Are you ready to put your $$$ where your book is?
Bloomberg recently ran a slideshow on the “real” costs of “self” (or indie) publishing, has been syndicated by several other US newspapers. But are those “costs” really the “real” costs of indie publishing? I say NO! In no way, shape or form are they the “real” costs!
I totalled up the costs suggested in the slideshow… and they are very unrealistic for the first time indie publisher for their first foray into the independent publishing world. As it’s a US website, I’m making an educated assumption that the costs are in US dollars. So let’s have a look at the total:
Editing $1,460.00
Cover $200.00
Interior $1,400.00
Printing (1,300 copies of a 240 page book) $8,800.00
Software – Kindle, Nook and iBook formatting $39.00
ISBN (cost of 1 ISBN for US residents) $125.00
Review – Kirkus indie review $550.00
Website $2,300.00
Business cards $45.00
Press release printing $100.00
Facebook advertisement $300.00
Direct mail $1,000.00
Distribution set up(via Independent Publishers Group,
a US distributor – plus an ongoing 30% of the list
price per book sold) $200.00
Total $16,519.00
Yep, that’s US$16,519.00! Or around AU$15,876.02 at the Australian/US dollar exchange rates on 17 March 2013. There is no way I would, could or should spend the kind of money suggested on a single book: unless I had a rich widowed childless “Great–Aunt Martha” who’d left me bucket loads of cash that she’d kept stuffed under her mattress.
There are alternatives that an independent publisher can, and should, take in terms getting a book ready for press. This is also mentioned, and suggested, by Julie Dawson, the owner of another small independent press Bards and Sages. I’ve known Ms Dawson for a number of years through independent publishing circles and have used her marketing services. Ms Dawson indicated in a post on Gather that, for her, the typical cost to get a project going, from start to finish, runs from $300 to $500. And she’s right, you don’t have to spend exorbitant sums of money.
If you’re intending to establish your own independent press, there are you can spend dollars left, right and centre on professional products to start your business. And spend more than the costs mentioned above.
For example, the cost of latest package from Adobe of the most respected and professional publishing software (in my view, and what most of the commercial “Big 5” publishers would use) starts at AU$2,172.01. Yet, if your book is a “straight text” book (no images or tables), and you’re prepared to put in the “grunt” work in learning how to prepare your interior so that your printer can print it as professionally as possible, you could use open source free software equivalents or straight up word–processing software. But you have to account for your
There are some things I would not and do not and do not skimp on as a publisher: editing for one, cover art for another. The price of a good freelance editor can run up to around $1,500. If you can’t draw or prepare images to save your life, then $200 for a professional illustrator is a bargain. The best illustrators could and would charge a couple of thousand dollars for professionally prepared cover art work. An alternative is obtaining royalty free stock images for as low as $20, so long as you’re prepared to learn how to format it right so that your printer can print it.
A website doesn’t need to cost $2,300, just for the initial design. And don’t forget there are ongoing hosting costs if you choose to register a domain name and get a hosting package (from between $20 and $50 a year). Or you could choose to set up a free website/blog via WordPress or Blogger.
Also, in this day and age, digital printing technology means that an indie publisher no longer has to spend large sums of money to get books printed, and then pay the cost to have them warehoused.
And the costs of ISBNs vary from country to country (depending on the “nationality” of the ISBN agency issuing the ISBN) – for example, the cost of an initial block of 10 ISBNs from the Australian ISBN Agency is around $140 (for initial registration as a publisher and your first block of 10 ISBNs) and $84 for every block of 10 ISBNs thereafter and ISBNs are free in New Zealand and Canada.
I’ve found that initial costs for publication can range from $3,000 to $5000. Others have found it can be from $300 to $500. You really have to find good professionals who can support you for a realistic price.
So, the question is, if you want to be a publisher, do you know what it will REALLY costs? And the answer is you have to do your research first, and find good professionals who can support you for a realistic price where you can’t do it yourself.
So, are you ready to put your emotions and your $$$ where your book is?