How much will it cost to publish your book?

As a successful professional, you have important information to share and you are an expert in your field. Yet, you can’t afford to invest your precious time and resources on “black holes” that don’t give you the returns you can count on.

It’s important to know the costs involved to self-publish your book so that you can create a budget for your project, along with financial projections showing the potential income from your book.

But here’s the catch: most self-publishers DO NOT make much money their selling books! So why bother going through the time and effort of writing and publishing a book that doesn’t give you direct returns?

Don’t get me wrong. You’ll make money selling your books, but that’s not where the real profit comes from. Instead, the best strategies are to use your book to market your services and other products. That’s what most successful entrepreneurial authors plan to do. They don’t go out and start flogging their book, but instead, they focus on how to leverage their book to benefit the bottom line.

Here are the tools and levers that lead to monetizing your book:

• Your book can lead to media exposure that raises your profile and attracts new opportunities.
• Your book can turbo-charge the way you market your business by giving you a fresh approach and a new tool.
• Your book can help you land high-profile speaking gigs and keynotes.
• Your book can open up new revenue streams that you had never considered.
• If you are a coach, your book can help you connect with new clients whose businesses also affect others and change lives. 
• You can use your book as your calling card though email, one-on-one sales calls, or other outreach to prospective customers.
• Your book can bring new, exciting professional relationships, clarity to your mission, and synergistic boosts to your business.
• You will be seen as a thought leader as your book elevates you above others who have no book.
• You will meet people whose lives are changed by your book.
• Your self-perception and confidence will blossom and grow.

First things first: editing your manuscript

Many writers reading this article have probably already begun a manuscript, or perhaps have already completed one and saved it on their hard drive. Your manuscript may seem polished and complete after your many rewrites and corrections, but until it stands up to scrutiny by book professionals and a stable of readers, you’ve only just begun.

A good developmental editor can help correct fundamental errors early on that may determine the success or failure of your book. The structure, order, voice, and many other considerations that go into writing a long-form narrative are critical to how well it will read and flow, and whether it will connect with readers.

A developmental editor can bring insights, suggestions, and improvements to your work that will reflect on your reputation, plus give your book the best chance of success in a crowded marketplace. Please! Hire the best help you can afford to edit your book.

Putting your put through a thorough copyedit comes next. This specialized editor’s task is to catch all the typos, misspellings, and correct grammar. Your copyeditor may also do some fact checking, so be sure to ask what’s included.

Proofreading comes after all the chapters are written, revised, and copyedited. I did not hire for additional proofreading. I ended with a professional copyedit and a final read-through myself. It's up to you to make sure your work is error-free before you publish.

Designing your cover and interior text 

Excellent book design requires a basic understanding of book publishing and an in-depth knowledge of book structure and composition. It’s important to vet and to hire a designer who has technical expertise in designing books and offers a substantial list of published books that you can examine. Professional, polished editing and design are benchmarks against which your book will be judged in the marketplace—and are the two areas where you should buy the best help you can afford.

Graphic design costs for books and book covers can range from quick-and-dirty to exorbitant. You get what you pay for, so search out professional designers who have experience designing books and a solid portfolio. With clear communication and a willingness to be flexible, self-publishers can collaborate with designers to come up with an effective design that reflects all your hard work. Don’t let your standards slip when you’re almost to the finish line! This could be one of the most critical decisions you make.

Get out your calculator

Now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty of managing the numbers to calculate the size of the investment you’re able to make, and how many of your books, services, or other products you’ll need to sell to break-even. 

The following list of services gives you an idea of budget costs for developmental editing, copyediting, text and cover design, and digital file preparation. In the case of editing and design, you get what you pay for — and it will be reflected in the final product.  

The following expenses reflect an average nonfiction book of 50,000 words — or approximately 200 printed pages.

Editing, Layout & Design Essentials

Developmental Editing

A developmental editor works with a writer to improve the basic concept of the book, the way it’s focused and structured, and the style and attitude of the narrative voice. In a nonfiction book they’ll also help clarify and organize the ideas and information.

Be sure that the editor you’re considering has a breadth of experience working specifically with books — and not primarily short-form magazine-length pieces. There are important differences in the skills and techniques necessary for the development of a book-length story and structure, voice, narrative arc, and pacing throughout.

A median cost of $1300 buys a comprehensive critique by an experienced developmental editor. You may be able to restructure or rewrite your manuscript using only this critique, and then go on to a thorough copy edit… But, I most often recommend that new authors contract with their developmental editor to perform additional line editing to get their work up to the standards of commercial publishers. Budget $2500 for additional substantive editing.

Total developmental editing: $1300 – 3800 and up

Copy editing

Includes grammar, spelling, typos, and some fact checking.

Plan to spend $40-50/hour (completing 4-6 pages/hour)

Approximately $1300 -1600 for 200 pages

Text Design and Page Layout — 200 pp or less

Black & White interior pages: $800-1400 for up to 200 pages

Four-Color Cover Design and final files

High: $800 -1,200 and up—includes licensed art and experienced book designer

Low: $400 and up —with stock image(s) and typography, and less experienced designer

I recommend commissioning the best cover design you can afford.

Readers will judge your book by its cover!

E-Book Conversion

High: $700 and up — Fixed layout - includes 2 formats

Middle: $300 - Reflowable layout - includes 2 formats

Low: $199 - Reflowable layout - includes 1 format

The most compatible eBook format is the ePUB file. It can be read on desktops, laptops, Nook devices, tablets, and even smartphones. Amazon’s Kindles read a different eBook format called Mobi.

The editing, design, and layout of your book are even more important than the print quality. Poorly edited or designed work can never be improved by a good print job!

Many self-publishers are DIY types who love to dive into special projects and do as much as they can themselves. That said, I encourage you to invest in the most important elements: hire editors for your manuscript and designers for your text pages and cover.

Printing Your Book

To determine the price to print your books, use your page count and a standard trim size for your book to run the numbers through the royalty calculators provided on Print-on-Demand (POD) websites such as standard KDP.com and IngramSpark.com.

Be sure when you compare costs that you’re comparing apples to apples. It can be difficult to find any two printing companies who break out their costs in the same way. Especially with POD companies, it is sometimes difficult to discern what their printing markups really are, which directly affects author royalties.

If you treat your book as a valuable asset for your business, it can earn revenue over the course of its lifetime. Remember, publishing a book makes your business more visible and works for you 24-7, elevating all your products and services. From this point of view, publishing a book is a wise use of your marketing dollars and a solid part of your business plan.

Think of your costs as investments in yourself. For example, building a website will support you and your business over time. Your book will create value and add to your business over its lifetime, too, so you want to get it right.

Skimping on editing, amateurish design, poor print quality, missing identifiers, and a lack of marketing experience hinder many self-published books from gaining media or market attention. Yet, through diligent preparation and planning and by enlisting the help of book professionals, your self-published book can rise above the competition.

Think these issues through before you publish, and be sure to plan ahead for sales and marketing.

To Your Success!

Lindsay

P.S. The best, most economical way to research and vet your book idea is to take my spotlight course, Jumpstart Your Book in 10 Days where you’ll learn to develop a strong book concept and a polished outline for your book in 4 easy, self-paced lessons.

P.P.S. Want to talk? Send your note to: [email protected]