How much does it cost to self-publish a book?

A few months ago, I wrote a blog on how much it costs to hire a book coach, and now it is time to explore how much self-publishing costs for nonfiction books.

The answer varies vastly, even more so than hiring a book coach, as it depends on how much you can afford to spend on professionally producing your book and how much time you want to save.

Firstly, it should be clear that you could publish an ebook and paperback on Amazon without spending any money. Amazon will earn a payment from the list price every time you sell a book, but there are no upfront fees to prevent you from selling your book. Therefore, there is no financial barrier to stop your words from reaching readers.

But before you rush off to Amazon KDP, manuscript in hand, there are a few things you need to know about the publishing process. It is absolutely free to publish your work on Amazon, but if you can spend some money on it, consider the following.

There are three core elements to publishing a book: editing, typesetting and cover design. Depending on the type of book, there might be additional elements such as graphics, illustrations and ebook production. If you have decided to produce the book yourself, you will be responsible for ensuring it is edited and typeset and that the cover is well-designed and sized correctly. Amazon has software that will help with typesetting, but it is mainly built on templates, so you won't have much freedom in choosing your design or introducing any quirky elements to personalise it. Amazon can also help you size and produce your cover, but you will have to bring the design skills. Cover design is very different from general design and is an art form based on capturing a reader's attention and mirroring the book's core themes.

Specialist freelancers can provide these services or companies, like The Writing House, will arrange everything for you. 

Knowing about Amazon or other publishing platforms and understanding the publishing process is another skill set you will need to acquire. It can be a steep learning curve at times, but it is one that most people can do if they have the time to invest in it. I taught myself this skill when I first self-published, and I teach the highlights to my clients so they can independently manage their book listing and aren't reliant on me to make a quick change in price, etc. It also means that if they choose to self-publish again, they have this new skill to fall back on and can reduce their costs.

Therefore, there are three main possibilities when it comes to self-publishing:

1) Do it all yourself for free
2) Hire freelancers and organise the publishing process yourself
3) Hire a company to take care of the editing, cover design, typesetting, ebook production, graphics, illustrations, and publishing process.

The cost of editors, typesetters, and cover designers varies vastly depending on the freelancer's experience and, specifically with editing, how many rounds of editing you are getting, the type of edit, and the word count. In traditional publishing, you will have three rounds of editing but in self-publishing, it is more common to have less because of the expense. From my experience, each round of editing will typically be between £400-£1,500, depending on the type of edit and the length of the manuscript. Cover design will also vary vastly, and I have been quoted anywhere between £100 and £1,000, depending on the designer's experience. Typesetting costs will also differ depending on the length of the manuscript, the number of graphics and whether an ebook is being produced. The cost of this usually ranges between £400 to £800 for the books I work on as they usually have some graphics to incorporate, but if it is an image-heavy book, it can be several thousand pounds.

If you look at The Writing House publishing page here, you can see where our publishing costs begin and what is included. For an accurate quote, the word count will be needed, as this affects the costs of editing and typesetting. When I help a client with publishing, I also spend between 20 and 80 hours organising the project, teaching my client about publishing if they are interested in it and being by their side from start to finish.

As you can see, self-publishing costs can vary vastly. My clients usually write a book connected to a business, and as the book reflects their business, it's important for it to be professionally produced. They also tend to be busy people who don't have the time to learn everything they need to know about self-publishing, so they are happy to hand it over to me. If this sounds like you, send a quick message through my website and we can have a chat about how I can help.