Is self-publishing expensive?
Actually, publishing a book is relatively inexpensive today. Many self-publishing options are available to authors. It all depends on how much assistance you want with publishing. If you want to have help, you may work with a service company like SelfPublishing.com. If you think you can do everything yourself, you can work with Amazon KDP.
The traditional wisdom is that the first copy of your book will cost more than additional copies. This is due to a publisher’s setup costs. Remember, a publisher is a manufacturer of books. They have to set-up the equipment to print your book. This takes materials and labor. The more copies you print, the less costly the production run will be and your cost-per-copy will be lower. For example, if you print 100 copies, your cost will be higher per copy than had you printed 1,000 copies. The reason is because the fixed set-up cost is spread across more copies.
Another thing to consider if whether you are printing in black-and-white or in color. Obviously, color will be more expensive. For example, if you want to publish an exciting vampire novel, your book will most likely be black-and-white. But if you want to publish a children’s book or a coffee table book, you will likely be using color images in addition to text. Color images will cost more than an all text book.
Full-Service
If you work with a self-publishing company like SelfPublishing.com, you will need to buy a minimum quantity of around 100 copies of your book. For a 400 page book in black-and-white, with a four color cover, you’re looking at spending about $1,000 or $10 per copy. If you increase your quantity to 1,000 books, you’re looking at $4,000 or about $4 per copy. That’s awesome considering that you can create a list price of $16 for bookstores and sell to them at $8 per copy. That’s a 50% profit margin, earning you $4 per copy. If you have the financial resources (or a credit card), have distribution channels (SelfPublishing.com works with Thor Distribution to help you with this) and are serious about being in business for yourself, this can be a good option for you. It costs a little bit, but could be beneficial to you.
Print On Demand
If you work with Amazon KDP you can use their print-on-demand publishing service CreateSpace. A print-on-demand publisher is just like it sounds. They print a book only when they receive an order. This may be a good option for authors who are just starting out or who want to self-distribute their books. My wife and I used this method as we did not have a lot of money to start with. Needless to say, this method involves the most work; mostly in marketing your book. By using a print-on-demand service, you can publish the quantity of books you want at the same cost. There is no discount for larger print runs. You pay the same price per copy no matter how many copies you buy.
With both options, self-publishing often means you will be responsible for developing your own distribution channels. No one loves your book more than you do, and so you will need to sell your book to others. If you use a service like SelfPublishing.com, you will have access to Thor Distribution who can help you with distributing your book to bookstores across the country. If you work with Amazon KDP and CreateSpace, you can sell through the Amazon.com store. We use this method as one of our sales channels for selling New Breed (click the link to see an example). We also have relationships with bookstores and Barnes & Nobles. In a future post, I’ll share with you how to develop relationships with bookstores.
Self-publishing can be a viable option for authors who want to see their book in print or digital copy. It can be very rewarding to see your novel or photography book sell dozens or thousands of copies. Whether you are an author who needs a full-service option like SelfPublishing.com or a print-on-demand service like Amazon CreateSpace, you can be a published author!
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