Publishing a book these days can be easy. What you don’t know is, it can also be easily expensive. Publishing a book can cost you more than you can handle, if you aren’t careful. But first of all, how do you know what constitutes as a ‘cost’. Apart from the money you directly spend, there’s also your effort and the time you take out from your life to write and publish your book. In this article, we will try to help you evaluate how much it will really cost you to publish your book. Once you’ve written the book, you begin to research publishing. While you research publishing, you’ll find that there are some essential stages in the process.
Editing, cover design, type setting, printing and distribution, and sales and promotions basically cover the entire process.
Editing
Cutting corners here will cost you more than it will to edit your book. Editing increases the value of your book manifold, which makes it vital. A poorly edited book, with errors is going to be of no interest to anyone. It will have no purpose.
There are two types of editing, substantive and copy editing. Substantive editing deals with the structure of the book. How it will flow, if chapters need to be reshuffled, if some chunks need to be edited out or added in, all of this is decided during substantive editing. The language and hygiene of the script is taken care of in copy editing. You have to decide whether you want both or just copy editing.
If you cannot decide what kind of editing you need, you can go to a pro. At Notion Press, we have publishing consultants who will help you choose. To contact one of our consultants, just go to our website.
Cover design
A book with a bad or generic cover is not going to be picked up. In this day age of Amazon and flipkart, there are more than thousands of books to choose from. Therefore, a cover that is made by a professional who spends time researching options, your competition and brings expertise to the craft will make a tremendous difference to it. They will also give you multiple options, a luxury you may not have otherwise. However, a good cover does not have to be an expensive one.
Typesetting
In this stage, the interior layout of the book is set in order. It gives the manuscript a shape and makes it ready for printing. You’ll be surprised how it completely transforms the way you book reads and feels. Doing this on your own will take a lot of time and you have to learn a lot of skills to even operate the software used in typesetting. You have to weigh it out here. In the long run, you will be happy if you choose to spend on a typesetter rather than taking it upon yourself to do the interiors of your book.
Printing and Distribution
You don’t get physical copies of your book if you don’t print them and then there’s no question of distribution. While eBooks are all the rage, distribution is all about reaching your target audience. Whether that means more physical copies or eBooks, you have to decide. There’s no cost cutting here. You print a book, you pay for it. You rent a shelf at a store or claim a virtual shelf, you pay for it.
At Notion Press, we completely analyse your book, your market and our experts are always thinking about your potential buyer. So, we will be able to help you choose the number of copies you need and help you pick the platforms for distribution. Traditionally, books are printed and stored in bulk. This costs a lot because you not only pay for printing so many copies, but you also pay for the storage. With Notion Press’ inventory management, the books are printed on demand. This cost efficient method saves money and uses resourceful modern technology. To find out more about printing and distribution costs, just call us.
Promotion and sales
Advertising and marketing alone do not constitute as promotions. It is creating awareness about the existence of your book. Can you imagine selling even one copy of your book if you make no effort to make people aware of its existence?
Marketing begins when you first start writing the book. When you start thinking about who its for, what its about, what its purpose is. You have to start build a base of followers and create a persona for yourself. If you’re really lucky, you will go viral overnight. But it’s very rare and generally not long lasting. A loyal follower base on the internet takes time and a lot of effort. You can even choose to take your readers through your journey as an author. This may seem like a herculean task for someone who is not a book marketing expert.
Like editing, marketing cannot be cut and it really pays if you hire a book marketing expert who not only understands the market, but also guides you throughout the writing and publishing process so that you gain from your investment. Is it a cost if it guarantees returns when its done right? Every single time? There are some essentials in marketing and some add on services that will increase the chances of more sales. To understand the array of services available, just contact one of our book-marketing experts today!
Not DIY
Writing a book, as you fully understand by now, does cost time, effort and money. But it is an investment that pays you back generously when you’re smart about it. It is no longer enough if you put your sweat and blood into writing a book. To stand out and become a successful author, whatever that means to you, you need to add experts to the mix. Publishing is not a small, part time, DIY project.
In terms of how much money you spend, there is a lot of flexibility, depending on how much you can spend, need to spend and what you want from your book.
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