If you’re going to self-publish a book, chances are you are going to incur some expenses. You probably will not want to handle every single task yourself and may want to farm out some of the tasks to freelancers. Here’s what it costs to self-publish a book.
Contrary to a still-prevalent myth, you don’t need to pay to make a book available for sale, even for paperbacks. Amazon and others will happily make your book available for sale without investing in a print run.
Still, you need to plan to put down some cash if you’re self-publishing. Please note that these are only ballpark ranges based on my own experience.
Disagree? Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments!
Editing
If you are self-publishing, I’d highly, highly recommend engaging a professional editor to make your work as polished as possible (Here’s how to find a freelance book editor. Also I’m available). This will probably also be your biggest expense in the self-publishing process.
You will likely need two passes: one for developmental editing (content, prose, etc.) and one for copyediting (typos, consistency, etc.).
What you can expect to pay:
- Developmental editing from a professional editor: $1,000-$5,000 or more depending on your book length
- Copyediting: $250-$1,000 depending on your book length
Interior design
Don’t neglect your interior design! Proper formatting and pleasing font combinations are crucial to making your book look professional. Unless you have a knack for this, I’d highly recommend hiring a pro to handle this for you.
This is especially the case if your book has any sort of complicated formatting like bullet points or illustrations. (And you’ll likely need to pay more if you have an unconventional format).
What you can expect to pay:
- Interior design: $100-$500 depending on the complexity of your interior design
Cover design
This is the one area where your experience will vary greatly. There are virtually out-of-the-box services that will almost design your cover for you, and there are bespoke artists who may charge a pretty penny.
Here’s some advice on how to go about brainstorming and selecting a cover design for a self-published book.
What you can expect to pay:
- Cover design: $100-$1,000
Marketing
Once you self-publish you will need to do something to give your a book a leg up. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a huge marketing campaign. You could network with local booksellers, start a blog, or dive into the paid ad world.
Don’t try to do everything, and lean into the marketing techniques you’re best at and actually like doing. But springing for some Amazon or Facebook ads can be an effective technique.
What you can expect to pay:
- Marketing: $0 – Infinity
Publishing
Again, unless you are doing something very bespoke or you badly want your own print run, you don’t need to pay anything up front.
But there may be some additional costs. For instance, you may want to buy an ISBN for your e-book and print editions ($125 each) or you may want to pay someone to write your marketing materials ($50-$250). If you chose to utilize Ingram Spark, expect to pay around $45 to make the book available for sale.
And if you decide to register the copyright for your book, that will be another $35.
What you can expect to pay:
- I’d plan an additional $500 for smaller/unforeseen expenses
What it costs to self-publish a book
Altogether, unless you’re really pinching pennies and doing a lot of work yourself, I’d plan to spend a few thousand dollars.
Obviously the economics of self-publishing can be murky unless you are able to do a lot of these tasks yourself or if you’re able to sell a few thousand copies. So be sure to be in touch with your goals and don’t spend any money you can’t afford to lose!
Questions? Let me know in the comments!
Need help with your book? Iām available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!
For my best advice, check out my online classes, my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.
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Art: Dame in der Bibliothek by Jean Baptiste II Charpentier
David Dvorkin says
(Blatant self-promotion alert)
I cover these topics, with dollar estimates, in my (self-published!) book Self-Publishing Tools, Tips, and Techniques (https://www.dvorkin.com/selfpub/)
Whoever you hire to do the various tasks for you, ask questions, contact their existing clients, and compare to others doing the same work.
Nathan Bransford says
Good advice on asking questions and checking credentials.
Are our estimates on the costs similar?
JOHN T. SHEA says
So, just leaving my manuscript on the wall outside my house and waiting for a passer-by to see it won’t cut it? Mind you, it was four o’clock in the morning the last time I tried…
G.B. Miller says
i thought the editing price was a bit on the high side. Last two times I used a professional editor (copy and proof as well) it cost me $550 and $670. The last one had a pricing structure based on the turnaround time required, so higher if you needed a quick turnaround and lower if you needed a longer.
Everything else that you suggested seemed to be right in the ballpark. Usually the higher prices are for the high end quality.
Carolyn says
Your number ranges for editing are low. Yes, there are independent editors as well as content mills who will charge that little, but the real pros start at $0.02/word for copyediting, so a 90,000-word novel will run $1,800 up. And developmental editing can get into five figures. There’s a slot between them called line editing or substantive editing (different terms outside the U.S.), where most authors will get the best of both worlds in one shot. But they still have to budget for a proofreader. Editors do a great job; unfortunately, they can’t see EVERYTHING and somebody with cold eyes has to follow up before committing to publishing, or it’s guaranteed stupid bloopers will make it into the final. Even with ten people in the chain, something will make it through. So authors need to understand that a single editor tackling a single editing task is not a god or goddess, and their time and expertise will cost a sometimes alarming chunk of change.
Paul Sieger says
I don’t agree with your ease on the end-result. Brilliant substantive editors may “not see everything”, but for that price, they should engage someone who does. They are like the bronze casters of an artist’s clay sculptures; their end-product should be guaranteed to be perfect; what with the trust (and the money), which the creator invests in them.
I’m a pretty good editor myself, but inefficient by inclination and I would not dare do that work for pro compensation, without the supervision of a robotically perfect copy editor.
Wendy says
Thanks for this, Nathan. So much great info to be mined from here. I’m about ready to self-publish, so this post couldn’t have come at a better time.
I’ve been labouring over my own cover as always wanted to illustrate a fantasy novel. But probably put more work into illustrations than into writing the story. I’ve also had enormous fun.
Speaking of cover designs, I found a site where you can upload your designs to gauge which one is the most appealing. Costs between $50 – $65 depending on the number of designs you upload. Within twenty minutes of uploading, you get fifty comparisons and comments regarding how well the work is perceived and which one succeeds the best as a cover. It’s better than showing friends and associates in the hope of getting constructive feedback. These commentators don’t pull any punches, and they’re not afraid to say exactly what they think.
The site is at https://www.pickfu.com.
Reesha says
Or you could go to kboards.com and click on the Writer’s Cafe forum, where writers generously and helpfully critique each others’ book covers for free. It’s a huge community of self-publishers and there’s a lot of good advice to be had there.
Justin @ PickFu says
Hi Wendy – Thanks for mentioning PickFu. You hit the nail on the head. Our respondents are unbiased, everyday US consumers.
Mandi says
Cover- $100
Editing- $100
Formatting- $50
Release Party- $50
Swag & Giveaways- $70
Proof Copy- $10
Teasers- $20
Advertising- $100
Total Cost- $500
My costs per book are much lower than what others pay as I barter and do a lot of work on my own to avoid having to pay as much. But in general, this is a ballpark range I try to hit for each book.
Reesha says
My first self-published book cost me about $1,000 in all, not including marketing, since that is ongoing. And anything I spend on marketing the first book in a series is really marketing the entire series, so I will wait to average that cost over number of books after they are all published.
My second will cost me only about $250. Partly because I can do the cover myself now that the first book in the series has a solid, established design and color pallet. But also because I am swapping virtual assistant services with my editor. I also won’t be giving away as many books as I did the first time around because all the family and friends who don’t read but want a copy anyway will already have a book. š
Becka says
I highly recommend getting into a writing group to do development editing. It’s taken a lot of time for my group to really find our groove and get used to each other’s styles, but we submit pieces to each other once a month for workshop. I do belong to a professional pay-to-play group, and that’s not what I’m talking about. This is a group of like minded individuals. We meet up once a week to write together (we haunt local coffee shops and other small businesses). One of our meetings a month is a workshop. We’ve been writing together for 5-6 years now and we purposely keep our number to under 6 (we’ve had a few people come and go.) Anyway, it’s a great way to have your work edited without paying for it.
Also, you have to buy an ISBN. Above you said “you may want to buy and ISBN for $125” but in order to sell a book, it is a must. The key is that you can buy different kinds of ISBNs and the cost varies, depending on what you are looking for. For instance, in order to have your book available in libraries, it requires a specific (more expensive) kind of ISBN. I’m not going to lie, when I published my book, buying the ISBN was the most difficult part, in my opinion, and I did EVERYTHING myself (including cover design… crash course in graphic design, anyone?) Looking back, and knowing what I know now, I wish I had employed a copy editor because there are 6 typos in the book. I guess my point is that as someone who wrote and published a novel as a complete novice (pretty much on a whim) I would recommend a copy editor and help with the ISBN process as the top two priorities after content editing. You can network with other writers to find help with content editing, but proofreading is important and the ISBN is difficult to navigate.