This post has been updated for 2024.
I’ve both traditionally published and self-published books, and a lot of people ask me, “How much does it cost to self-publish a book?” I’m also asked questions like, “Do I have to hire a cover designer, or can I design it myself?” “Do I really need an editor?”
There are a lot of all-inclusive self-publishing packages and services out there for novels and nonfiction books. Some of them charge too much for services, taking advantage of less experienced authors. Other groups or individuals will try to lure you into paying high rates by claiming, often falsely, that they can give you an inside track to a big 5 publishing contract. One of the reasons I’m writing this post is to give people the information they need when evaluating companies, services, and self-publishing costs.
This is mostly geared toward traditional fiction and nonfiction books with no illustrations. Some other types of books might have different needs. There is no one way to get a book ready for self-publishing, and some people may recommend different things from what I’m suggesting here.
The market is flooded with badly edited, badly designed books. No matter how you achieve it, quality can make your book stand out and help you build the long-term audience you need to be successful as a writer.
(To my international readers: sorry this is all in U.S. dollars, but I hope it still gives you a good idea of the costs involved!)
Developmental Edits (or Story Edits)
What it is:
A critique of your story. Plot holes, weak characterizations, pacing problems, point of view issues, dialogue, descriptions, and more get addressed here. For a nonfiction book, this can address matters such as structure, pacing, logic, and flow.
Should you hire a professional?
Probably.
If it’s your first time publishing a work of fiction, and you don’t have a bunch of whip-smart beta readers that have given you thorough, specific, and perhaps agonizing feedback, I would say yes.
How much it costs:
I prefer to pay by the word rather than by the hour so that I know what my final bill will be.
Up to .02 per word is reasonable for an experienced editor (example: 50,000 words = $1000.) At Lucky Author, we charge .015 per word (example: 50,000 words = $750.) There are lots of terrible editors out there, and they should be free for all the good they will do you. If possible, hire someone with industry experience.
Copy Edits (or Line Edits)
What it is:
This is your second editing pass, after you have all the kinks worked out of your story. It’s a line-by-line critique of your prose. Over-used words, incorrect usage, awkward and unclear sentences, and everything else that makes your work sound clunky or amateurish gets hashed out here.
A copy editor is so much more than a proofreader. To better understand what a copy editor does, with embarrassing examples from my own writing, check out my post: “What Does a Copy Editor Do?”
Should you hire a professional?
Absolutely. No question.
How much it costs:
Again, up to .02 a word is reasonable. At Lucky Author, we charge .018/word (example: 50,000 words = $000). We also offer “The Works” editing—developmental and copy edits, all in one pass—for .025/word.
My above warnings about editors apply here as well.
Proofreading
Should you hire a professional?
Probably. Most people aren’t good proofreaders of their own work. They don’t catch their own mistakes because they know what it’s supposed to say. Unless you’re married to or friends with someone with expertise, I’d hire someone familiar with the Chicago Manual of Style.
However, if you really need to save, you can overcome the issue of too much familiarity by reading the whole work out loud (or using a text-to-voice application and listening.) Proofreading errors will jump out at you that you would not have noticed in a regular read. This is time-consuming, but it’s free.
How much a proofreader costs:
Expect to pay a penny a word or more.
Please note that you need to do a second proofreading pass once your book is formatted. One pass isn’t enough to catch everything, and it’s even easier to catch mistakes once it’s in book form. If the book has already been proofed by a professional once, the final pass can probably be done by an English major who will do it for free because they love you.
Formatting
What it is:
Turning your book into a properly laid-out file for upload to Amazon and wherever else you like (Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo are likely choices). If you’re going to have a print edition of your book, that needs to be formatted, too. Kindle Direct Publishing, Barnes & Noble Press, IngramSpark, and Smashwords are some choices here (and they aren’t mutually exclusive.)
Should you hire a professional?
Eh, up to you.
Plenty of authors do this themselves, using software like Vellum. There can be a bit of a learning curve at the beginning. If you hire it out, an experienced formatter may make it look a bit nicer, with curly bits between section breaks, nicely designed chapter headings, and so on.
How much it costs:
You can expect to pay anywhere between $150 to $250 for an ebook without special formatting challenges. An additional print edition will cost more.
Book Cover Design
Should you hire a professional?
Unless you have strong design skills, yes.
How much it costs:
A custom ebook cover usually costs $500 and up. I think anything between $500 and $900 for a cover created with stock images is reasonable. You may pay more for top talent. If you need a print version as well, that will cost you more.
If you hire an artist to create original artwork or photography, that will probably (and rightfully) be much more expensive.
You might enjoy looking at premade ebook covers, which the designer just customizes with your book title and name. These usually run much cheaper.
Even if you’re a rock star designer, you will have to purchase the rights to the photography and design assets you use, unless they are copyright-free or you created them yourself.
Many book cover designers offer deals on bookmarks and other swag, if you’re into that kind of thing.
By the way, you might want to check out my post on book cover design mistakes to watch out for!
ISBN
What it is:
A standard international identification number for books. Libraries and some retailers won’t order your book without an ISBN, and many marketing opportunities require one.
Some publishing partners like Amazon’s KDP offer free ISBNs, but if you use them, they are the publisher of your story. If you buy your own ISBN from Bowker, then you are the publisher. That’s the only way I would go. There are websites claiming to sell ISBNs for cheaper, and they are all scams as far as I know.
Please note that if you’re doing ebook and print, you’ll need one ISBN for your ebook (you can apply the same one to a mobi and an epub file), and a different one for your print version.
How much it costs:
One ISBN costs $125, and it costs $295 for ten.
U.S. Copyright
Your creative work is your intellectual property, but if it gets ripped off, having the registered copyright may be helpful as you fight for your rights. However, some people feel that having the ISBN is enough.
How much it costs:
For self-published books by a single author, this costs $45.
I’m sorry that I don’t know about copyrights for other countries!
These are just the expenses for actual book production. Your marketing budget could be nonexistent or astronomical, and there’s a lot of disagreement about the most cost-effective ways to market a book, so I’m not even going to delve into that here!
This has been a pretty quick overview, but I hope it’s helpful. If it is, please share it on your blog, Twitter, or wherever you connect with other writers…it’s much appreciated!
Whether you’re just starting to write a book or you’re in the “messy middle” of a draft, you might like to check out my book Blank Page to Final Draft. It’s a step-by-step guide to writing a novel that’s ready to publish, based on my experiences as an author and as an executive editor.
And if you like free resources about writing, be sure to follow the blog — you can subscribe below. Thanks for reading, and good luck in all your ventures!
Thank you for this!
You bet! 🙂
This is great, thanks for the info!
My pleasure 🙂
And … I have done none of this. Now I’m feeling really guilty. XD
Haha, well that’s why I said “that’s really not my business”! 😀
Nonetheless, I have the feeling that I should have done a lot of those things. Honestly, I published my book before its time because I made deadlines I really shouldn’t have made. It needed SO much more editing. *facepalm*
Hey, you can do the next one differently if you want to! We are all learning as we go along. 🙂
I can speak for another country regarding copyright and other costs.
This is information specific to Canada (**prices in Canadian dollars) and it is all administered by Library & Archives Canada (LAC) in Ottawa:
Copyright registration: $50, if done online using a credit card. $65 if not.
ISBN registration (your use, your imprint): FREE (** with a catch) No, I am not joking.
CIP (Cataloging-in-Publication information, like the US Library of Congress control numbers and indexing): FREE (** with a catch.)
Now for the catch for the “FREE” part.
You must donate, at your own cost for both the book & shipping to LAC, a copy of every book you have registered, in every format (ie: if your title is available in e-book, hardcover print, softcover print, audio…etc) to the library for archival. The US equivalent example: You self-published your book, and went through the US Library of Congress for your copyright, your ISBN and your control/index information. The US Libary of Congress now demands you donate your book so that they can archive it in their archives until the end of time as a necessary part of their literary culture.
Which is basically what LAC does for every single last Canadian published book, even if the author isn’t from Canada. If the publisher is Canadian they have the legal right to demand (and they will! I have been called once with a librarian asking me where my books were!) a copy (or two) of each title in each format. If your circulation hits a certain point, they will want two of each title in every format.
That’s the catch. Most authors in Canada usually turn around and send a book to LAC immediately because if your national library wants your book, you’re too pleased with being accepted like that to care about the fact that you had to donate it.
One note, if you were published by a publisher then your publisher is responsible for donating the books. You’re only responsible for donating the books if you self-published.
Donating books does still result in a tax deductible receipt.
Kristan, thank you so very much! That is so helpful!
Excellent advice, and very true. All new self-published authors would benefit from reading it.
Thanks Beabe!
Thanks for the advice! I plan to self-pub in the next couple of years, and I’ve been wondering about this kind of thing. I’m pinning this for later.
Hey, you’re welcome! And good luck — I hope it goes great!
You know this is great stuff to know thank you. But my stress meter is through the roof!
It’s hard enough to set a writing schedule lol. I don’t know if I will make it through all this gobbly gook! I too will save this, and maybe have a few more questions when I get done with the “easy” part of just writing the darn book!
Hi Pat! It may look overwhelming, but it’s like anything else… you just take it step by step! And yeah, job one is finishing the book 🙂 Hope it’s going great!
I think prospective authors need to check out Feed-A-Read, a United Kingdom publisher who does not charge for preparation and I can categorically state, they are honest and reliable. The only time the author outlays money is if editing, formatting etc is requested. I have five books on this site and, although the royalties are not as high as other vanity publishers, it the same case as the more you sell, the more you make. You can advertise privately, which I do, and orders by customers can be ordered direct from the site. I have sold nearly 60 books and the compliments are not only about the story but also about the book presentation and speedy delivery. Postage in the UK is little but to USA, Australia and Canada, it becomes an issue. Another positive, the publishing company is part Government funded. To all your readers, you could do worse than check the site out. Remember, publishing is free. You only pay for book orders. Compare this to sites such as Iuniverse and Xlibris where there is an upfront fee. Finally, I swear I have no affiliation whatsoever with Feed-A-Read. Your article inspired me to point your readers in the direction of affordable self-publishing. Thankyou for your blog.
Thank you very much for your information. I’m afraid I jumped into the deep end of the pool because of my enthusiasm for my first novel, now barely keeping my head above the water. My second manuscript is near completion. I will definitely check Feed-A-Read out.
Great article, got your blog URL off your Master List book (also very helpful). Thanks!
One of my friends suggested that I self publish my semi/somewhat memoir (you probably know the one). She had some pretty good reasoning. So I came back to your post here and it is very practical and I appreciate it! Hopefully I can come up with the $$$ to at least get a copy editor.
Just FYI, you can buy an ISBN (it’s called the Custom Universal ISBN) that you can use anywhere with any publisher from CreateSpace for $99. You don’t have to publish through them with that option, just have to sign up for an account. This one is done through Bowker, but at a discount that CreateSpace/Amazon has set up.
And for those who don’t have a spare grand lying around… best aim for traditional publishing?
Ha, yeah, probably so. I have seen a few writers do crowdfunding, and I don’t know how well that works for most writers.
This is a great basic overview. I do think, though, that part of the skill of writing is being able to see when your storyline/pacing etc works. As for over-used words, cliches, etc, they should be sorted out in the redrafts. I think one element that lets some writers down is that they are simply not prepared to put in the hours of going through the book, line by line, and considering every sentence. Then putting it away for a week and doing it all over again. And again.
I’ve never used an editor or had a professional critique; I just tried to be realistic. Was my first novel of publishable standard? No, of course it wasn’t. My tenth published novel is a lot tighter than my first – I started to really get the hang of it around the 5th. I reckon much of the problem with new writers is the rush to publish. All too often, they can’t wait to get their novel out there and ‘be a published author’. And although you can’t learn talent, you CAN learn the craft of writing a novel. Like anything else, this takes time.
From what I’ve seen of novels that have had professional critiques, they aren’t worth a lot. They don’t seem to be very honest; perhaps they never say ‘I think you need to go back to the drawing board’ because they want repeat work/recommendations, I don’t know!
This is a great perspective for so many reasons, thank you. More writers need to understand this. Now that there are ways to bypass traditional publishing standards, I find as a reader that I’m only willing to purchase writing from platforms that allow me a preview and it takes many, many of those to find something truly special that I want to pay for. After reading those previews, I go back to my work and rework, kill my darlings, and rework some more until I can honestly say it’s worth reading, not because it offers what I can find out there, but more of what I struggle to find.
Stephen King — ‘Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.’
Dear Bryn – You certainly have a generous spirit for creating your website/blog to share information with other writers. It is certainly helpful and I appreciate it. I came upon your list of facial expressions some time ago and referred to it again today. I took a little time to look at some of the other information you provide along with a few posts from your subscribers this morning, and when I have the luxury of time I will be returning to read further. Of particular interest to me are the comments and advice regarding self-publishing. I thought I had done sufficient research regarding self-publishing companies for my first novel, however, $10,000.00 later (which includes all of my own marketing costs), I do not want to, nor can I afford to, make the same mistakes again. Thanks again for your generosity. I’m looking forward to receiving your newsletter and to returning to your site.
Hi Arleen! Thank you for the very kind words! I’m so glad the blog is helpful. I am really sorry to hear that you spent too much of self-publishing the first time around. I don’t know if it’s much consolation, but I’ve met lots of writers who had similar experiences! Now you know, and I’m sending good wishes that eventually you’ll have so much success, you won’t even think about that early loss. <3
This post really hit home. Like you, I was traditionally published with a company that (unfortunately) went bankrupt. Decided to self-publish, thinking it wouldn’t be costly because all the work was done. Oh, boy was I wrong! I had to pay a cover illustrator to “format” my former cover for print and digital, and to remove the former publisher from cover. Still had to buy another ISBN! Paid to have the book formatted for print and digital, and sometimes with different epub sites, need different formats! Sadly, I didn’t know how to do any of this myself. There’s much more to self-publishing than I ever knew. Though the second book is nearly finished, I’m torn about self-publishing it. I will have to pay for all the phases of editing in addition to the other costs, and all out of pocket. Thank you for this post; anyone toying with self-publishing needs to know this information!
Hi, Remi! Ugh, I am so sorry you had to go through that, and I’ve known many writers in similar circumstances. Good luck in deciding what the best path is for your next one. And thanks so much for commenting. Have a great week!
Thank you so much, Bryn! This is invaluable info.
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