How Much Does it Cost to Publish an Indie Book?
Monday evening found me sitting in a chilly conference room at a library, talking with two other Vermont authors about independent publishing. I love being able to do this type of thing, particularly since chatting with other writers/bookworms and talking about publishing and marketing are some of my very favorite things to discuss.
The question inevitably came up: “How much does it cost to self-publish a book?”
The answer, unfortunately, isn't nearly as succinct as the question. There is such a range: you could hire out everything from cover design to marketing, publicity to Facebook launch parties. Or you could choose to do every single thing yourself.
Lots of writers fall in the middle of the spectrum: seeking help with the pieces of the process that are either a) challenging for them or b) they hate doing.
Marketing is a whole different story than publishing a book and a topic that I’ll cover in a different post. But let’s take a look at what it costs to publish a book: from Word format to paperback and digital versions.
Please note that all of this information is for estimating only. Charges for various pieces could be significantly more or less than depending on your project or desired final product. I should also note that while I presently use CreateSpace for my print books, my long-term plan is to eventually contract the printing out to a smaller, local publisher or printing house.
image credit Let’s start at the beginning …
Early Readers & Editors
These are ESSENTIAL in my book (ha—no pun intended). While early readers—sometimes called beta readers—are pretty easy to find (ask friends, librarians, bookworm co-workers and others who read in your genre if they’d like to volunteer), editors can be a bit trickier.
A good editor can start at anywhere from $40/hour and go up significantly from there. Some editors charge by the project. There are also different types of editors: some look only for grammar and punctuation, others look at your story as a whole and tell you where changes are needed ( The 15-Minute Novelist has a whole chapter on this if you want more info).
COST: Between $200-$2000+ (maybe more depending on your book).
Cover Design
There are some options when it comes to cover design. If you’re very artsy and like technology it’s completely possible to create your own cover and do a good job of it. Places like CreateSpace (Amazon’s Print-on-Demand publisher) offer free templates which you can use as they are, or modify with your own stock or personal photography.
Next level up? Pre-made covers. There are some places which have great options. The Cover Collection created the cover for Epidemic and it’s gotten a lot of good feedback. I hired a fellow suspense author to create the covers for Subversion and the sequel because I love the work he does. The one cover that I created myself was for Dark Circle and that was using the CreateSpace template and adding my own “flair” to it. The background image is actually part of a piece of my mixed media art and a rusty ring I found on the side of the road.
Another option is to hire a professional graphic designer. If you’re working on a tight budget, consider a place like 99 Designs (I apologize right now to all my designer friends who abhor sites like this). It’s a good option though for new authors with a tight publishing budget. If you have a little more money to put into your cover, consider hiring a graphic designer either online or in-person, who will work with you to make the cover exactly what you want. Note: make sure that the person has experience specifically with cover creation if at all possible.
Cost: Between $0-$1000+
Formatting
Print formatting is a real PITA (I’ll let you work out that acronym!). While print-on-demand publishers often offer free templates which are supposedly easy to use, they aren’t. At least, not in my experience. Prepare for hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth. On the plus side, if and when you do figure it out you can blast Rocky music and know that you saved some moolah.
Cost: Between $0-$200+ (books with pictures, illustrations, graphs, etc., are all going to be more time intensive and thus, more costly).
Digital formatting is separate from print formatting. So while you use a template to get the printed book to look just so, the digital book is going to look quite different. Different screen sizes, chapter breaks, the font itself … all are going to be different than your printed book. Also, you’ll want your book available in different formats: .mobi (Kindle) and ePub (most devices). I can’t offer any advice or insider information on digital formatting because I’ve hired it out with every single book. I found a great digital formatter and simply hand off my final manuscript via Word document to her. This makes me very happy.
Cost: Between $0-$30 on the low end, maybe up to $100 or so on the high end (books with pictures, illustrations, graphs, etc., are all going to be more time intensive and thus, more costly).
***
Those are the three big things that all books require. There are other optional costs that we haven’t talked about: if you want your own ISBN rather than using the free one that a digital or print-on-demand publisher offers, that cost would have to be factored in. There are also options of buying some sort of “mark” that libraries use and listing in the Library of Congress. I’m not familiar with either of these processes—if you are, please chime in in the comment section.
Have I forgotten any other costs associated with publishing an independent book? Again, please post it in the comments section.
So, tallying it all up the range looks like this:
Low end: (doing most or all of the work yourself): $200
High end: (contracting out most or all of the work to others): $3000+
What do you think? Are my ranges too high or low? Do you have other resources to share?
***Signed up for the Newsletter for Writers yet? It comes out twice a month and is packed with information, inspiration and education to empower writers. Get on the list in less than a minute and receive my free 7 Ways to Find Time to Write guide.
The question inevitably came up: “How much does it cost to self-publish a book?”
The answer, unfortunately, isn't nearly as succinct as the question. There is such a range: you could hire out everything from cover design to marketing, publicity to Facebook launch parties. Or you could choose to do every single thing yourself.
Lots of writers fall in the middle of the spectrum: seeking help with the pieces of the process that are either a) challenging for them or b) they hate doing.
Marketing is a whole different story than publishing a book and a topic that I’ll cover in a different post. But let’s take a look at what it costs to publish a book: from Word format to paperback and digital versions.
Please note that all of this information is for estimating only. Charges for various pieces could be significantly more or less than depending on your project or desired final product. I should also note that while I presently use CreateSpace for my print books, my long-term plan is to eventually contract the printing out to a smaller, local publisher or printing house.
image credit Let’s start at the beginning … Early Readers & Editors
These are ESSENTIAL in my book (ha—no pun intended). While early readers—sometimes called beta readers—are pretty easy to find (ask friends, librarians, bookworm co-workers and others who read in your genre if they’d like to volunteer), editors can be a bit trickier.
A good editor can start at anywhere from $40/hour and go up significantly from there. Some editors charge by the project. There are also different types of editors: some look only for grammar and punctuation, others look at your story as a whole and tell you where changes are needed ( The 15-Minute Novelist has a whole chapter on this if you want more info).
COST: Between $200-$2000+ (maybe more depending on your book).
Cover Design
There are some options when it comes to cover design. If you’re very artsy and like technology it’s completely possible to create your own cover and do a good job of it. Places like CreateSpace (Amazon’s Print-on-Demand publisher) offer free templates which you can use as they are, or modify with your own stock or personal photography.
Next level up? Pre-made covers. There are some places which have great options. The Cover Collection created the cover for Epidemic and it’s gotten a lot of good feedback. I hired a fellow suspense author to create the covers for Subversion and the sequel because I love the work he does. The one cover that I created myself was for Dark Circle and that was using the CreateSpace template and adding my own “flair” to it. The background image is actually part of a piece of my mixed media art and a rusty ring I found on the side of the road.
Another option is to hire a professional graphic designer. If you’re working on a tight budget, consider a place like 99 Designs (I apologize right now to all my designer friends who abhor sites like this). It’s a good option though for new authors with a tight publishing budget. If you have a little more money to put into your cover, consider hiring a graphic designer either online or in-person, who will work with you to make the cover exactly what you want. Note: make sure that the person has experience specifically with cover creation if at all possible.
Cost: Between $0-$1000+
Formatting
Print formatting is a real PITA (I’ll let you work out that acronym!). While print-on-demand publishers often offer free templates which are supposedly easy to use, they aren’t. At least, not in my experience. Prepare for hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth. On the plus side, if and when you do figure it out you can blast Rocky music and know that you saved some moolah.
Cost: Between $0-$200+ (books with pictures, illustrations, graphs, etc., are all going to be more time intensive and thus, more costly).
Digital formatting is separate from print formatting. So while you use a template to get the printed book to look just so, the digital book is going to look quite different. Different screen sizes, chapter breaks, the font itself … all are going to be different than your printed book. Also, you’ll want your book available in different formats: .mobi (Kindle) and ePub (most devices). I can’t offer any advice or insider information on digital formatting because I’ve hired it out with every single book. I found a great digital formatter and simply hand off my final manuscript via Word document to her. This makes me very happy.
Cost: Between $0-$30 on the low end, maybe up to $100 or so on the high end (books with pictures, illustrations, graphs, etc., are all going to be more time intensive and thus, more costly).
***
Those are the three big things that all books require. There are other optional costs that we haven’t talked about: if you want your own ISBN rather than using the free one that a digital or print-on-demand publisher offers, that cost would have to be factored in. There are also options of buying some sort of “mark” that libraries use and listing in the Library of Congress. I’m not familiar with either of these processes—if you are, please chime in in the comment section.
Have I forgotten any other costs associated with publishing an independent book? Again, please post it in the comments section.
So, tallying it all up the range looks like this:
Low end: (doing most or all of the work yourself): $200
High end: (contracting out most or all of the work to others): $3000+
What do you think? Are my ranges too high or low? Do you have other resources to share?
***Signed up for the Newsletter for Writers yet? It comes out twice a month and is packed with information, inspiration and education to empower writers. Get on the list in less than a minute and receive my free 7 Ways to Find Time to Write guide.
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