Do This Before You Spend a Cent on Publishing
Yesterday a client asked: how much does it cost to self-publish?
That answer is as simple as the answer to: how long is a chapter?
In other words, the answer isn’t simple. Essentially, your budget determines how much money you’re going to spend on self-publishing. Before you spend a single penny on publishing your own book, you have to make a budget plan.
Boring, right? It may be, but if you’re going to self-publish, then congratulations, you have to think like a business owner. And that means budget analysis.
Creating a publishing budget is something that you can do whether you plan to be indie or traditionally published. After all, making paper copies of manuscripts and mailing them to agents and editors still costs money!
The Toronto Star reported that in a survey of Canadian authors, the average annual income from royalties was $9380 (2018). Since that’s not enough to buy a luxury yacht, knowing how to budget is essential for all writers and authors.
Follow These Five Steps to Create Your Publishing Budget
- Calculate how much you have available right now
How much money do you have to spend right now on editing, artwork, promotion, and marketing AFTER you’ve paid your necessary bills? The 50/30/20 rule of thumb is an excellent guide. No more than 30% of your current income is applied to your “wants.” 50% of your current income is for “needs” (like housing and food). The remaining 20% is for your savings and debt repayments. If you wish to be cautious itemize publishing into “wants.” - Calculate the annual cost of your platform
Even though you can publish on a digital platform for free, you have to spend some money to be taken seriously as an author. This means that you have to have a platform, or some way to recruit, reach, and retain your audience. Web hosting and several social media sites are free, as are some third-party email service providers. If, however, you want to do retail through some of these, there’s going to be a fee. - Calculate your “per service” costs
Services such as graphic design for book covers, editing, and some kinds of promotion and marketing have one-time or short contract user fees. If you self-publish, you absolutely have to find the editor, artist, and PR/marketing team that will help you showcase your ideas. Traditional publishing covers this cost, but that comes at the expense of your royalty. Also, getting your book edited before you submit to an agent or publisher may give you the advantage that gets your manuscript off the slush pile. There is a wide range of fee-for-services for book publishing! - Do your market research before you publish
The digital landscape has changed the way books are priced and marketed. Before you count the flood of income you expect for your book, survey your target market and ask them how much they’d be willing to pay. Likewise, research your competition and see how much similar books are selling for, and who is selling them. Do your anticipated expenses balance out with your target income? - Keep incidental costs in mind
There’s more to being an author than writing. If you run a giveaway, you need to rent a post-office box or business shipping address. Each book you mail requires packaging and shipping costs. Do you plan on having bookmarks, postcards, business cards, posters, or other advertising materials? In order to sell books at a convention, you’ll may to buy the table (plus items for running a vendor table), accommodation at the convention, and accommodation to and from the con.
Budgeting Apps and More
If you’re seeing red before you start crunching numbers because numbers are just not your thing, you may prefer to use a budgeting app to help you keep track of everything. MoneyUnder30.com lists several budgeting tools with a wide variety of applications.
Remember, you don’t have to pay for all of your author branding up front. If you can’t afford to do a convention right off the bat, then don’t. Seek out smaller venues with free vendor tables. Use a free email service provider like MailChimp if your hard-earned dollars have to pay for your roof instead of your newsletter.
When you self-publish, you have complete control – and complete responsibility – over where the money goes.
If you’re going to claim your writing as a business instead of a hobby, keep track of everything, including original receipts. When you’re ready, seek out help from a trustworthy accountant who won’t let you claim your cat as an employee.
Have More Questions?
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