The Cost of Self-Publishing: Can anyone really write a book?

Okay, so I know I’m meant to be continuing on with the Lessons series – and I will! – but recently I’ve been thinking about self-publishing. Surprising, I know! But today I’m thinking a lot about the cost of self-publishing. Scholars have written plenty about the potential cost of self-publishing on the industry side (e.g. here) but there is little specifically about the cost to authors themselves. That’s what research is for though, right?

What a Self-Published Book Needs

Since this whole project is, at its core, a research project, I created an outline for the steps I needed to take in self-publishing Shifting Sands (second wave here, explanation of current status here). This outline was drawn from inductive content analysis, examining online advice articles for self-publishing authors looking to build their audience. Basically, I looked at a whole bunch of online articles, going through them to see what steps they advised. I then took the top 20 steps recommended that I could control* as my template to follow in self-publishing. This gave me the following needs for my self-published book:

General/other social media	Facebook	Author Blog/Website	Twitter
Mailing List	Nice Cover	Blogging	Publish through Amazon
Engage Established Forums/Communities	Guest Blogging/Interviews	Metadata/Keywords	Public Appearance
Sharing true self	Free Copy	Target Audience	Linkbacks
Goodreads	Author Branding	Video Content or Book Trailer	KDP Select

The interesting thing about this table is that all of this can be done for free. It’s relatively easy to set up a free website, put links in your social media or email signature, get your books up on Goodreads, and set up social media accounts. And there’s plenty of free software to help make book covers if you’ve got an eye for design. Same for video content. You can, in theory, write and self-publish a book for free and that’s often what is celebrated about self-publishing.

Shifting Sands is a prime example of this. It basically had no budget and, issues with my plans aside, everything from this list was doable. It took me out of my comfort zone for many things – I’m not a graphic designer, nor a filmmaker for example – but the challenge was fulfilling. I’m a poor student and have no money so did this as cheaply as I could. But would I do the same in future?

Necessary Costs of Self-Publishing

You can 100% self-publish for free if you wish but that isn’t necessarily the best plan. Most of us just don’t have all the skills needed to be successful and, as this article suggests, it’s not unusual to spend £500-£1200 in self-publishing. That’s not even including marketing! As I said above, you can do many of these things for cheap or free, but it’s wise to consider which areas are worth investing in.

Author Website

This is the area I paid most for, in part because I could see the long-term value beyond this project of doing so. I could, if I so chose, keep this website long after I’ve finished my PhD. There are plenty of ways to get a free website, however, if you’re willing to have a less specific domain name. WordPress, Squarespace, etc. They all work.

Overall, I’m happy with the decision to pay for the domain but, if I had the money, I’d possibly get a website designer in future. I want to be better at website design than I actually am.

Cover

I made the Shifting Sands covers myself by doing a LOT of research, GIMP studio, and editing pictures from my time in Australia. I got Pinterest for the exclusive purpose of gathering images of book covers I liked. Apparently I have quite simple tastes, which I guess is reflected in the covers I made. I’m pretty proud of what I did but this is definitely an area where I think hiring someone to do it for me might have been better. It was a steep learning curve with imperfect results, though free is obviously still attractive.

There are, from my research, some good options for hiring someone else. A skilled cover artist seems like a worthwhile cost in self-publishing given the power of the cover to attract readers. These can be found through their websites and social media, but there are also many on freelancing websites which could be a cheaper option. Or, if you want something cheaper with less waiting, there are a number of sites where you can buy and personalise ready-made covers.

Editing

While it doesn’t appear in the top 20 things to do when self-publishing, good editing/formatting was the next biggest thing. Badly edited books are a self-publishing stereotype which, I imagine, is down to the fact that it’s really hard to edit your own work. You know what you meant! I edited Shifting Sands myself and, not gonna lie, I’m constantly worried that I didn’t do a good enough job. I deliberated for ages over whether I would pay for copyediting, sensitivity reading, formatting, etc, and the question of whether I should have done so still circles my head. If I were to do this again, I would absolutely take this as just a cost of self-publishing. It’s worth it in my eyes.

As with covers, there are plenty of editing services to be found on websites and freelancing sites. I know that if you search Twitter, it’s easy to find people as well. If, however, you’re going down the cheapest route, there are a few options to help. First, use some form of read aloud service. If you’re writing in Word, it’s built in and can really help catch those errors your eyes skim over. After that, there are countless editing programs you can either use online or download. The first one I used ran a trial for £1 that let me compare my writing to books in the genre, catch over-used words (like ‘just’ and ‘eyes’). I also found another that was free and helped me catch a few more repetitions and grammar errors. Still not perfect, but helpful. I’m definitely going to use it when editing my dissertation!

Marketing

And finally, I think marketing is the biggest hidden cost of self-publishing. It didn’t appear in the top 20 but from what I’m seeing, it’s probably a necessary cost to factor in if you actually want to make money. Amazon, Goodreads, and Facebook (among others) all have options for ads but holy hell some of these are expensive. I’d love to hear from other authors who have used these methods to find out if they’re worth the cost! I know I’ve caved and clicked on Facebook links before. Paying influencers/reviewers is a huge debate but also a possible cost. And if you want to enter any awards, most cost money. All marketing to raise your profile, but all so costly.

Beyond this, there are a lot of marketing things that appear free but do have genuine hidden costs. So many advice articles suggested having the first book in a series free, for example. This is a great idea, for sure – most sales of Shifting Sands take place when it’s free – and it could hook readers in to a series, but it does mean taking a loss. All the hours of work on that book were all for free. Then there’s social media, which is endlessly time-consuming. It’s necessary to build your community but doesn’t always pay off for the mental strain and exhaustion it causes. Honestly, I think if I had all the money to do it, I would pay someone else to run my marketing and make social media voluntary. Definitely not something I can afford just now though!

Is the cost of self-publishing worth it?

Honestly, I think this is a judgement call. For some authors, the independence self-publishing gives them is well-worth the costs. Especially as some of these things are creeping into the domains of those traditionally published authors anyway, like the need to maintain a social media presence. There is a real joy that comes with doing it all yourself, stretching and learning new skills. But it can be tiring and expensive if you don’t think carefully about the decisions you’re making.

I won’t pretend that I wouldn’t love to try traditional publishing one day. I went through the querying stage with my first book when I was in my early teens but haven’t tried again since then. It would be interesting to compare the processes. I would, however, happily continue to self-publish. There are some fun ideas I’d love to just churn out. I also have other, more experimental plans that I want to explore some of the changes in publishing that are happening. Patreon, anyone?