When I started the journey of publishing my book, there was a lot of unexpected costs associated with publishing that not a lot of new writers who are thinking of self-publishing are aware of. I did months of research and still felt overwhelmed by the number of services required to get your book ready to be published. In this article I will give the minimum total amount I feel is necessary. As well as the best services for your budget.
Making a book on a budget
Knowing your budget is important. I had a clear budget of around £1000 in mind when I first started and tried my best to keep to that. Unfortunately, this only allows for the barebones minimum for publishing a book. This meant I spent a lot more time attempting to do some of these services by myself. This prolonged the launch date and let too many difficulties. So be sure to plan before jumping into self-publishing.
Editing
I will say this is the most important service when publishing a book. Do not attempt to do this by yourself or even have a friend do it for you. Hiring a professional editor is key and very helpful. There are many services of editing available such as copyediting, line editing, developmental editing and proofreading.
There service's cost varies depending on the service you choose and your word count. These are some of the usual prices you can expect to find for these services:
Copyediting: $0.016 per word
Line Editing: $0.021 per word
Developmental Editing: $0.04 per word
Proofreading: $0.012 per word
Depending on your experience these prices might seem low, but keep in mind this means for a standard book size of around 50000 words the cost is £4450 for all the services! Most books will be much more than 50000 words.
Obviously not everyone can have access to £4450, in this case, it is important to choose which service is enough for your budget. These are some helpful information to help you make your decision:
A copyedit focuses on grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Therefore, it’s most productive after an author has already done significant revision and now wants an editor to focus on perfecting the language and eliminating typos. Hence, the goal of copyediting is to ensure your book is error-free when it lands in readers’ hands. But it can also be used for writers with a very small budget who can only afford one of the editing services available. If this is your case, I highly recommend using copyediting once you have a finished manuscript as it also helps with consistency and some much-needed comments.
Line editing goes more deeply into a manuscript. Thus, it's best for authors with a fully completed draft. It corrects basic writing mechanics and also strengthens higher-level elements. Therefore, line editing is best for authors looking for help with characterization, pacing, voice, dialogue, and plot. I believe this is the most useful for authors with an average budget but can only afford one of the editing services. It provided the most bang for your buck.
Developmental editing delves even more deeply, uncovering the heart of the story you want to tell and finding the best way to tell it. As a result, it's great for authors who want to take their book to the next level—authors willing to make significant changes in the service of telling a better story. But keep in mind this is also the most expensive service. Furthermore, some people also feel they should keep the heart of the story solely to the author. If you feel this way then this service is probably not for you.
Proofreading is for after you have worked and reworked your manuscript. Then you formatted it and got it ready for publication. However, you still need to protect your credibility as an author. Likewise, you don't want to pay to fix expensive errors readers catch after you're published. Thus, you need a professional editor to proofread your final, laid-out PDF. I do not recommend only choosing this service as this should be the final step as it only checks grammatical and spelling errors.
To help compare these services please check out:
They have an amazing table to display exactly what each service provides.
Book Cover
Getting a design off the internet will probably make your book look less professional and less appealing to your audience. As well as lead to some licencing and copyright issues further on. I recommend purchasing a book design service online but if you feel you have skills in graphic/art design, you can attempt to make it yourself. Although I wouldn't recommend it, as this can be very time consuming as well as stressful if you don't get the desired result.
When choosing what book design company to go with, be sure to check their portfolio that would usually be on their website. If their portfolio is not on their website, you can always email them and request it.
Be sure to pick a company that can capture your vision. It is important to make sure they have experience in the genre that your book is in. They should have a decent amount of covers in your genre but be careful that they don't have too many as this may be a sign that they will not give your cover the care and attention it needs. Too many cover designs might mean they rush their products and don't produce a high-quality product.
Budget is important so be sure to find the right company for you. Make not on their revision plan, as some companies don't offer unlimited revisions and may require more payment for each revision. The company might also vary values based on whether your book is paperback or ebook or both.
This service usually ranges from £300-£500
ISBN
The cost to purchase an ISBN varies depending on where you live. In the Uk, the cost is about £89 for one ISBN number (not including the barcodes). It would be cheaper to bulk Buy ISBN numbers but that would depend on your budget and whether you're planning on writing multiple books.
Keep in mind that some countries government do offer free ISBN numbers such as Canada. So be sure to check if your country offers a free ISBN.
Book Interior
This is a service that will help format your book to the right size as well as add some feature to make your book give the tone of your genre. I personally did not pay for this service so can not offer too much information on it. I believe it is an important step but my budget was spent on the other three services. This meant I had to google and watch videos on formatting, which was very time consuming and prolonged the release date. Learn from my mistake. Manage your budget!
This service is usually around £350 - £400 for the simple interior formatting.
These are the three main cost associated with self-publishing but there are a lot more that can help produce an amazing, polished final version of your story. It really depends on your budget and dedication. I would say a minimum of £1000 is required. This should cover the cost for copy editing as well as book cover design. Again that is the minimum amount that should be done to any self-published book and if only for those with a very low budget. A full package can be anywhere from £5000 - £10000! So be prepared.
I hope this was helpful to any first-time authors or anyone thinking about writing a book. Hope these values didn't scare you off. Cause hopefully after everything is done, it will be worth it.
