Did you know that 300,000 to 500,000 books are self-published every year? With the rising popularity of self-publishing, many authors have managed to work around the barrier of entry to the publishing world. However, as they switch to self-publishing, they’re often faced with a new challenge in the form of publishing costs, which they have to bear all alone.
If you’re considering this publishing route yourself, you have to set a budget for each part of the process. Not only will you be paying for book editing and cover design, but you’ll also bear the responsibility of printing, marketing, and other costs that are usually covered by traditional publishers.
Now you might be wondering: how much does it cost to publish a book? Well, you’ll find all the answers you need in this article.
A Brief Introduction to Self-Publishing
Self-publishing is one of the three routes of book publishing you can take, the others being traditional and hybrid publishing. When you self-publish your book, you get to control the publishing process and its many facets, such as editing, design, and marketing. It can be hard to plan everything yourself, but it will be worth the struggle if you want to keep all the rights to your book. Plus, you can earn as much as 70% royalties on average, which is much more than the 10–15% offered by traditional publishers.
Important Read: The Basic Guide to Self-Publishing Books
Which Factors Affect the Cost of Self-Publishing?
Given that you’d be handling every part of the publishing process yourself, let’s discuss the factors that will affect your budget. Knowing what to expect will help you plan your expenses ahead of time and save money where you can.
Below are the biggest factors that affect the average cost of self-publishing:
- Book length: The higher your total word count, the greater the costs of editing and publishing your book. For example, you can expect to pay less for a 50,000–word book than you would for 90,000 words.
- Genre: The genre of your book has a huge impact on the cost of self-publishing it. For example, you will likely pay more for a novel with a rich fictional world than you would for a modern-day romance. That’s because a complex book requires more editing and formatting than a simpler one.
- Writing software: While you may find free writing software enough for your needs, you might also want to use paid ones that offer advanced formatting tools or provide professional templates. These programs often require ongoing subscriptions rather than one-off payments, making them a major expense to factor into your budget.
- Professional services: To make your book stand out, you might want to consider hiring professionals who can polish it and make it the best it can be. So, you might end up hiring ghostwriters, editors, designers, and even marketers.
- Book formatting: Some book formats cost more to publish than others. For example, there are two print options to choose from: paperback and hardback, the latter of which is more expensive to print. Also, illustrated books are more expensive to produce than text ones.
- ISBN: ISBNs are technically optional, and your book might even receive one for free if you publish it on certain platforms. However, you might have to buy one separately if you intend to sell your book in stores and libraries.
- Book marketing: Book marketing is a long, complicated, and often expensive process. There are many tasks to complete, and many of them continue long after the initial launch of your book. So, marketing expenses will quickly become a regular component of your author career.
Going forward, we’ll set an example word count of 50,000 words. This word count will serve as our basis for determining the average costs of each publishing stage. From there, the total cost of publishing a 50,000–word book can average between $2,000 and $6,000, assuming you get reasonable quotes on professional services.
How Much Does It Cost to Write and Edit a Book?
Once you’re done writing your book, it’s time to edit it. You may think that book editing means fixing spelling and grammar mistakes. However, there are several stages of editing, each targeting different aspects of your book. Similarly, every editing stage will come with its own price tag.
1. Writing Software
Just writing your book alone can be expensive in more ways than one. For starters, you’re investing a lot of energy and creativity into it, as well as money and time. Beyond that, you might be using paid writing software, which can also increase your budget.
Besides the cost, you might be limited to certain software depending on what kind of book you’re writing and how you want to distribute it. For example, let’s say you want to create an interactive children’s storybook that contains lots of images and book widgets. As you search for the best writing tool for the job, you’ll find that your options are more limited than they would be otherwise. Plus, the more features you need in your software, the higher its cost likely becomes.
2. Beta Readers
Beta readers will analyze your story from a regular reader’s perspective and give you feedback on the overall plot, pacing, character development, and more. You can usually find beta readers who will read your manuscript without getting paid. But if you want to pay for structured beta reading, then you can hire freelancers for $25, all the way to $150.
3. Editorial Assessment
If you want detailed, professional feedback on your manuscript, then you might benefit from an editorial assessment. This holistic review of your book will help you pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses as well as whether or not it’s ready for publication.
The average cost of an editorial assessment is $0.020 per word, which will cost you about $1,000 for a 50,000-word book.
4. Developmental Editing
During the developmental editing phase, a fiction developmental editor will thoroughly review your book’s plot, character arcs, and themes. They will give you feedback on each story-specific element of your book and whether or not they flow well together.
For a non-fiction book, you’ll receive feedback on its structure and contents. As an example, your editor will instruct you to revise certain plot points or point out inconsistencies.
Despite the high cost, developmental editing can have a great impact on your book, especially if it has a complicated plot or fictional setting. For a 50,000–word book, the average cost of developmental editing can range from $0.03 to $0.15 per word, which amounts to a total of $1,500 to $7,500. Keep in mind that factors such as the editor’s experience and the genre of your book can affect the cost. For example, an experienced editor will likely charge more than a less experienced one, and editing a fantasy or sci-fi book may be more expensive than editing a romance novel.
5. Line Editing
If you can only afford one round of professional editing, let it be line editing. Even on a tight budget, this type of editing will provide you with a fully edited manuscript with improved sentence structure, word choice, and style. What’s more, you’ll only need a round or two of proofreading after that just to check for any leftover errors.
Line editors charge about $0.028 per word on average, so you can expect to pay a total of $1,400 for your 50,000–word book.
6. Copy Editing
After your line editor hands you the improved manuscript, it’s time to search for a copy editor. They will check for a variety of language errors, such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntax. Once they’re done, you will have a polished manuscript that’s almost ready for publication.
Copy editors will charge from $0.025 to $0.035 per word on average, or $1,250 to $1,750 for the whole book.
7. Proofreading
Before you publish your book, you might want to hire a proofreader to catch any remaining errors in your book. Your proofreader will be the last person to check the contents of your manuscript. So, they will inspect it carefully to ensure that it’s properly formatted and free of mistakes.
Proofreading a 50,000–word book typically costs between $750 and $1,000.
8. Book Indexing
Similar to the table of contents, an index helps readers find information within the book. However, instead of listing the names of each chapter, it lists key concepts and terms along with their page numbers.
Given the complexity and time cost of creating an index, most authors outsource the task to a professional. Professional indexing services can cost between USD $2.50 and $6.00 per indexable page. So, if your book has 200 indexable pages, you’ll likely pay from $500 to $1,200.
How Much Does Book Design and Formatting Cost?
As important as your text is, you must also invest in your book’s appearance and design. That means grabbing readers’ attention with a great book cover and formatting the insides of your manuscript to make it easier to scan and read.
There are many aspects of book design you should know about, so we’ve broken them down below.
1. Book Formatting and Internal Design
Book formatting is the process in which you adjust the internal structure of your book, such as paragraph and line spacing, to make it easier to read. If you’re on a budget or don’t need any special formatting for your book, you can use free software such as Calibre. For an interactive ebook, you can also use Kotobee Author, which has a free plan that lets you export your book for free if it’s 10 chapters or less.
On the other hand, you can hire a professional to format your book if you need specialized formatting for, say, a picture book or a cookbook. The rates will depend on your genre and the number of features you need in your book. All in all, you can expect to pay up to $500 for complex formatting.
2. Book Cover
When it comes to book cover design, your budget will be the deciding factor. You can hire a freelancer for as low as $150. However, you can expect to pay between $300 and $700 for an experienced designer.
3. Illustrations
You can include custom illustrations in your book, such as on the cover or inside the chapters. Expect to spend $1,500 to $3,000 for a fully illustrated book, or $60 to $250 per illustration depending on its size and detail.
How Much Does It Cost to Self Publish a Book?
Now that your book has been prepared, the next step is to publish it. In this stage, you will choose a publishing platform (or several) to sell your book from. The best choice between them may vary, but you should aim for the best royalty rates and the highest market share.
Rather than asking you to pay upfront, most self-publishing platforms will instead take a portion of your royalties with every sale. Let’s say your chosen platform will pay you 70% royalties. If your book costs $10, that means you will earn $7 per sale.
If you intend to sell physical copies of your book, you can expect to add more costs to your publishing plan. That’s because you will have to consider the costs of printing, inventory, shipping, and handling. Here’s a cost calculator that can help you estimate these expenses for your book.
How Much Does Book Marketing Cost?
Even after you hit publish, you still have to think about marketing your book. After all, you need to reach your target audience! To do that, you have to invest in a marketing strategy that combines one-off and ongoing campaigns.
Here is a list of the basic components of a book marketing plan and how much it can cost you:
- Book launch events: Book launch events help you get people’s attention and grow your fanbase. Depending on your budget, you can pay from $200 to $1,000 for the event alone. To learn more about what goes into such an event, check out our article on how to plan a book launch.
- Paid ads: With paid ads, you can reach a wider audience in less time than it would take via organic traffic. The cost of these ads varies from one platform to another. For example, you can pay at least $5 to $10 per day for Facebook ads.
- Author website: Having a website can help you stand out as an author. By setting up a clean, professional-looking website, you can build trust and credibility, which leads to more book sales. On average, you will pay $12 to $20 for a domain name and $200 upwards for creating the website itself. Here’s a detailed guide on how to create an author website if you want to know more.
- Author mailing list: Author newsletters can have a huge impact on future sales, so it’s important that you set one up even before you publish your book. Most service providers offer a free plan, after which you will start paying at least $13.5 per month to keep your newsletter active. To get a better idea about the different email service providers and how to build an author list, check out this article: Email Marketing for Authors: What It Is and Why It Matters.
How Much an Average Novel Costs to Self-Publish
Let’s say you want to publish a romance novel set in the modern day. Your story doesn’t contain any complicated science, magic, or history. Moreover, you’re fluent in your chosen language and have thoroughly revised your book to remove errors. How much would it cost to publish this book if the total word count is around 50,000?
Let’s start with writing and editing costs. Suppose you chose free writing software to use, such as Kotobee Author. After you finished writing and revising the book, you decided to look for beta readers on your favorite forum. Armed with their feedback, you revise your story again before hiring an editor. So far, your efforts didn’t cost any money.
From your beta readers’ opinions on your story, you decide that the book needs to go through two stages of editing. So you hire a developmental editor for $2,000 at $0.04 per word. Once they’re done, you then find a line editor for $1,400 at $0.028 per word. Then you decided to proofread your book yourself to save money. That’s a total of $3,400 so far.
Moving on to book formatting and design, you make short work of formatting your book for ebook and print for free using Kotobee Author. While you worked on that, you reached out to a designer on a freelancing website and paid $300 for your book cover. Up until this point, you’ve spent a total of $3,700.
Now it’s time to publish and start marketing your book. For starters, you pay $220 to set up your author website using tools such as WordPress. Then, you set up an author newsletter using a free plan for your first 1,000 subscribers. Once you’re done, you create a marketing plan that focuses on these two platforms. So, your total self-publishing expenses are $3,920.
How to Save Money When Self-Publishing Your Book?
If you’ve reached this point in the article, you might be alarmed by the increasing costs and expenses you’ve seen so far. But don’t panic, for there are many ways you can save money without sacrificing quality services.
Below, you’ll find a few tips for self-publishing on a budget:
- Learn how to do each step yourself: If you have the skills or intend to learn them, you can just as well create your own book cover or edit the manuscript yourself.
- Hire freelancers: If you’re short on funds but still want a decent final product, you can hire freelancers instead of agencies. That way, you have the option to choose from a large number of professionals and find good quality work at a competitive price. Upwork and Freelancer.com are two examples of reputable freelancer websites you can hire from.
- Revise your book several times before sending it to an editor: Checking your book thoroughly and removing unnecessary parts can help you reduce the costs of editing later on. Most of the time, you can easily fix obvious inconsistencies and then let the editor handle the complex ones. You can also use free tools like Grammarly and to find and fix mistakes quickly.
- Maximize your royalties: The best way to pay less for self-publishing overall is to choose a platform that pays you the most royalties. For instance, with Kotobee Books, you retain all of your royalties without having to pay anything. Not only that, but you will have access to a large community of readers.
Final Thoughts
As rewarding as it is to finally publish your book, the expenses you have to pay to get there can be overwhelming. But as long as you know how to navigate the expenses of self-publishing, you can strike good deals and pay only for the services you truly need.
If you’ve self-published a book before, then share your experiences with us—each author’s journey is different, and we’d love to hear about yours!
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