The Cost of Self-Publishing

If it had been my intent to self-publish A Ghost Chases the Horizon, this endeavor may have been cheaper, though it still would not have been cheap. Regardless, I wanted to release a polished product, and I'm confident I will get my money's worth when the novel is released on October 3.

That money, though. Once I decided to self-publish, I went back and tracked my expenses since the beginning of the project in 2021. Granted, I'm sure I missed something, but I've added a lot of unnecessary items along the way, all in the process of learning what works and what doesn't. I'm good with being transparent about this. Maybe an aspiring author will see this and learn from my mistakes, or devise a more efficient way to go about publishing a professional-looking product. Either way, I hope this helps.

Production Costs

$2,997.93

This is the most required category of the bunch. This is the editing, beta reads (if your beta readers are paid), beta editing, and sensitivity reviews – if applicable. Editing is, and should be, your biggest expense. Getting a professional editor is 75% of the battle in having a polished product. You should not assume that spell check, Grammarly, or AI-powered nonsense will get the job done. You need a classically trained human to get you on the level you need to be.

This expense also includes my ISBN registrations. The price structure for these is kinda silly. You can buy one ISBN for $125 or you could buy 10 for $295. Guess which I picked? Each version of your book needs its own ISBN, so three would be required for this project. I'm already saving money! Plus, I have seven more ISBNs left that I can use for other projects down the road. Not only did I save money on this project, but I also basically got the next two novel projects for free.

Worth noting that a lot of companies like Amazon and Ingram will give you the ISBN for free. But doing so is basically selling your soul to that company. Owning the ISBN outright gives you the control to publish when, where, and how you want. To me, that's worth the money in the end.

Finally, this expense includes my initial press run, for which I budgeted $700. I may go over on this target because I've already spent $180 on pre-release copies that I am not selling. I also decided to publish a hardback version, of which I have not calculated into the formula yet.

Submission Costs

$526.80

If I had decided to self-publish outright, I wouldn't have any of these expenses. I'll remember that next time. This was not paying for my book to be revised, but for the submission materials to be edited and revised. It also includes certain presses that have reading fees during their submission periods. Most reputable places tell you to stay away from those, but times grew desperate. These charges won't be on the spreadsheet of my next novel.

Review Costs

$1,243.00

This is a totally optional/flexible part of the process that I find important in a few ways. It's very difficult to get a review for free (In the Country Dark was fortunate to do so, and its biggest boost came from that one review).

I always utilize Readers' Favorite. For one, as a policy, they don't give less than a four-star review. I've had the fortune of having five-star reviews on the last four books, so I'm basically paying them for my ego at this point. And there's nothing wrong with that. This industry is soul-crushing, and it's worth it to get an automatic win sometimes. The other thing I like about Readers' Favorite is that they always give a great blurb. They also include a summary of the book, which always gives me some direction on how to write my back-page synopsis.

The other review services I could take or leave. I'm experimenting with NetGalley right now. It makes up almost half this budget, but I got 10 reviewers right off the bat with several months of this process to go. Time will tell if they are good reviews or not, but for the moment, it is working as intended.

This category could drop, too, as I have not yet pulled the trigger on The Book Revue and Kirkus. I've not dealt with The Book Revue yet, but Kirkus reviewed In the Country Dark. I had mixed feelings about how it was handled (they focused on petty things and not the actual story) and committed the cardinal sin of saying the story was set in Virginia rather than West Virginia. If some of the outstanding reviews come back negative, I may forgo both of these. In fact, I may only go forward with them if the outstanding reviews come back overwhelmingly positive.

Contest Costs

$264.00

Another optional thing. I have a long list of contests I could enter, but so far I've only sent in to three. Technically five because I have entered it into the West Virginia Writers contest three of the last four years. Interestingly, it won honorable mention the first time, when the book was only about 25% complete. It hasn't placed at all since. It was a finalist for a Maxy Award, too, so it's not exactly striking out in this category. It's just a lot of money to spend on what could be nothing in the end.

Marketing Costs

$600.00 and counting

I haven't begun to scratch the surface of this category. I bought a full-page ad in the Lewis County Factbook, which is the area where the novel is set. That's been it so far, and that's also all I've budgeted for. It's still in the planning phases, and I wouldn't be surprised if the total went up another $1,000.

Total

$5,031.73

And that's the total as of right now. In addition to marketing, it doesn't include the mini book tour coming up in October, nor does it include any printed and mailed materials I sent out to drum up bookstore interest.

The good news is when the book starts to sell, it's just me and Uncle Sam who get to reap the reward. Depending on which channels people buy through, I need to sell between 500 and 800 books to turn a profit. Considering In the Country Dark hit that benchmark, I am confident I at least won't end this project in the hole.

At least by next time, I will have learned my lessons.