Is self-publishing expensive? The Cost of Self-Publishing a Book

These days, it is easier than ever to publish a book and become an author thanks to various self-publishing platforms like Amazon, Kobo, and Apple Books. But you still need to consider the cost of self-publishing.

The truth is that self-publishing can be very expensive or it can be free. The key to becoming an established self-published author is providing your readers with top-quality books while finding the best way to save on costs.

This article will explain everything you need to know to help you carefully assess how much you want to spend to self-publish your book and answer all your questions like:

• How much does self-publishing cost?
• What services will I need to pay for when publishing my first book?
• Should I commission a designer to create a professional book cover?**
• Can I publish a book for free?
• What factors affect the cost of self-publishing?

Factors that Affect the Cost of Self-Publishing

1. The Type of Book or Book Subject matter

Writing fiction and non-fiction are completely different things. So the cost of self-publishing either is also different.

For example, a non-fiction author may need to pay for research tools or the services of a research assistant. They may also need to hire an expert if they’re writing a technical or practical book that requires practical knowledge or expertise.

A fiction writer, on the other hand, needs to weed out plot holes, character inconsistencies, character arc problems, etc., and write to meet reader expectations.

Some fiction authors may also need research tools or the services of a research assistant depending on the subject matter of their book especially if it is related to real-life events or history.

2. The length of your manuscript

The longer your manuscript, the more it will cost to edit, format, and print it. Of course, the print-on-demand model mitigates most of the risks of printing and shipping costs since the platform has already given you an estimate of these costs before you set your print book price.

3. Urgency and your timeline

Are you in a hurry? If you want your book editor to complete the editing work faster and the book designer to deliver faster, then you may need to pay more. So another way to cut costs is to take your time, don’t worry, there’s no rush except you’re writing about current events.

The Costs of Self-Publishing a Book

1. Editing your Book

There’s more to book editing than just grammatical errors.

A book editor looks through your manuscript to make sure it is consistent, polished, and free of errors that will make readers leave bad reviews on your book.

There are different types of professional editors:

1. Developmental or Structural editors are responsible for checking various factors in your book like the story arc, the pacing, tension, sequence of events, author voice, character development, character voice, themes, etc. A developmental editor could cost between $15-20 per hour. If you don’t want to pay for this type of editor, you can replace them with experienced critique partners and beta readers. You can find them on Reedsy, Fiverr, Upwork, etc.
2. Line Editor or Copy editors: A line editor or copy editor could cost between $10-20 per hour which means you could pay between $680-1000 depending on the amount of self-editing you’ve done. Of course, you could also cut a deal with a professional editor to pay between $200-$1000 for your book. But you must know that the lower the cost, the more the risk that the editor doesn’t know what they’re doing or that they will deliver subpar editing.
3. Proofreaders check for grammatical errors, typographical errors, sentence flow, mistakes that the copy editor skipped, visual problems within your formatted ebooks or Print book copies, etc.

There are other types of editors depending on the type of book you’re writing.

If you want to reduce the cost of editing your book with a professional editor, you can get a self-editing AI assistant. For fiction authors, Pro Writing Aid is best. For non-fiction authors, Grammarly or Pro Writing Aid works.

2. Book Formatting

It is important to deal with formatting the interior of your ebook and Print book based on standards expected by readers so they can enjoy reading it based on what they’re used to.

Book formatting for ebooks and print books is different because the former affects readers using their devices to read and the latter affects how your book is printed and if your reader could enjoy reading the printed copy or not.

Many authors invest in tools like Vellum (costs $249) and Atticus ($147) for their ebook and print formatting. The cost of these two tools is one-time and you get to use the software for formatting unlimited ebooks and books.

Some authors use their Scrivener app (used for writing) to format their ebooks. Scrivener costs a one-time purchase of $49 for the Windows and Mac versions each and $19.9 for the iOS version.

And some authors outsource the formatting to book formatting experts.

An alternative to using book formatting apps is using book templates. You should check out Derek Murphy’s book templates. But many self-publishing platforms also have free book templates.

3. Book Cover Design

Readers choose a book from tens, hundreds, and even thousands of books based on the book cover design. That means your book cover must be special while fitting all genre cover standards. You may not have the expertise needed to understand what drives sales in book covers in your genre. A professional cover designer’s expertise lies in knowing what sells in a specific genre.

There are three ways to go about getting a book cover design: hire a designer, buy a pre-made cover or design a cover yourself.

If you can find a pre-made cover that suits the content of your book totally, then you can pay $30-$150 for it.

Hiring a designer can cost between $150 to $500. You can also crowdsource your cover design on websites like 99designs starting at $240.

If you know what makes books in your genre sell, you can reach out to book cover designers on Fiverr at the cost of $5-50 and tell them to design based on what you want.

4. Book Distribution

Publishing a book on book retailer platforms like Amazon KDP, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Apple Books, etc and book aggregators like Streetlib and Draft2Digital is completely free for all authors.

Of course, there are also publishing platforms where you may need to pay for distribution. For example, on Ingram Sparks, you need to pay $50 for publishing print books and $25 for publishing ebooks.

An aggregator like PublishDrive also has a monthly subscription fee for distributing through them.

5. Book Launch

Your book launching model and the marketing methods you’ve chosen for your book launch determine how much it would cost.

Of course, there are essential book launch costs like your ISBN which will be used to publish your books across platforms (A separate ISBN for each format of your book). Of course, you can cut costs by using the free ISBNs provided by publishing platforms.

There are other book launch costs, for example:

• Ebook Sales Optimization Tools like Publisher Rocket ($97 for a one-time purchase) which help you get your books into the right categories and use the right keywords on Amazon.
• Sites that help you distribute your ARC (Advance Reader Copies/Advance Review Copies) where you send books to certain readers for free in exchange for an honest review. You can distribute ARCs through sites like BookFunnel, Instafreebie, Netgalley, etc.
• Pre-order incentives like book swags, author bookplates, and more.
• Copyright (if you want to pay for one)
• Goodreads Giveaways which are only available for US authors are very suitable for book launches.

Here’s a guide to Amazon Keyword Research.

6. Organic and Paid Marketing for Authors

Organic marketing for a book can be free money-wise but it will cost you time. And not all authors have the time to deal with it so some authors hire help like a social media marketing assistant for their organic marketing.

Some authors can’t afford the costs so they rely heavily on social media planners and social media schedulers. Another organic marketing method is Subscriber List swaps among authors at the same level.

Of course, many established authors would rather go for paid marketing channels like Facebook ads, Bookbub ads, Amazon ads, book promotion sites, paid newsletters, etc.

How to Self-Publish a Book for Free

Yes, it is possible to publish your book for free but it may not be the wise option in certain ways. For example, your book cover. Especially if you belong to genres like Fantasy, paranormal, horror, etc. You can hire a designer for $10-20 but don’t just create an ugly cover because no reader will be willing to give you a chance.

Here’s how you can keep your self-publishing costs down:

1. Skip the professional Editor

There are many ways to skip a professional editor. You can edit and proofread the book yourself with the help of beta readers and critique partners. You can also get friends, family, and colleagues to help you out (if they can be honest with you).

2. Barter with other writers

If you can’t afford the cost of a professional developmental editor, you can ask a fellow author to edit your book or beta-read your book in exchange for doing the same on their book.

3. Pay Less for Book Cover Design

Yes, everyone says that getting a top-quality book cover costs $150 at the cheapest but that’s not completely true.

If you can’t afford that amount, you can hire ebook designers on freelancer sites like Fiverr for as little as $10 – $50.

And no that doesn’t mean you’ll get terrible work. But you need to be very careful on there. Look carefully at the covers these designers ACTUALLY designed. You can see that by scrolling through their reviews which usually include the covers they designed and what the author thinks about their work.

And then you will also have to explain your design concept thoroughly using cover samples from other authors.

 

 

4. Be Frugal with Book Formatting

There are ways to format your book for free such as using:

• Reedsy’s ebook editor
• Microsoft Word and Kindle Create Software for ebooks and Print
• Book formatting templates like Derek Murphy’s book templates and free book templates provided by various self-publishing platforms.
• Draft2Digital: If you start the process of publishing on Draft2Digital, you will get to a certain part where you can convert your Microsoft word to epub and Mobi. You can download the files without going any further and upload your epub file on your chosen platforms and aggregators.

5. Choose the Free Self-Publishing Platforms

Avoid platforms like PublishDrive where you have to pay a monthly fee or Ingram Sparks where you need to pay $50 for print and $25 to publish ebooks. Of course, if you have that $50, please try to self-publish your print using Ingram Sparks, it could get you into stores you never imagined.

Amazon KDP Print is entirely free and so is its expanded distribution. However, I’d still recommend ditching Amazon KDP’s Print expanded distribution for Ingram Sparks. Yes, Ingram Sparks costs $49 for print but you’re more likely to sell your books to other retailers and bookstores using Ingram Sparks than with KDP expanded distribution. I explain how that works in this KDP expanded distribution article.

This way, your print book is published via Amazon KDP standard distribution and Ingram Sparks.

Final Thoughts

The greatest advantage to self-publishing a book is that you’re the one in charge. You decide how much you want to invest in your business and if you make wise hiring and cost-effective decisions, you can effectively reduce the costs of self-publishing your book.

Another key point is that you need to be very careful that even though you’re cutting costs in this way or that way, you’re doing your best to provide the best quality finished product to your readers.

They’re paying for these books with their hard-earned money and you don’t want to get a bad reputation for publishing poor-quality books because you’re trying to scrimp on cost.