Businesses

How much does it cost to publish an E-book

Cost of Self-Publishing

One of the fastest growing trends in the writing profession is authors who are self-publishing their material rather than using the eon old standard publishing companies. Self-publishing was believed to be an insane idea when it first began circulating through the literary world. Most big publishing companies and firms said it would not only fail miserably, but those authors who were bold enough to attempt it may as well self-publish their own obituary for they would be essentially committing literary suicide.

Well amazingly self-publishing is still surviving and authors using it are not diving off cliffs with their trusty typewriters in hand. Instead, many of the authors are wishing this platform would have been available much sooner. Now, they not only can have their work published and begin generating sales within minutes, they are actually earning a majority of the royalties off their book when before they only received an extremely small portion.

Although big publishing firms often cut out advance checks to writers for a book/novel before they have even typed the first word, the firm gets this back – and then some – by allowing the author only a few bucks from the $23.00 retail price set. This practice was acceptable and widely understood by writers because the firm paid for transcriptionist, copying, covers and marketing. The author need only buy their own ink and coffee.

Yet what authors have fallen in love with is the ability to reach more readers through e-books while retaining more control over content, covers and especially the cost of the book itself. The atypical hardback edition of a novel generally sells for $15-$23. Writers using self-publishing can charge $0.99 – $12.00 and essentially earn more money because they get to keep upwards of 75% of the royalties.

New Writers on the Block

One of the biggest impacts that self-publishing has had is with the authors themselves. True, there are still those turtleneck and sport-coat wearing authors sitting before a fireplace sipping bourbon on ice and smoking a pipe while typing out their latest romance novel or chilling thriller. However, thanks to self-publishing costing so little and giving the same platform for anyone, many writers are just your ordinary run-of-the-mill housewife knocking out paragraphs and pages between running errands and cooking supper or pretty much anyone with a laptop and internet connection.

Actual Cost

The cost for publishing an e-book? $ZERO.DOLLARS! That is correct. It will cost you nothing to publish an e-book basically. The only costs involved in self-publishing are your internet service fee and the fees for cover creation if you want a sophisticated eye-catcher cover. These can run you anywhere from $50-$200. Other than that, any further cost of publishing an e-book should be spent on marketing and promotions.

Marketing and promotions are the real key to successfully generating sales of your e-book. You could write the next “Gone with the Wind” yet if nobody knows it is available, it will rarely be found by readers. So at least consider spending $200-$300 on marketing. However, you do not have to spend this on each and every book you self-publish. What you should focus on is marketing YOU. If you start getting your name out there and can begin drawing readers to one of your e-books, and if your writing is good and enjoyable, they will want to check out other work you have written. So spend that marketing money on promoting you, the author.

Set your price in a way that will generate first time sells. If you are James Patterson you could charge $12 and people will be tripping over themselves to buy your book. If you are James Citizen, you might want to consider a more reasonable price of $1.99.

The idea is if you have a decent cover and well written description of your book, and it will benefit the reader in some way, a buck ninety nine ain’t so bad and worth a try. Happy writing!!!!