How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book? 4 Authors Share Their Actual Costs
You want to self-publish your book, but budgeting for the process is more challenging than it looks. The numbers you hear from experts regarding the costs of self-publishing are all over the board.
Do authors really manage to release quality books without paying for professional editing, design, marketing and other services? Or will you have to dig into your savings and fork over thousands of dollars to make sure you release a great book? How much does it cost to publish a book?
To assuage these common concerns, we spoke with several top self-published authors about what they spent to release one of their books. They’ve shared real numbers, as well as why they chose to invest in certain services, to help you decide how best to allocate your investment during every stage of self-publishing.
We interviewed these authors about the cost of self-publishing
Catherine Ryan Howard: Catherine is the author of two travel memoirs, “ Mousetrapped ” and “ Backpacked ,” as well a guide to self-publishing, “ Self-Printed .” She blogs about self-publishing and more on her website .
Joanna Penn: Since she quit her corporate job and published her first book about the experience, Joanna Penn has been a self-publishing powerhouse. She’s built a career as an author-entrepreneur, sharing resources for other authors at The Creative Penn and self-publishing New York Times and USA Today best-selling thriller novels as author J.F. Penn .
Dana Sitar: And there’s me. I share resources, tips and tools for writers through my website and newsletter , and I’ve self-published two collections of essays, a variety of info-products and the Amazon Bestselling ebook: A Writer’s Bucket List .”
How did we do it? Here’s the breakdown of how much it cost to publish a book for Hope’s nonfiction book “The Shy Writer Reborn ; ” Catherine’s second memoir “Backpacked;” Joanna’s first novel, “ Pentecost ;” and my ebook “A Writer’s Bucket List.” All dollar amounts are listed in USD.
Resource: