With self-publishing, you support your work financially to ensure its success. The reason you do this is because, as a self-publisher, you are also a business owner, and creating a quality and professional product allows you to reap more financial return later.
There are two types of costs associated with self-publishing a book: intangible (your time and effort) and tangible (the money part). Here we’ll focus on the tangible: how much money it takes to self-publish your book.
Editing and Design
Professional editing and design are necessary upfront costs if those particular skills are not in your wheelhouse. Editing and design can cost as much as you’re willing to pay, which isn’t to say either needs to be beyond your means to be good. However, both do need to be good in order for your book to sell, so be sure to include these when planning your upfront publishing costs.
Expect the cost of a developmental edit to be a little higher than copyediting, but know that it's well worth it if you hire the right editor. Design costs will also vary depending on the professional designer you hire. The cost can run anywhere from $500 up to $2,000 for book cover design, and an additional cost for interior design, but again, these are costs that are an investment in your book. Your book cover is your book's first impression, and the interior is what makes for an enjoyable reading experience.
IngramSpark publishers receive discounts with many professionals, vetted by IngramSpark, so be sure to check that out if you’re in need of editing and/or design help.
The only expense for the publication of. your books is purchasing your ISBN. We recommend you purchase your own ISBNs if you decide to self-publish. Owning your own ISBN means when a library or retailer decides to carry your book, you are listed as the publisher. The ISBN designates who owns/publishes the book. If you acquire an ISBN for free, the publisher listed is whoever purchased the ISBN, not your own publishing imprint. Owning your own ISBN means being recognized as the owner of your work and a publisher in your own right.
Traditional publishers also recognize the importance of owning the ISBN associated with a book. If they were to acquire your self-published book, they would assign it a new ISBN and sell it under their imprint. Conversely, if the rights of your traditionally published book revert to you, you'll want to assign that book a new ISBN identifying yourself as the owner/publisher. We’ll talk more about ISBNs in Chapter 7 of this course.
Book Marketing
Marketing your book is another leg on your indie publishing journey and can be one of the expenses associated with it as well. You can employ grassroots book marketing efforts over a period of time, at your discretion and preference, and can involve more intangible costs than actual dollars if you choose. Some grassroots book marketing could involve reaching out to influencers and book reviewers to help spread the word, blogging, or participating on social media. However, you may consider various print, social, and online advertising opportunities or you could get book marketing assistance from experts in the field, all of which come with a price tag.
Many authors, traditionally published or self-published, end up doing a great deal of their own book marketing, so regardless of how you publish, realize marketing is going to be a part of your role as author. Unless you’re a celebrity, you shouldn’t expect significant book sales without marketing, because it’s difficult for people to know to buy a book if no one ever told them about it in the first place.
Fees Associated with Printing
As a self-publisher, you will pay to print copies of your book that you order to sell directly through your author website, at author events, etc. For orders of your book that you intend to sell directly, you will recoup your print costs when you sell the book to someone else. You may also print copies of your own book to use for marketing and promotional purposes, including social media giveaways, to send to reviewers or influencers for consideration, or to give as gifts to those who have supported your writing all along.
The cost of printing is often thought to be an expensive drawback to independent publishing, but a reliable publishing service can limit this by allowing you some control of your pricing and publishing options. Print-on-demand services take the sting out of printing costs. Because of advancements in print-on-demand technology, the quality of self-published books is equal to that of traditionally published books, allowing you to publish in paperback or hardcover (including with jackets), choose from dozens of trim sizes, and select different color and binding options. If a retailer or reader can tell your book is self-published, it shouldn’t be because of the printer you used to produce it.
The cost to print your book depends on the production specifications you choose. Books with color interiors cost more to produce than those in black-and-white. Books with larger trim sizes cost more than smaller books. Books with more pages cost more than books with less, and hardcovers cost more than paperbacks. All of these decisions are up to you, as the publisher, and determine how much your print and ship costs will be.
Use IngramSpark’s print and ship calculator to enter your print book’s production specifications and see what your ideal book will cost to print and ship.
Instead of being forced to pay for 500 copies of your book in advance, print on demand allows you to print only what you sell or personally order, from one copy to several thousand. This means lower overhead cost, no storage fees, and no risk of being stuck with unsold inventory claiming money or taking up space.
Costs Associated with Distribution
Any fully set up title that has been priced globally, approved, and enabled for distribution by the publisher through his or her IngramSpark account is made available for order to Ingram’s over 40,000 retail and library partners, worldwide. There is no additional charge for distribution service with IngramSpark.
Many physical retailers expect a discount when they purchase books, called a wholesale discount. They receive this discount from traditional publishers with whom they do business and expect to receive it from savvy self-publishers as well. This discount represents the profit in selling your book for both the store and Ingram. The traditional wholesale discount most publishers choose to offer booksellers is 55%, because it ensures retailers receive the standard trade discount they are used to. You have the option of offering a wholesale discount anywhere between 40-55% from your IngramSpark account.
Many booksellers also operate on a returnable basis, meaning if their bookstore doesn’t sell the copy of your book they purchased from Ingram, they will expect to be able to return that unsold book for a refund from you, the publisher. The discount you offer and the returnability of your book is up to your discretion, but anything less than 55% may limit your distribution to certain retailers.
Your publisher earnings on every print book sale depend on your book’s production specifications (trim size, color or black-and-white, etc.), which determine your print cost, and the list price and wholesale discount you set.
You can see how much you’ll earn for every print sale of your book when you use IngramSpark’s publisher compensation calculator.
We recommend enabling your book for distribution, providing the standard 55% wholesale discount, making your book returnable, and providing global pricing to make sure it is available to as many sales channels as possible. Not all readers shop on Amazon. Not all readers shop at independent bookstores. And not all of your readers will even be in your home country. In general, more people will walk into a bookstore or search for a book like yours online than may come across your author website or attend an author event you host. This is why it’s important to enable your book for distribution and not rely on your own direct sales alone. For your book to receive as much exposure as possible, be sure you consider setting your wholesale discount and return status for the physical retail market so as not to limit the scope of your potential readership or sales. Readers come with all kinds of reading preferences, so make sure your book is as widely available as possible.
All costs associated with publishing a quality book should be considered an investment. The costs above are what make your book professional. As the publisher, the choices you make regarding all of the above are ultimately up to you. The success your book can achieve will come from some combination of the above to create a professional product with professional editing, design, marketing, printing, and distribution.
This chapter contains content from the following post on the IngramSpark blog:
"How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book?" by IngramSpark
