(TL;DR version: It’s less than P40,000.)
How much does it really cost to self-publish a book?
Recently, there’s been a bit of buzz around self-publishing practices here in the Philippines. Every once in a while, various conversations about the different issues surrounding self-publishing (quality of work, ~legitimacy, and costs, to name a few) arise in different social media platforms, and I want to somehow contribute to that through this blog, but for now, let’s focus on one aspect: COST.
I remember someone from a big book event last year who very specifically asked us how much money we spent to publish ONE BOOK. And I also remember the shock on her face when I blurted out some rough estimates (less than P20,000), which made me wonder if she’d spent more, or was about to.
Now before we go any further, let me be clear: I cannot speak for every self-published author out there. Everything I’ve written here is based on actual costs that I have personally spent publishing my books in the last nine years. Enumerated below are several items I usually budget for when I plan on releasing a book, including a price range for each.
Ready? Here we go:
EDITING
P10,000 – P12,000
This includes line editing and developmental editing, which to me are non-negotiables. If you wanna make sure your story is molded into its very best version before release, YOU NEED A GOOD EDITOR. (I’ll write another blog post about what I think a good editor has, but for now…back to this topic.)
Some editors charge by total number of words, which means the higher your word count, the more expensive the cost will be. However, an editor may also charge a higher fee if they feel like a lot of work is needed to whip your book into shape. It could be because a manuscript is technically very messy (too many grammatical or spelling mistakes), or because the story just does not work. Depending on your agreement with your editor, the fees can cover a few editing passes as well as proofreading. However, I will advise that you get someone else to proofread for you.
PROOFREADING
P2,000
Your editor may have already read your manuscript more than ten times by the time you’re almost ready to bring a book out to the world, so it helps to get a pair of fresh eyes on your manuscript to ensure there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes. My proofreader charges based on number of words, but others may have a different way of charging for their service. Ask before you hire someone to do this for you so the terms are clear.
BETA READING
FREE
I am blessed to be around a community of people who are willing to beta read my work for free, and also know what they’re doing. There are experienced beta/sensitivity readers out there who may charge a fee to review your work, and I advise that you employ them if you’re a beginner, or have written some sensitive things in your manuscript that you feel need a more critical eye. Another helpful tip is to get a beta reader who actually reads your genre. Well-versed genre readers know what good and bad writing in that genre looks like, so their perspective will be very helpful.
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY
P5,000-8,000
If you want to set up a photo shoot for your cover/s, this is the most recent rate for a three-hour shoot at a photo studio that involves four cover models. Take note that this is only what I paid. Costs were shared with three other authors, and we shot a total of twelve sets of covers. This rate also doesn’t cover photographer fees—our photographer took photos for her own books as payment for her service.
COVER PHOTOS
P1,000-3,500
Sometimes you don’t need to book a whole photo shoot to get that perfect cover. You can simply buy rights to use certain photos for your book cover as well. In #RomanceClass we’ve bought rights to use friends’ pre-nup photos for our covers, and we also have an existing catalog of photos on our #RomanceClass Covers Instagram account. If you have a PRO account on Canva, there are a lot of stock photos there that you can choose from too. The only downside to these stock photos is that you don’t have exclusive use of them, so it’s possible that your chosen photo could appear in other forms of visual media.
COVER DESIGN
P5,000-P7,000
Because I’m very particular with covers, I usually already have a vision in mind when I ask my cover designer to create a book cover for me. If you don’t have a vision yet for your cover, a designer usually creates two to three design studies or options for you to choose from. This process can take some time depending on how satisfied you are with the options, and the back-and-forth could also increase the total cost you’re paying your designer. Before agreeing to pay for a cover design package, make sure your contract or agreement is clear about the deliverables. Are you getting a few editing rounds? Does the package include print cover design, or just ebook? Will you be receiving the raw files on top of the publish-ready files? My contracts include all three.
ILLUSTRATION
P2,500-P5,000
This rate depends on the number of elements you want illustrated (I use these for covers, and sometimes, merch) and how complicated you want them to be. I’ve only ever worked with Filipino artists for now, so I can’t tell you anything about the rates of non-PH based artists. When you’re speaking to commission an artist for work, be clear if you’re using their artwork commercially. Costs vary for commercial and non-commercial use of artwork. Be honest. Don’t pay for non-commercial use artwork and start selling items with it printed on. That’s unethical.
MARKETING
FREE (Sort of)
I don’t spend anything for marketing if you’re talking ads and similar stuff. (I’ve been thinking about it lately but I couldn’t get my CC to work, lol. Maybe it’s a sign I shouldn’t pay for ads at all. :P) I design all my marketing stuff on Canva, though, and I pay somewhere between P500-P700 quarterly for a PRO team account.
I only use social media for marketing at the moment. You will find my book marketing posts on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Facebook.
PUBLISHING ON ONLINE PLATFORMS
FREE
As of this writing, my books are published on Amazon, Apple Books, B&N, Everand, Google Books, Overdrive, and many more online reading platforms. There’s NO FEE to publish through these platforms, and depending on the price you set for your books, you get to choose a royalty plan that you want. For example, Amazon has a 35% and 70% royalty plan. All my books priced $2.99 and up are eligible for 70% royalty per book sold. For everything below $2.99, I get 35%. You can read more about that here.
FAQ: Do I need to buy an ISBN before I can publish on Amazon?
No, you don’t.
If you don’t have an ISBN, Amazon will provide one for your print editions, absolutely FREE. If you’re publishing eBooks, Amazon assigns an ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number), which is all you need to get your books on the platform. You may not use the Amazon ISBN and ASIN for other non-Amazon editions of your book, however. If you’re looking to publish on other online platforms (Apple Books, Google Play Books, Everand, etc.), check out PublishDrive, Smashwords, and Draft2Digital. They provide ISBNs and unique identifiers for books published through their websites as well.
PRINTING
UP TO YOU
The beauty of self-publishing is you get to decide how many copies you can have printed at any point. Depending on your agreement with your choice of printer, you can have as little as five to ten copies printed at a time. This is perfect for me because 1) I don’t have a lot of space here at home to keep stocks, and; 2) I don’t sell books by the hundreds. I only have a batch of books printed when I need to stock up for events or the places where I have my books consigned, or if people place orders.
To give you an idea, P5,000 can get me up to 20 paperback copies of a book that’s around 200 pages long.
In summary…
All things considered, publishing ONE title hasn’t cost me anything over P40,000 yet. Variables have changed from book to book (i.e., sometimes I book photo shoots for covers, sometimes I just buy photos or commission illustrations), so my spend for each title is different.
Feel free to use this blog post as a guide when you’re looking for your book team, but please don’t treat it as your only point of reference. I am only one author, and my experiences will definitely be different from other self-published authors out there. Before diving into the world of self-publishing, it will help to do your own research so you can make smart choices and avoid getting roped into into sketchy contracts that are ultimately nothing but cash grabs disguised as mentoring programs. (Believe me…there are A LOT of them out there, so be careful!)
Good luck on your self-publishing journey!
