Freedom isn't free, and neither is self-publishing

I started the process of publishing "If So Carried by the Wind" about two years ago and read it was going to cost me about $500. "I'm not going to be a sucker and pay money for this since I wrote a masterpiece that will sell itself," I thought, but quickly realized no book sells itself. I had what I considered a kick-ass cover an artist friend designed, but not a graphic/commercial artist. He came down hard on the manuscript a couple of months after I published "If So Carried" and told me it needed an edit. I put that off for a year and the whole project went on the back burner and was still free.

I'm in the second phase of publishing my starter book, and I'm now seeing the $500 estimate coming to bear. I'm getting to this number incrementally, and in some ways that softens the blow of putting down money for the possibility of little to no return (I'll get to the economic breakdown soon enough). My take on this is that publishing has become my passion and gives me a reason to wake up in the morning. Writing used to do this for me, but there is only so much one can write, and I've come to the conclusion "If So Carried" is worth it.

Here's what I've spent so far:

1. Edit = $196.00
2. Kindle Cover = $45.00

Here's what I plan to spend:

1. Create Space paperback cover = $80.00
2. Cheap Web Site = $18.00 (?)
3. Kindle = $50.00 (?)

All of this, of course, is for a marketing campaign that could cost anywhere from $20.00 to $20,000.00 though I'd start small rather than wage an all-out assault where I flood social media.

So, where did I save money? I did my own formatting, for better or worse, and I'm sure that would've been around $80.00, nor did I use an ad agency for the blurb or tagline, nor have I paid for reviews, and everything else was on the cheap. But I was lucky to get a quality edit and in the end that's what counts.