How Much Does it Cost to Professionally Publish a Book?
A couple of days ago, I wrote about your options for writing and publishing your book. I immediately (within minutes!) received three emails with the same question:
How much does it cost to professionally produce my book?
A fair question, and I’ll give you straight answers–the best I can, anyway, considering I don’t know the size, word count, or other variables of your book.
Following are the estimated costs for producing your book:
Writing. The cost of your time (priceless) or you can engage a ghostwriter (fees range from $5,000 to $100,000 or more).Editing. Fees range, as will your editing needs. Plan on around $2,000 for a standard 30,000 word nonfiction book. Double that if your writing needs additional attention or you don’t consider yourself a writer, it could be less if you’re a seasoned writer and need less editing.Proofreading. Again, fees range, but you’ll pay between 2-5 cents a word. Estimate: $1000.Formatting. There are free options for formatting, but I only recommend custom formatting because you’ll want to include parts of your book formatting software cannot provide. Estimate: $500-$1000.Cover design. You can get a great custom cover package (front cover, full print-ready PDF cover, square cover image for audio book version)for around $2000. Copy writing. a.k.a. your “sales copy” requires two versions of almost identical copy, one for the back cover of your book, the other for retail sales pages. Estimate: $400.
You’re looking at an investment of around $6,000 (all of which you can write off!), which can increase or decrease depending upon your needs and a few other variables.
If you’ve got questions, leave a comment below or click here to schedule a discovery session with me. I’m happy to help. You also might want to check out my upcoming course: You MUST Write a Book LIVE Coaching Course.
