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How Affordable is Self-Publishing?

If self-publishing is in your future, you should know how much money is involved in creating a self-published book. Opening a self-publishing business is similar in cost to other small business ventures--you need about $8,000 to $10,000 to comfortably self-publish. There are a few essentials that you will need to invest in to properly publish a book on your own.
  1. Book Design

    • You can expect to pay anywhere between $500 to $2,000 for a professional book cover design, and about $8 to $10 a page for a typesetter to layout your book.

    Editor

    • Every serious self-publisher needs a good editor to put out a quality product. The cost for a book editor will vary from $5 to as much as $15 per page, depending on how much work the manuscript needs (see Resources).

    Book Printing

    • It's best to start off self-publishing about 500 to 2,000 books. The cost to print 500 books will be about $2,000, depending on the printer you use--the more books you print, the lower the per book cost.

    Book Advertising

    • To properly advertise a self-published book, it's best to have an initial advertising budget of at least $2,500 to $5,000. You need this for ads, sending out books for review, press releases and other advertising methods (see Resources).

    POD Self-Publishing

    • Many self-publishers choose to publish using print on demand (POD) because the upfront investment is very low. The upfront outlay for book printing is eliminated, but the per book charge for POD book printing is generally higher.

Book Publishing

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