get the cookbooks from your local library (or you may own them). If you are interested apply to jane@eatyourbooks.com. Wow. Recipes might not be protected by copyright in the United States but the way that recipes are arranged in cookbooks are. Your site breaks my heart as it seems to strip any economic value the cookbooks have for their authors while providing a stream of income to the founders of the website (subscription fees). Did I miss something? Do you compensate the authors out of the subscription fees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Wow. Recipes might not be protected by copyright in the United States but the way that recipes are arranged in cookbooks are. Your site breaks my heart as it seems to strip any economic value the cookbooks have for their authors while providing a stream of income to the founders of the website (subscription fees). Did I miss something? Do you compensate the authors out of the subscription fees? I had similar thoughts. I thought recipes were copyrighted, especially in cookbooks. Can you reproduce them elsewhere, even with full credit? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mame11 Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Monavano, Copyright does not treat recipes fairly as they are considered instructions. HOWEVER, there are some elements of copyright that do apply, like the manner in which the recipes are organized and the actual instructions if they are written in a unique manner. The wholesale copying of cookbooks is probably not okay. The site seems to violate other IP rights as well. ncpindc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcs Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 They seem to be attempting to get around the copyright issue by only allowing you to search books you already have purchased and currently own, which relies mightly on the honesty of their membership. Even if their subscription base is compliant with this rule, I believe that copyright laws do restrict one's ability to reproduce in whole, or transfer completely to a new media, a book one has purchased for full value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMango Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 They seem to be attempting to get around the copyright issue by only allowing you to search books you already have purchased and currently own, which relies mightly on the honesty of their membership. Even if their subscription base is compliant with this rule, I believe that copyright laws do restrict one's ability to reproduce in whole, or transfer completely to a new media, a book one has purchased for full value. Now I'm completely confused, too.I thought the site did not contain recipes at all, but was a "master index" allowing you to better leverage cookbooks you already own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Now I'm completely confused, too. I thought the site did not contain recipes at all, but was a "master index" allowing you to better leverage cookbooks you already own. OK, that helps clarify. The site helps you utilize the books you already own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcs Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Now I'm completely confused, too. I thought the site did not contain recipes at all, but was a "master index" allowing you to better leverage cookbooks you already own. That does get around the reliance on the honesty of the membership concern. This site, however, is compiling complete copies of the cookbook contents and then selling its seach feature. This is a small scale version of the Google Books initiatve, which resulted in Google having to reach a legal settlement with US publishers and authors, and is still generating controversy in Europe. The difference here is that the content is being re-typed rather than scanned and the content is not being sold as such, but is being used by the site to generate profit through subscription fees. That said, I have no reason to believe this enterprise (1) did not conduct its due diligence in this regard, or (2) is not operating in full compliance with the copyright rules. I wish them luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 OK, that helps clarify. The site helps you utilize the books you already own. It seems like an online version of a print master index to major cookbooks. I had one of those at one point, which my MIL no longer wanted, but I found it not too useful. It was just too clunky to use efficiently, even though I owned a lot of the cookbooks. I don't know if I even still have it. Functionality would probably be a lot better for that kind of thing in a computerized database. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane @ EYB Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 On reading the posts today I thought I should clarify what the Eat Your Books website is about. It absolutely does NOT contain the recipes - there are no quantities, store-cupboard ingredients or methods on the website. It is an online index to find recipes in your own cookbooks using main ingredients, ethnicity, recipe type, meal/course, special diet and occasion as the criteria. There would be no point in adding cookbooks to your EYB Bookshelf that you do not own as you will need the book to cook the recipe. NCPinDC - EYB is the opposite of your statement "it seems to strip any economic value the cookbooks have for their authors" - cookbook authors love the website as it increases the value of the cookbook for the owner, the cookbook author is getting more publicity through EYB, we provide information about the authors (book tours, links to their websites, etc) and they are joining themselves in order to better use the cookbooks they own. Monavano and DCS - we have not copied the cookbooks. We have created a master index that allows you the search and find recipes in your own cookbooks. You have to own the cookbook to cook from it. Having said that you can search the entire EYB library for recipes (more than 176,000 currently) if you are looking for a specific recipe. But you have to buy the book or borrow it from the library to cook it. Pat - I hope you will try out EYB (there is a 30-day free trail). It is not at all "clunky" like the print index you used. The searches are fast and easy. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. Contrary to the suggestion that we are somehow cheating cookbook publishers and authors, they in fact love Eat Your Books. We consulted all the major cookbook publishers before we set up the website and they are very enthusiastic. Think about it - one of their major worries must be the proliferation of online recipe sites. And one of the major reasons people like online recipe sites is the ease of finding recipes. Now cookbook owners can have the same search facilities for their books. This really increases the value of cookbooks and encourages future book sales. EYB also promotes new cookbooks, provides a forum for cookbook lovers to discuss books and recipes, provides links to cookbook authors' websites, and many more benefits to the publisher and author. In reality they should be paying us to index their books as it is a very expensive process - that is why there is a membership fee ($2 a month). I do hope that people will check out the website at www.eatyourbooks.com so you can see for yourself how it works. Even if you don't want to register for the free trial there are a lot of pages you can view without joining up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 On reading the posts today I thought I should clarify what the Eat Your Books website is about. It absolutely does NOT contain the recipes - there are no quantities, store-cupboard ingredients or methods on the website. It is an online index to find recipes in your own cookbooks using main ingredients, ethnicity, recipe type, meal/course, special diet and occasion as the criteria. There would be no point in adding cookbooks to your EYB Bookshelf that you do not own as you will need the book to cook the recipe. NCPinDC - EYB is the opposite of your statement "it seems to strip any economic value the cookbooks have for their authors" - cookbook authors love the website as it increases the value of the cookbook for the owner, the cookbook author is getting more publicity through EYB, we provide information about the authors (book tours, links to their websites, etc) and they are joining themselves in order to better use the cookbooks they own. Monavano and DCS - we have not copied the cookbooks. We have created a master index that allows you the search and find recipes in your own cookbooks. You have to own the cookbook to cook from it. Having said that you can search the entire EYB library for recipes (more than 176,000 currently) if you are looking for a specific recipe. But you have to buy the book or borrow it from the library to cook it. Pat - I hope you will try out EYB (there is a 30-day free trail). It is not at all "clunky" like the print index you used. The searches are fast and easy. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. Contrary to the suggestion that we are somehow cheating cookbook publishers and authors, they in fact love Eat Your Books. We consulted all the major cookbook publishers before we set up the website and they are very enthusiastic. Think about it - one of their major worries must be the proliferation of online recipe sites. And one of the major reasons people like online recipe sites is the ease of finding recipes. Now cookbook owners can have the same search facilities for their books. This really increases the value of cookbooks and encourages future book sales. EYB also promotes new cookbooks, provides a forum for cookbook lovers to discuss books and recipes, provides links to cookbook authors' websites, and many more benefits to the publisher and author. In reality they should be paying us to index their books as it is a very expensive process - that is why there is a membership fee ($2 a month). I do hope that people will check out the website at www.eatyourbooks.com so you can see for yourself how it works. Even if you don't want to register for the free trial there are a lot of pages you can view without joining up. Thank you for the clarification! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcs Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. Thanks. Sounds like you have this all sewn up. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mame11 Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Jane, Thank you for the clarification. Based on it it sounds like a great project and I see the value. Congratulations and good luck. Ncpindc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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