The quick answer is ‘how long is a piece of string?’ as prices can vary so much – often depending on your own existing knowledge, whether you are self publishing as an ebook only or if you are printing as a paperback too. Another factor that affects costs depends on if you can do some of the non writing work yourself such as creating your own book covers.

There’s now quite a number of self publishing businesses whereby they will undertake to edit and publish your book, holding your hand every step of the way. I’m not a fan of this method as I feel it will have added costs built in plus you are limited to their editorial and design staff. I prefer to outsource to various experts that I find myself.

Experience of Four Authors

This post reveals the costs from four self published authors (and thank you to Clare at The TBR Pile for including it in her curated post where I discovered it).

To summarise the results from the featured authors’ Self Publishing Costs

Editing costs varied between being free (using beta readers only) to $1500. Those paying higher costs were using structural editors, developmental editors, copy editors and proofreaders. However, one writer quoted the $1500 as the cost for one editor and a proofreader so it’s unclear what the full editing cost was for this writer.

Front Cover design costs varied from free (author did it herself) to $360.

Formatting costs varied between free (doing it herself) to $299.

Printing costs – all of the authors recommended using Create Space and print-on-demand to save costs.

As you can see, costs vary hugely. Some authors will do a considerable amount of the work themselves which is certainly brave.  However, is it sensible? I think it is impossible to edit your own work. You may be able to create your own cover design if you have graphic design or photoshop talents though! You will also need a website / blog so people can find you online and of course, your blog should lead to more sales. Catherine Ryan Howard developed her own wordpress site and many other authors will use the free wordpress platform too. However, if you want a customized website or an ecommerce platform, you’re probably going to need to pay a web developer.

For comparison purposes, here are my costs for self publishing Would You Marry A Farmer?

Note my prices are in euro and those above are in American dollars.

Editing - (general editing and proofreading of 50,000 words) €300

Front cover design and 20 illustrations – €500

Formatting - I formatted the manuscript for the paperback myself (although I almost went grey while doing so) but had to get the printer to insert the illustrations. I had to get an expert to format it for the ebook version which cost €250.

Ecommerce website design – €900

ISBN numbers – €170 for ten numbers (if I remember correctly)

Photographs – €130

Printing – I opted for hardbacks for my first print run of 1000 copies which cost €5,500. Subsequent print runs of 1000 paperback copies have cost €3000. What was nice with my third print run was that I received 1080 books but only had to pay for 1000.

Printing your books adds a huge cost. I decided to print partly because I knew my target market (farming families) would prefer the printed books and yes, that has proved to be the case with whole extended families reading the book. I also ran a crowdfunding campaign before I self published which provided me with some capital – not to mention more confidence in my investment. I know some authors have ordered a box or two of their own books on Create Space to supply local shops.

If you are wondering how much do I make on each copy, the wholesalers take 55% of the purchase price. For each copy sold in bookshops, I make €3 per copy. Regarding copies sold from my own website (as I include postage to Irish addresses within the purchase cost), I make almost €7. As you can tell, I’m not going to get rich any time soon. I’ve sold about 2000.

Pat Fitzpatrick is another author who has shared the self publishing costs of his novel as an ebook, totalling at €1517. I’d consider a minimum spend to be €1000 for most authors- for editing, front cover design and formatting. On a positive note, I’ve heard of two authors who each received €2,000 in grants towards their writing. Some of the Local Enterprise Offices provide grants via their Art Links and previously, the Partnerships were giving grants if your subject matter ticked the right boxes. I haven’t applied for any grants so I can’t advise on the ease or difficulty of getting a grant but it’s certainly worth investigating.

What will I be spending on my second book?

I’ll be paying about €650 for front cover design and illustrations, then the editing cost, there will be a developer cost for changes to the website and I will probably invest in getting it formatted for paperback and ebook unless I can work out how to slot in the twenty illustrations! I’ll decide on the size of the print run nearer the time but it is likely to be 1000 books which will cost about €3000.

Is Self-Publishing A Hobby or A Business?

Self publishing a book means that your book is now a business in my opinion. However, even if it is a hobby, most people spend money each week on enjoying their hobbies so perhaps perfecting your writing could carry a weekly cost too. Books need to be marketed, just like any other business. Every small business owner realises that they need to invest in their business be it investing in a website, social media training, printing of business cards and perhaps advertising. Authors need to invest in their products to ensure that their book is formatted, edited and designed to such a standard that it can stand in a bookshop and compare well with traditionally published books.

Perhaps partly because I am a self published author, I really want to see all self published authors flying the flag high and presenting books that compare well to all traditionally published books.  Barter by all means but do recognise your own limitations and hire professionals to do what they are good at. Authors should also invest in using social media, not just to help sell their own books but also if they are hoping to land a traditional publishing deal.

Have you self-published? Were you able to get a grant? Do you think the costs of self-publishing are off-putting to authors? I’d love to hear what you think. 

The post Costs for Self Publishing Your Book appeared first on Write On Track.

Much of it is similar to an ebook – you still should get a professional to illustrate your front cover, you should hire an editor and unless it is all text and simply laid out (ie a novel divided into chapters), you may need help with the formatting too. However, the prospect of spending a large amount of money on a print run can be daunting, not to mention if you are wondering about the quality of the finished product.

Options for Getting It Printed

More and more authors are using print on demand services as it limits the risk of having 300 of your 500 book print run sitting gathering dust in your attic for evermore. It also means that you don’t have to make the financial investment or secure a loan (or run a crowdfunding campaign to raise finance).  Many authors use the Create Space model on Amazon – as an author, you can order multiple copies at cost price (although, as far as I know, there isn’t a discount the more copies you buy) and you can then stock the shelves of your local bookshop. This can be a cost effective way of trialing the success of a printed book via an ebook and paving the way towards getting your book into all bookshops.

The other option is to be brave and order a print run for your own book from a printing company. This can have a significant cost which is why more authors are using crowdfunding to part fund the printing cost and secure some pre-orders. It can also be the case that the cost to print 500 copies is very close to the print cost for 1000 copies which provides another reason to crowdfund – as it ‘saves’ money in the long run.

I opted to use a local printer, Naas Printing. Apart from the fact they were recommended to me, I recognised some good quality self published books on their website and when I called in, there were shelves full of their printed books. This was useful as I could check the quality and show them exactly the type of matte cover and matte finish on the pages that I wanted. It may have been more cost effective to look at sourcing a printer abroad but I wanted to be able to talk to them in person, ask questions, and see the quality of their printed products.

Self Publishing Companies

Many companies now help authors to self publish their own books. They will review, edit, format, design and publish your book either as an ebook only or as an ebook and a printed book. Emu Ink is an Irish company offering this service and their price of €1495 to do a triple edit, typesetting, cover design, provision of ISBN numbers and publish a book on all ebook providers seems fair. It is difficult to estimate what this might cost if doing it all independently (hiring a professional editor, illustrator and formatter individually) but it is unlikely to be less than €1000. If you wish to print your book, this cost will be additional but Emu Ink does offer a print on demand service.  Kissed Off Creations also offer a self publishing service with prices starting from £200.

Personally, I prefer to travel the steep learning curve, learn by my mistakes and benefit from my learning for future books but it can be helpful to have someone holding your hand with your first book and that’s where these companies are very useful.

Crowdfunding With Self Publishing Companies

I crowdfunded with an Irish crowdfunding company and then self published independently and separately but there are now plenty of companies that provide a crowdfunding service specifically for books and within the self publishing service. In effect, you are asking people to pre-order your book and the company will indicate how many need to be ordered before it can be deemed a success, i.e. your book goes into publication. In essence in terms of finances, it is a little like getting an advance from a publisher. It should have all the advantages of crowdfunding in terms of securing income, raising your self confidence, spreading brand awareness and securing sales. It will also require a loyal following to generate those pre-orders and ideally, that following should be on social media as it is easy for them to click once to the site and pledge. It has the advantage of having advice and help from those working in publishing and self publishing.

Although these companies will provide advice and support on the crowdfunding and will publish your book, they don’t necessarily offer an editing service. You have to submit your finished and edited manuscript for approval.  They decide on the cost per pledge (the pre-order price) and the number of pledges/orders required. Once that is achieved within a specified time period, they will publish the book and you can dispatch the printed books to your pledgers.

However, it is unclear how much ‘profit’ the writer makes on each book. According to the Britain’s Next Bestseller details, the authors get £1 for each book preordered above the minimum target set.  They promise significant marketing help if you surpass the pre-orders but I’m a little bit sceptical – you can easily do much of this marketing on your own.  It’s unclear at this stage if they remain as your publisher and what the percentage the royalties willbe. Yes, it is helping you by holding your hand along the way but I would prefer the independence of crowdfunding separately to the self publishing. Pubslush and Authr are more such companies and there seems to be many more.

Self Publishing your own book can be very exciting, liberating and successful – it can also be extremely terrifying and expensive. It can take considerable time for sales to roll in and to recoup your investment. Every situation is different and I hope this post has helped to make the choices somewhat clearer. If you have any questions, do ask in the comment box below. If you have self published, I’d love to hear of your experiences. 

Do check out my post on ‘How to sell your self published book’ too – lots of tips in there for when you receive your print run. If you would like to consider crowdfunding, do look at these articles reporting on my tried and tested method.

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