Cost Of Publishing A Book
How Much Does it Really Cost to Write and Publish a Book?
Author: Melinda Copp
When an aspiring author is thinking about writing and publishing their book, the question of cost inevitably comes up. All books are different, though, so asking how much it costs to publish a book is like asking how much a house or a car costs. The price depends on the book itself.
Longer books are more expensive, and so are full-color books and hard-cover books. Self-publishing the traditional way, meaning a print run of a couple thousand copies, requires more money up front than print-on-demand. But the cost per copy decreases when you print an inventory, meaning you can make more of your money back faster. Obviously hiring a ghostwriter to write your book significantly increases the cost of the writing–it’s free if you do it all on your own. And working with a one-stop shop for your publishing services, as opposed to finding suppliers on your own, will affect your production costs. All these factors, and more, play a role in your publishing expenses.
With that said, I’ve done some research to put together the following list of expenses you should budget for when writing and publishing your book.
Writing: As I mentioned before, writing your book is free if you do it all on your own. Working with a coach or taking a class to write your book will cost more. And hiring a ghostwriter will be the most expensive way to write your book. However, working with a coach or hiring a ghostwriter will help reduce your editing costs-something to keep in mind. And don’t be afraid to invest money in the writing process–well-written books sell better.
Editing/proofreading: Again, if you do it yourself, or find a friend or two to read your book for you, you can get the book edited for next to nothing. However, this approach isn’t recommended. The content of your book is the foundation of your publishing venture, so you can’t afford to skimp on expenses associated with creating a good, marketable manuscript. Every writer needs an editor, and at least a proofreader. A professional will help you create a professional product.
Design (both cover and interior): Although I know many self-publishers do their own interior design in Microsoft Word, you probably don’t want to design your own book cover unless you’re a graphics designer. Covers can range in price, depending on the level of customization and amount of illustration required. And many self-publishing companies offer stock templates you can choose from to save money. The same goes for interior page design. Some companies offer stock templates, or you could do it yourself. But if you have lots of graphics or illustrations, or you want a custom job, the cost will be higher.
Miscellaneous production costs: In addition to the design expenses, producing your book also includes securing an ISBN number, copyright fees, and shipping from the printer to you (or your warehouse). You may also need to pay someone for order fulfillment.
Printing: As I mentioned before, it costs less to get your book set up with a print-on-demand publishing company, and then you don’t have to worry about warehousing the books and fulfilling the orders. But the cost per copy is significantly higher than if you printed one or two thousand copies. I recommend looking at both options very carefully, and if you know you can sell a thousand copies through your existing marketing channels, then bite the bullet and have them printed. You’ll make your money back faster.
Your Book Investment
Regardless of the cost, keep in mind that your book is an investment in yourself and in your business that will pay off. Don’t be afraid to spend a little money to do it the right way and create a quality, professional product.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/self-publishing-articles/how-much-does-it-really-cost-to-write-and-publish-a-book-2904701.html
About the Author
Melinda Copp helps aspiring nonfiction, business, and self-help authors get clear on their story and book idea, and figure out how to put it all together so their ideal readers love it. Visit http://www.writerssherpaprograms.com/writeabook.html for a free copy of her “Jumpstart Your Book E-course!” and get your book started now.
Tagged with: book coaching • nonfiction book coach • write business book • write life story • write memoir • write nonfiction book • write self help book
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Is this it?
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/6870
Traditional publishing doesn’t have to cost you anything, but I have to be honest with you though that most, if not all, publishing companies instill financial obligations to their clients, if only to keep their business running.
Self-publishing companies require you to pay to get your book published. However, if you pick the right publisher, you can get a favorable return on your investment.
For instance, Booksurge’s promotional package starts at $799 while leading PoD publisher Xlibris starts at $299. Authorhouse and iUniverse publishing packages begin at $599 too.
The final cover price of a book is based on 6x the book’s actual costs. That is industry standard.
—-
They’re, Their, There – Three Different Words.
Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.
Pax – C
I don’t imagine there are many publishers who would be interested in a book in Amharic, given that it has “only” 25 million speakers. (English has about 300 million native speakers and between 500 million and 1.8 billion total, depending on how you count them.) But anyway…
If your book is good enough, it will cost nothing – a reputable publisher will pay you for the privilege of printing copies and selling them to the public. But this can be a time-consuming process, with no guarantee of success. If you want to pay, you can have the books in your hands in a matter of weeks… but it’s then your problem to store them and sell them. Bookshops generally won’t stock them, and reputable reviewers generally won’t review them. I’d be astonished if you could sell 1,000 copies of a self-published book in English, never mind in Amharic. The average self-published book sells about 40 copies, mainly to the author’s friends and family. Do you have a plan for selling the other 960?
I got a quote of $3740 for 1000 copies of a 200-page book from these people:
http://www.gorhamprinting.com
I know nothing about them, other than that they come top of a Google search for “self-publishing Washington”.
You might have problems finding someone who can handle the Amharic characters, but I think they’re fairly well-supported in modern software – they’re part of the Unicode standard, so every program and company that supports Unicode (which is just about everybody nowadays) should be able to display and print Amharic properly. As long as you can produce a PDF that looks right on your screen, it should print properly.
Submit to a company that pays you. That’s the beauty of talent: you don’t have to pay for acceptance.
Self-publishing – When you print and/or market your own books. Not the best way to go.
Banks…? I doubt it. Have you watched the news lately?
Use your search bar. It’s there for a reason, you know.
You can copyright your ‘text’ so that you can sue anyone in the U.S. who stole your ideas. Try researching this website: http://www.copyright.gov/
According to the link provided next, you can register with Form TX: http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html
It costs $65 to register a literary text. Form TX is for literary texts. You will have to mail a manuscript of your novel. When the copyright office has accepted your work, they will mail you a certificate stating that your work has been copyrighted.
If you go to a publisher, just warn them that your work has been archived or saved as a US copyright. After that, they will probably publish your work, pay you, and protect your work.
It will protect your idea as long as the plagiarist’s novel is extremely similar to yours. For example, if someone wrote a novel that is similar to ‘Great Expectations’, he probably can’t be sued.
However, if the plaintiff’s lawyer can prove that every single plot from both novels are basically the same, and that the novels have the same characters who say the same thing a bit differently, then you can make money off of the plagiarist (aka defendant).
But beware, I might be wrong. Research a bit and see if my info helped.
Also, go here: http://www.ehow.com/how_2308006_copyright-novel.html
There are two types of publishing– traditional, and self-publishing. If you self-publish you could be spending thousands on a product that you will not be able to sell. If you absolutely want to go this way, then I would suggest http://www.lulu.com because it is free and there are no purchase requirements. They are the most honest with their customers. However, read this article about why to avoid so-called vanity presses:
http://www.sfwa.org/beware/vanitypublishers.html
No reputable publisher or agent should charge you any money up front! That is the sign of a scam! They make money by selling your book. Agents work on a commission (generally 15% of the amount of money the publishers pay you). Locate a copy of the book “Writer’s Market” and start learning about the industry.
Here are some websites that can help. Read them thoroughly and research, research, research! Pay special attention to Miss Snark, because her archives can answer any question you ever have about publishing:
http://www.publishersmarketplace.com
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
http://www.agentquery.com/
http://www.misssnark.blogspot.com
And be warned of the people on this list:
http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html
The overall up-front costs should not be more than you spend on paper, envelopes, stamps, printer ink and/or photocopies. If you decide to only target publishers or agents who accept e-queries, then you will save yourself even further expenses.
Commercial publishers are the ones whose books you see on bookstore shelves. If you want to be commercially published then you don’t pay anything out of pocket through the whole process. A publisher will review your manuscript and decide if it’s even publishable and if its marketable. If they like the manuscript then they’ll buy the rights to publish the book from you, which means they pay you, instead of you paying them.
You can self-publish your book, but you have to do all the work to promote, market, and sell it. You also have to do the work trying to get it placed on bookstore and library shelves. This is good for those who are publishing in a niche market like Child Birth or something. It’s not a good idea to self-publish a general genre book like paranormal, romance, and the such. If you’re writing a general genre book and find that no commercial publisher or literary agent is interested in it then chances are it’s unpublishable and you’re the only one who’s oblivious to it. Sometimes you can rewrite it to make it much better and other times it’s not even salvageable. Remember that just because you write a novel doesn’t mean that it can be published. Many people have to write more than one crappy novel before they start writing publishable material. Who knows, you might defy the odds, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself in the same situation as most of us. Also, even the great author Steven King had to write 4 “trunk” novels before he finally got Carrie published. That’s just the way it is. If this is your first novel then don’t hold it to great expectations that it most likely won’t defy. If you think it’s good enough to be published then send it to agents and then publishers, but whatever you do make sure you start on that second novel. I’ve already started on my second novel. Even if it doesn’t get published I’m having fun writing it and I’ll chalk it up to gaining writing experience for that future publishable novel.
Vanity publishing isn’t good for anyone. You end up paying more with a vanity publisher that does a sub-standard job than you would with true self-publishing. There are a few publishers who pose as “traditional” (“commercial” is different) publishers to confuse you to think you’re dealing with a commercial publishers. Vanity, or so-called traditional, publishers have no intention of selling your book to the public. They make their money from you, your friends, and family buying your book and then you buying more of your books to sell on your own to strangers. You’re going to fail. Strangers aren’t going to buy your book unless you’re a darn good salesperson. Plus, you’ll spend a lot of money during this process because your book is usually over-priced.
Overall, if I were you I’d follow this process: Complete the novel without editing – this is your first draft. Second draft will be editing it, plugging any plot holes, smoothing transitional scenes, sprucing up dialogue, rewriting, adding, or deleting characters and scenes, working on grammar, and so forth. Third draft would be to give it to beta readers; don’t depend on only family and friends, not unless they understand the publishing business and are good at grammar. Friends and family can be your average readers – the people who you think will actually read your novel. Make sure you don’t give it to anyone who doesn’t like to read or who doesn’t read your genre. Average readers are good for giving feedback as far as what was confusing, what didn’t make sense, why they stopped reading, etc. Also, give it to other writers. They can help with the more technical aspects writing a novel. They can tell you if your characters and plots are well-developed or needs more work. If you have too much superfluous info that doesn’t move the novel forward and give you suggestions on what you can do better.
After getting feedback from all your beta readers your next draft will be to rewrite it based on that feedback. You can pick and choose which feedback works for you and your story, and make sure to always thank your betas readers, even if you don’t use their feedback. Once you have your manuscript polished as much as you can then you can start seeking agents. Send it to a few agents at a time. Some give feedback but most dont. Most require a query letter, and from that will decide whether or not to request your manuscript. If you’re being rejected one too many times at the query stage then look into revising your query letter. If agents request your manuscript and then reject you then consider revising your manuscript. Sending you query and manuscript in small batches will allow you to revise for the next bunch. Your main goal right now is to complete your novel because most people don’t. Good luck.
Self-publishing allows you to publish your book according to how you want it done from cover to cover. You also have full ownership of your book, which means that you can opt to publish it in any self-publishing companies around.
Xlibris is one of these self-publishing companies. Its reputation is very good in terms of publishing and marketing services.
Check on this site below for more information on the self-publishing process:
http://selfpublishingjourney.wordpress.com/
I hope you find this answer helpful to you.
Publishing is free unless you do it through a vanity press, but that’s for people that are planning on selling their own work marketed to a very specific group of people. For instance, sometimes College Professors will self publish their own text books through a vanity press and sell the copies to their students. If you’re publishing your own original fiction or poems you’ll want to avoid vanity presses. Unfortunately, recently a lot of vanity presses have been posing as viable alternatives for authors who’ve been having trouble getting their own work published, but its always a scam. You should never be asked to pay to be published.
How much is the overall cost of publishing a book?
What is a breakdown of book publishing cost to shelf price of the book?
ie, % of printing cost, % shipping cost, etc?
I’m looking for info like % of price that goes to author, % of price of distribution, % of editing, typesetting, printing costs, etc.
Out of curiosity, how much would it cost to publish a book?
Nothing like a novel or anything, but like a book of poems. What is the process/steps of getting a book published as well? I’m thinking it will probably cost a lot. Thank you!
Is Xlibris a good book publishing company? I need to know more information about the publishing industry.?
I need t know more about what I am getting myself into. I want to get a good deal with this book cost wise. I dont want to be ripped off but at the same time I want the best of the best. I dont want to just focus on one publsihing company, are there some other good ones out there besides Xlibris??
Where is Tim O’Reilly’s blog post about the cost of book publishing, especially the cost of physical printing?
I read in a forum that Tim O’Reilly wrote a blog post about publishing books, particularly where he explained that the actual cost of printing a book is a relatively small percentage of the overall cost (paying for editors, proofers, typesetters, jacket art, etc.). Where the heck is this blog post?
what is the cost of publishing a book? where can i find a good publicist?
i want to publish my young adult novel, but im not sure how. i want to find a cheap, yet good publisher. i would like to know an average cost of publishing a book and any good publishers. (And is the cost per book or total?)
how much does getting a publisher for a book cost?
I am just wondering overall how much it costs to get a publisher for a book. Im currently in the process of making a book but I need to know how much it would cost to get a publisher and publish a book.
How much does it cost to publish a book,What is self publishing,Will a bank loan me the money for publishing?
Ok so I am writing a novel and I am thinking about publishing and I don’t have millions of dollars so… could you help me?
protecting your idea and publishing a book cost approx?
i want to publish a book can any of you guide me what is the procedure and how much it will cost? i mean did agent ask for advance or they want the profits from the sales if that ever happen…
more over how can i protect my idea and the story or the theme? and is there a site where viewers can rate something you write like professional writers or critics not the whole thing but may be some part of the book?
little help more i am writing a dialogue what is the best way to write it i mean i want to keep it simple but not dead i mean how should i add emotions to the dialogues i don’t want to make it childish though
well fellows thanks for answers and i think aiming high is a good thing i never said i was going to write my book in English cathrl69 we have to start somewhere
where to find critique partners and forums ? i google it but cannot find anything helpful
How much book publishing cost?
I am a writter in Amharic (Ethiopian Language) and Living in seattle, washington area…and I would like to write a 100-200 page of a fiction,,and would like to ask how much it will cost me for 1000 copies,,,Thanks