One of the biggest questions is how much does self-publishing cost? The answer is: how long is a piece of string?
You can self-publish for free, or you can invest tens of thousands of dollars into it. I advise that you find a happy medium that works for you. But please remember this:
The number one goal of a self-published author should be to appear traditionally published.
Unless you have a lovely family of editors and graphic designers at your disposal, this will only be achieved by investing in professional publishing services. I will be focusing on publishing via Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing for both print and Kindle, and Ingram Spark for print.
In subsequent posts, I will break down my self-publishing process step by step, but for now, I will list it out with rough costs.
Below is a condensed list:
Getting Your Manuscript Ready
- Editing: $1000 – $5000
- Formatting: Free – 400
- Cover Design: Free – $500
- ISBN: Free – $125
- Back Cover Blurb: $150 – $250
Publishing Your Manuscript
- Uploading your book to Kindle Direct Publishing – Free
- Uploading your book to IngramSpark/Lightning Source – $50 for set-up (fees apply for changes)
- Setting up your author website – Free – $$
Book Promotion and Marketing
- Review services – $50 – $500 (each)
- Blog Tour – $150
- Ad Spend – $5 per day – $
- Publicist/Freelance marketer: $5000 – $$$ (for a 6-month contract)
- Contests – Free – $150 per entry
You can add all sorts of bells and whistles to your publishing costs – book tour travels, printed marketing materials, lawyers, etc, but I am outlining what I did as a freelancer striking a balance between what is needed to appear traditionally published.
In the following posts, I will outline these steps along with their costs in greater detail.
First up: Editing your Manuscript.
