David dreamed of writing a book about the latest trends in his field. He had some new angles to present that other authors hadn’t covered. To fulfill that dream, he spent two years writing the manuscript. He looked forward to the additional revenue stream this book could produce.
After he
completed the draft, a colleague advised him to get an editor. He did so, even
though, at $4,200, it was more expensive than he had expected. When the editor
told him that cover design, typesetting, and proofreading were the next steps, requiring
an investment of around another $5,000-$6,000, he was taken aback.
The editor
suggested that he publish his work as an e-book, which could be formatted for a
very low cost, but David didn’t want an e-book. He wanted physical copies to
hand out to clients and potential clients and to make himself a thought leader
in his niche.
As a result, he
abandoned the idea of self-publishing, feeling that he had invested too much
already. And since he didn’t intend to write another book and had no knowledge about
seeking out a traditional publisher, his dream of an additional revenue stream
was crushed.
Have you found
yourself in David’s shoes?
Amazon and
other platforms have made self-publishing appealing to many writers for both
fiction and nonfiction. No more waiting for years while your manuscript makes
the rounds of agents and publishers.
Yes, you can upload
your files for free, but many writers overlook the “hidden” costs of bringing a
book to market. As a result, they stop in the middle of the process because
they don’t have or want to spend the money needed to complete it—costs they
wouldn’t incur if they published traditionally.
To
be financially successful, a self-published book, whether fiction or
non-fiction, must look like it came from a New York house. But before
considering self-publishing, it’s necessary to be aware of the financial
investment involved, which will hopefully be recouped with proper marketing.
Requirements
Three types of professionals
are required to produce a quality book:
1. Editor(s)
2. Cover designer
3. Typesetter
Editor(s)
The editorial phase is one most self-publishers overlook. Or they rely on programs like Grammarly and ProWriting Aid, thinking that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are the only things that need review.
In reality, a book needs thorough editing. There are several levels:
Developmental editing: A developmental edit concerns the big picture. It addresses structure, organization, focus on the intended audience, logical flow, coherence of thought, and content.
Content Editing: Content editing is sometimes classified as the same as developmental editing, since it may include removal of obsolete information or repetitious material or addition of information that has been left out. It can also take into account the accuracy of the content itself and the claims made. Content errors can destroy your credibility!
Line Editing: This focuses on style, sentence structure, clarity, and flow to ensure easy readability.
Copy Editing: Now we get to the nitty-gritty of checking for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and formatting.
Proofreading: Don’t skip this step! Once the book is typeset, a review for any remaining errors, typos, and inconsistencies is in order. Nothing is worse for a reader than to wade through grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting mistakes.
Do you need all these levels? Maybe. The average cost to edit a 250-page book is $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the type of edit and the complexity of the material. At the very least, though, your book needs a copy edit and a proofread. This definitely can fall into the $3,000-$5,000 range or more, depending on your content. Be prepared to pay this if you hope to publish a quality book that will make an impact.
One way to save money is to have a colleague act as your content editor. That person should be an expert in your field or genre who can provide the required perspective on the accuracy of your work. Ideally, there may be some way you can help this person, so, if possible, try to create a reciprocal arrangement. You can do the same for the copyeditor and the proofreader.
Cover Designer
Remember the old saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? It’s bad advice when it comes to attracting readers. They DO judge books by their covers. This is especially true for fiction. You may have the greatest content or story ever written, but if the cover is a dud, the book won’t sell.
Too many new authors I’ve come across lately think all they need to do is produce a home-grown cover on a program like Canva. If there ever were a necessary place to spend your dollars, this is it.
Professional cover designers consider the book's genre/field, target audience, overall tone, the typography and its size and placement, imagery, color palette and color saturation, and layout. If you want your cover to be memorable and attract readers, don’t create it yourself unless you’re a graphics designer.
Typesetting
This is another area that requires substantial investment. For a 250-page book, expect to pay around $2,500. It can be more for complex text that takes several review cycles.
The interior layout of your book needs to look professional, too. For print versions, the items to consider are the following:
· font selection
· headers and footers
· chapter title design
· spacing between lines
· margin settings
· placement of images
· elimination of widows and orphans (one line of a paragraph left by itself at the bottom or top of a page)
· word stacks (the same word appears one above the other)
· rivers (a visible empty streak appearing diagonally across a page)
In addition,
each page must terminate on the same line except for chapter endings.
If your book doesn’t demonstrate a
professional level of typesetting, the readers may not notice, but reviewers
will.
Typesetting is a time-consuming process that requires the right software, such as Microsoft Publisher or InDesign, which are page layout programs that allow for proportional spacing. Word processing programs like Microsoft Word do not allow for proportional spacing; therefore, you will find gaps between words if they don’t fit properly on a line. In addition, they are unstable for any text that includes graphics unless you know how to anchor them to the page properly, and this is a high-level skill.
Author Copies
If you do any speaking engagements, book signings, trade shows, or other in-person events, you’ll need copies of your book to sell to attendees. While you’ll receive an author discount from Amazon, for example, this is yet another cost you’ll have to incur.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is simple: If you don’t have the finances to see the project through to the end, save yourself the frustration of having spent so much time writing only to realize you can’t or don’t want to go further.
On the other hand, if you have a quality-looking book that your target audience needs, you can earn your investment back over time with proper marketing, much of which you can do for free. Some free strategies are social media, article and email marketing, guest podcasting, speaking engagements, book signings, blogging and guest blogging, and videos. Yes, this can be time-consuming but well worth it if you believe your book will make an impact.
