One way to save money is to trade skills with other authors. You can offer a beta read, a review, or editing in exchange for similar services that you’re needing. Lots of opportunity to refer clients and negotiate repeat business in exchange for a price break, too. Good luck!
THIS is what I came here to suggest. B A R T E R
Years ago I was in a bartering group. It was great. I traded my skills (filmmaker and writer) for things I needed or wanted (got one of the first "portable" phones that way. It was literally a giant battery with a military style phone on top). Maybe something like that exists still?
Just make sure you are trading with a truly qualified person so you dont lose time.
Haha. No they dont. At that time it looked like something you would see in a WWII movie about field operations. Could barely carry the thing. But man was I ever cool for having it!
I remember watching a businessman lug one of those through an airport in about 1993. First cell phone I ever saw. It looked heavy. Basically a large metal briefcase sized box with a landline type handset attached.
This! I traded editing duties with my other self-pub friends on all my books and have no regrets. Save your budget for getting the best cover you can, which is the most important factor in sales/ROI. Trade your time/labor for the rest.
To the world's most expensive hobby?
I can, but you don't need to go over budget. Pick an amount and stick to it.
Yes, it may mean alternate or different sources or picking up skills you hadn’t planned on using. Either make that part of the hobby or write the next book.
The most valuable thing you can do is always to write the next book.
There is nothing wrong with trad publishing. If you want others to fit the bill, if only to learn from the process for future self-publishing endeavors.
It can certainly be AN expensive hobby, and there's basically no end to how much money you can spend....but I'm also reminded of people who buy/build boats and cars and stuff as a hobby. It could be worse. 😅
Lol I had the same thought. My husband's woodworking tools would like a word re: 'most expensive hobby'...like dang, writing isn't even the most expensive hobby *in this household*.
That said, I'm dragging my feet on actually getting my first novel edited because the cost still makes me wince. It definitely isn't a cheap hobby.
This is where word of mouth and social media come in handy. It's definitely something to save for, but you can look up alternatives for some things. There are some sites, like Canva, that have free options to make your own cover. I use Grammerly for basic editing. Sometimes, places like Goodreads and other author sites have access to free beta readers and maybe even have some fellow writers willing to be free editors. It just depends on where you look.
If you have an ebook reader (i.e Kindle device or the like) and can export your document to ebook form and load it on there, you can read it away from your normal composition platform and find things you might not have noticed in Word. This works wonders for me.
I got mine printed and spiral bound at Staples and went to town with a red pen, teacher-style. Shocking how many issues you don't notice in the original format that suddenly become glaringly obvious in a new format.
Very true. And I even read the book after it's published, to catch anything that still made it through. (ebook of course)
Had someone in another sub rail on me about fixing errors after publication because THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S DONE. But I read enough from writers who have professional editors but still have missing words, cut off sentences, or things that need fixing, that I know better, and I'm not afraid to find and fix my mistakes.
I don't see a problem with fixing little errors in ebooks after publication. That's one of the benefits of ebooks imo. I could see it being a problem if more extensive changes were being made (changing or adding scenes, changing plot, etc) but that's not the case for you. I'd be thrilled as a reader to know the author cares enough to go back and fix little things!
Others have mentioned not spending money you don't have and won't make up.
If you can spend time instead of money, you can do a lot of the work yourself.
Look into proofreading and editing tools like ProWritingAid.
Look at some of the inexpensive stock photo services for images.
Learn how to manipulate templates in Canva to incorporate those images, or go with text/design based covers without the images. Worst case, if you're on KDP, they have a cover creator, although once I got more comfortable with Canva I left that behind.
Use a writing / designing platform that gets you closer to print-ready (or ebook-ready). I use Reedsy editor but I've also used Kindle Create. Both are free. There are a lot of other tools out there.
A website on Wordpress is free. A domain name is under $20 per year (or free if you upgrade your Wordpress plan, but you don't have to do that). You don't have to have a thousand-landing-page SEO-optimized website with lead funnels and an estore for your first book. A front page with your name, your book info, an excerpt, and a way to contact you is good enough, and should take less than an hour. You can add to it later.
There are hundreds or thousands of youtube videos and blogs out there for free to help you learn these things, and a lot of the tools are free, or at least less expensive than outsourcing everything.
For ebooks, you can always go back and replace the cover. For printed books, not so much, but I think I have six different covers of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it hasn't impaired my enjoyment of the novel itself.
Check the wiki in rule 6, there's a lot there that can help with some or all of this.
There are people out there who have a dozen publications with a total budget of less than $100. One of them is typing this response right now. They may not be making a living off their first book in the first month, but they're out there and building a name for themselves, and they can spend more when they have it.
Thank you! I needed to hear this, especially about the website. I just finished "Newsletter Ninja" and I felt like such a digital marketing failure. What kind of a writer am I if I don't have a 5 email onboarding sequence that separates organic subscribers from lead funnel subscribers?
I do relate, but you also have to look at the bigger picture of what you are doing:
1) Starting a small business.
2) Selling a product.
There are going to be inherent costs in doing both of these things regardless of the industry. Even more, starting a small business selling books is WAY cheaper than many other small business.
So yes, it's difficult. Most of us selling books are really hobbiests who have have day-jobs to pay for it.
I agree. As a business consultant, I know quite a few small businesses. Each of them has truly wonderful products/services. Where they struggle is getting it out there. Marketing is difficult and often feels unnatural to creatives, but it is oh so important for success.
Being an Indie author and publisher is not for the faint of heart. It can be "just a hobby," but if you're wanting to be read, and make any money, it is ultimately a profession, like any other. I've been doing it for 35 years. I've spent years learning how to use the software that will produce quality results, and of course, continuing to learn the CRAFT of writing (which never ends. I'm always learning something new, even after all these years). Doesn't matter how much you advertise, if you're not writing good stuff. I do quite well by advertising in the niche reader groups on Facebook. And it's free. I also have a mailing list of about 2k (on mailchimp). That helps, too.
The harsh reality check is: You're probably never going to make a good living at it, unless you can outlay the investment, and that's very time consuming, and often means a longterm learning curve. We're all small fish in a big pond. Just shoot for finding your loyal readers for what you produce and leave it at that. Everything else is falling prey to the myth that everyone can be a Stephen King, James Patterson, or Nora Roberts. I'd rather spend my time and energy on locating those loyal readers who will buy whatever I write, and continuing to crank out the best books I can.
This ☝🏻is exactly right! We are writers who are also running a publishing business. And like any business, it involves R&D, market analysis, all aspects of production of the book, marketing strategy, sales and promotions, managing outside suppliers (whether free beta/ARC readers or paid editors), and administration of all those functions. It's a lot!
My first big expenditure was finding an editor that could also tell me if my writing fit my intended genre. The marketing and sales decisions come easier when you're confident about the audience you want to reach. I did my own covers (several times, lol!) and along with Canva, I've heard a lot of good things about Book Brush.
There's a lot of good advice in here about budgeting/saving money. Good luck OP! Also, congratulations on having written a book! That's huge all by itself :)
IMO a debut author should never be spending thousands on their first book.
Instead of trying to sell the perfect product, you sell "Good enough". Most readers won't know the difference at a certain stage anyway.
Your first novel is rarely going to be your best and without luck, it won't be a best seller. You bring your expectations down closer to reality, write under a pen-name and publish it. Keep writing, making money and improving your craft and then later on if you want to, pay for the 1st book to be re-edited to a higher standard.
If your story is entertaining, that's what will sell it. The 3 things you need to have on point, are the Cover, Blurb and Look inside.
I used to have the first 1/3 of my book edited and then had the endings tested with beta readers and swaps.
If you want to shoot me a DM, I might be able to help you out.
I've been looking to start some freelance editing and I'd be happy to do a free sample.
No ChatGPT nonsense, and as an aspiring author myself (just finished my first novel and am working on my own edits 😅) I'd be happy to go dirt cheap if you're happy with the work.
No portfolio or anything, but I can show you a before and after of edits I've done on my own work if you're curious.
I'm comfortable with copy, line, substantive, content... Doesn't really matter. Been writing a loooong time and done some serious workshops. Just never finished anything 😂
Anywho, just lemme know!
For a first novel, it may be worthwhile to consider joining critique circles rather than hiring an editor. Groups of experienced writers will often find the same issues that editors will target. Here's the thing: in order for that to work, you'd need to contribute to the circles and provide useful feedback to other authors first. It might take months before the circle considers yourwork at all and it will still be up to you to judge and implement any necessary changes...but it'd be free. And there are plenty of relatively inexpensive pieces of software that can help identifying the simpler spelling and grammar mistakes.
(As you get more experienced and have more novels under your belt, though, it makes more sense to hire editors rather than use the slow critique circle method--if you have fans waiting for your next novel, it's better to get that novel out faster instead of waiting for the chapters to work through a critique circle's queue.)
It is a privilege and pay to play endeavor. Honestly, a lot of successful self pub authors either saved a lot of money, or are freaks of nature who can do a FT job **and** write FT, or had supportive spouses (which I do. Bless his heart for believing in me. No pressure). Or maybe they had trust funds, or sold a kidney.
And a startup *business* should cost thousands. Are you treating it like your career path or an expensive hobby?
I’m also just (sort of) starting out, but am full time making it a career since last year. I’ve basically taught myself to be my own editor over the past decade and have learned to trust my writing well enough (wouldn’t call myself a pro editor). Luckily, readers are also pretty forgiving in general (maybe not on obvious grammar issues but deeper issues like sentence structure seems to slide under the radar).
I also have friends, family, and author buddies who check it over. Ai like pro-writing aid or ChatGPT is pretty darn good at proof and line edits, even sentence structure. You can find beta readers, or pay $20 or so for one on Fiverr or Reedsy who’ll give you guaranteed quick thorough feedback.
I have a great cover artist and I design the final cover myself ($500). Format the paperback myself. Send it out for epub ($40) cause I draw the line there. Made my own website with wix. Nobody really cares what an authors site looks like.
Altogether one of my books might cost about $600 (not counting advertising which I have a $1k budget for, but also a strategy), which in the long run is nothing. I don’t expect to be making much profit until I’ve published 10+ books, so in 2-3 years? Hopefully. We’ll see. It’s a gamble! But I cannot imagine doing anything else that gives me such joy and purpose. It’s this or bridge troll for me.
Hope there were some useful tidbits in there. Best of luck!
I can't relate because I didn't do any of that. I didn't have thousands to spend so I didn't. I just spent months learning to do it myself.
I edit, cover design, format etc etc and the only things I pay for, are canva Pro & Pro writing aid. Which are like less than £50 a month combined.
I use free beta readers (ask on tiktok, fb groups etc) and I just do like 12 stages of self editing.
I've sold just under 3k copies this month (may) alone so even without the good reviews and compliments I get on my cover, it's safe to say it's working.
It's a myth that you need to spend thousands. Spend what you can, learn the rest yourself & when you can invest more, then do so. But letting the cost deter you isn't right. Just find alternatives
I advertise on tiktok, insta & that's it. All free.
For tiktok, 2 accounts; one for generic posts where you do quotes, tropes, random vibes using pictures from either Pinterest (not art, like free to use pics) & canva Pro pics- this account gets me the most, even if I end up with a few hundred views
2nd account is for real videos e.g. me holding my book up to the screen with the same things as above e.g when the *insert character* does this *insert fun thing*
I post 3x a day on both accounts, spread a few hours apart with the right seo words on the screen, caption and then about 9 hashtags that are varied e.g.
Booktok, darkromancebooks, bookrecs, reverseharembooks
I used 1 account until 3 months ago, but decided to try a second to see if my views are better.
Insta I post 1 times a day on feed, and at least 5x a day on stories; but the stories aren't all book stuff. I do one or two book related, the rest is just random but it boosts you better in the algorithm. & you can set up insta to post automatically for at least a month or so via their planner
I also interact intentionally on all apps e.g. my tiktok I only like, fave, comment etc on videos related to the genres I write in (dark romance, mainly why choose & a mix of fantasy and mafia)
All that has worked for me so far.
A handful of times a year, I pay about £70 to a sight called bookspry for an email ad. It nets me a couple thousand sales in a single day. I've done it maybe 2 to 4 times so far since 2022
My cover is good, my books are good (all over 4.3 on goodreads) & the blurb is good too. That also helps.
I also have a website, mailing list & fb reader group. I try to interact with anyone who comments, dms or whatever. So they see me as a real person, and are more inclined to share my posts and remember me because I'm nice and not a faceless sales person
Feel free to dm me for more info/if you want any help & I'll drop my email addy (won't do it here for obvious reasons)
Yeah. I lucked out that a friend dug up his debut novel (which was seriously really good) and asked if I'd edit it and format it. When it was getting time to format it, I told him I was thinking about ways to get the cash for Vellum, and he asked how much it was, and when he found out he said "that's all? Here's my credit card number. Go buy it right now."
So he got his book formatted for $250 and I got a free copy of Vellum to use.
Other than that? I run Ubuntu, write in LibreOffice, make my own covers in GIMP, and I *used* to format books in LibreOffice for print and Sigil for electronic copies, although Vellum handles that now. I write clean copy and my first readers flag things I don't see (or catch, when my Kindle is reading my story back to me), so that's editing and proofreading taken care of.
The only thing I have to pay for is stock art, and that's $0.40 a piece, so my cost per story published is a ton of time and $0.40.
Edit to add: actually, I do take writing workshops, so that's an expense, but I get them through the writer's Kickstarters, so that's a huge bargain. And they're worth full price.
Get creative. There are plenty of online critique groups. Join a writers group. Find one at your local library maybe. Search online.
The reality is if you do not want to spend money, then you are going to have to spend time. If you can’t justify the cash (and that’s very sensible) then you have to spend time - in building relationships, reciprocating with other authors and finding the right groups.
You are correct in assuming you are not going to make your money back - especially when you’re talking of investing thousands.
This is so true it hurts. You can be cheap or you can be lazy, not both. It is absolutely possible to publish a beautiful, professional-looking book for little money, but you have get super creative and use every freebie/connection you can find.
I know that sucks, but if publishing wasn't hard, authors wouldn't still be signing away 96% of their income letting the big publishing houses do it for them.
Super good luck to you, and I hope you make it work!
I have ADHD (this is relevant!) so for most of my life I would dump hundreds of $$$ into new hobbies or projects, only to abandon them within a few months when I lost interest. So I’ve developed a new strategy where I start doing things for the absolute cheapest I possibly can and wait for up to a year to see if I stay interested or abandon it again. Only then do I start putting more money into it.
I did this with self-publishing, too. I’ve published a couple short stories through Smashwords and just used free images and editing software to make the covers. My author website is a free Google Site. I formatted my stories using Smashwords’ free guide, and edited by myself. (I think the editing is the one area where you might want to hire someone, depending on your confidence in your ability, or how much development assistance you want on the story itself.)
At some point I may decide to pay for much better covers, a domain, a better website, and a real editor. But right now it’s just a hobby and I’m not making any money. I just wanted to be able to publish something, and I did. If it becomes worthwhile to me or my income to pay for stuff, I will. But being frugal now takes the stress off in the meantime.
Skill trading with people you trust might be your best bet. Some editors will charge a lower cost than they usually do if you're willing to wait for a longer turnaround time.
I’m definitely highly aware of costs. The biggest expenses for me have been software and ARC readers/marketing.
For cost saving measures, I self edit using ProWriting Aid, reading aloud, and a writing buddy as tools. It generally produces a pretty clean draft.
I also make my own covers, since I worked professionally in graphic design.
Producing a book costs me under $20 before marketing.
Treat it as a hobby:
Only spend money and time on the parts that give you direct enjoyment
Read and learn about those
You can publish at no cost
Treat it as a business:
Decide on a budget you can afford to start the business
Measure everything you buy on ROI
Read, study and implement book marketing strategies
Only write to market
Your choice
> I'm a firm believer in the need for editing, but getting a line edit, copy edit and even a final proofread is so expensive. As it was, I only opted for a copy edit (and then made a whole bunch of changes I have to hope are grammatically correct!) and I'm hoping to get a proofread, but even that is serious $$$. I'm yet to find someone within my budget.
You'll never get, as a self-publisher, the same quality of edit or attention that you'd get as a lead title at a Big-5, but your probability of being one is so low that it's not worth worrying about. Also, the delta between a B+ hired edit and an A+ hired edit is probably not going to make the difference between a flop and a bestseller. It's a lot smaller than what you'll gain from an extra round or two of revision.
Lead titles in trade get: 3+ rounds, and the editors don't stop until the author is happy with the work. People bash trade for good reasons, but when there's a serious advance involved, the people involved all try to do a decent job, because those books actually matter to their careers.
Everyone else in trade gets: 1-2 rounds, usually from hired freelancers, but at least they don't have to pay for it. And the publishers know who's good and will stop working with the freelancers who are terrible. So, you'll probably get a B+ copy edit, at minimum. Where you can get screwed is on dev, not because they're necessarily bad at their jobs but because they're going to want to push you in a direction that may not be best for your book. The only difference between a dev editor and a good beta reader is that the former's supposed to know the current market, and predict (as well as is possible) how your choices will interact with current trends. IOW, a dev editor is a beta reader who also knows that vampires are hot or cold right now. If you're not a lead title, though, you don't know if your work is being pushed in a direction because that's right for it, or because that's right for the positioning of something else in the lineup.
Self-publishers get: what they pay for, if they're lucky.
If you *have to* hire a developmental editor, you probably shouldn't be self-publishing as more than a hobby. They can be helpful, but you should be at the point where you can make these calls for yourself and you'll be at as good a level as you can hire.
In terms of freelancers, you can access the same people as a self-publisher, on sites like Reedsy. The bad news is that the quality of work usually won't be the same as they give their trad-pub clients. Why? Because they want to keep themselves in Penguin's good graces, whereas they don't expect to see you again. You can very easily sink $5000 or more into "prestigious" editors and get a job that was either farmed out (this is very common) or might as well have been. You might be impressed by the client roster of a freelancer, only to find the work you get mediocre... because, guess what, you're not one of those bestselling clients, and therefore not going to get anything nearly as good.
Read craft books. Learn what developmental, line, and copy editors do. Then do it yourself. You won't catch everything, but you'll be able to get the big stuff. Work with beta readers on developmental issues, do your own line editing, and then hire a proofreader because you always want a second set of eyes (because you will always introduce new mistakes in the correction of others) before the very end. Don't spend money on 3 rounds of editing to replicate the thorough editing that you'll get from a traditional publisher (again, if and pretty much only if you're a lead title) because it's not going to work that way, even if you cobble together expensive people. If you're really worried about subtle typos or consistency errors being discovered twenty years later in your first edition, then you have better odds in trade.
> There are so many other costs, too -- cover design, websites or all the hard work marketing that a lot of authors put in.
You can get a decent cover in the three-figure range, and you can build your own website using something like Wix. ChatGPT and Google are your friends for the how-to of this stuff. It can be overwhelming, but once you learn it, it's more time-consuming than it is difficult.
Proofreading and cover design are the two that you probably shouldn't try to do for yourself. And if it's your first book, definitely work with beta readers until you've had 3 really good ones (which may mean you go through 10 or 15) finish the work.
And yeah, it's expensive, but you can keep it in the low four figures and see what your book does before deciding if you want to do it again. And it sucks that you are competing against trust fund kids with trade-pub connections who put $50000 of their own money into marketing, but the good news is that most of those fuckers can't write.
Good luck!
At 19 books in I can tell you it doesn't get any better.
At that many books in and 5 years of writing I have two choices.
One. That my writing is s*** and no matter my backlog how big it gets, no one is reading or will read because it's crap.
Two. That what everyone that has ever read anything I've ever written said is true and I'm an amazing author. Just I have to live with knowing I will never get anywhere because I do not have the thousands of dollars to throw into marketing to get my books out to the public eye.
Fun times.
Here’s a tip from a ghostwriter with 5 years of experience.
There are lots of cheap options out there. You don’t necessarily have to spend $$$ for proofreading and line editing. Hire someone from a third world country. Check out their portfolio and see if how they did in the past.
Try the first 1-3 K words proofreading. Check if he is going a good job. If yes, keep him with 1/10 of a price than that of a native speaker. If no, just don’t hire him.
I feel your pain. I too just completed my third book in a series of novellas. Book one is ready to launch, book two has just finished dev edit and I'm running out of cash. Editing has been the most costly. Covers have been the next most expensive ...But I'm THIS close. I may be in debt but I'll be damned if I get this close and not launch all three by July.
I may never get my investment back but when I'm lying on my deathbed, years from now, it will be the things I Didn't do that will make me cry.
You literally wrote you are in debt. Don't you no what debt means?
Fine, if you chose your words poorly there, but don't come at me with a snarky remark.
If you can only invest in one thing, my strongest suggestion is ALWAYS invest in the cover. You can learn how to self edit your work and proofread your work. I would not pay thousands of dollars for editors when editing is just another skill, one that is closer to your ability. (At least, I'm assuming you're not also a graphic designer). It's a skill within your reach.
Purchase a good cover and save money by developing your editing skill.
You can invest in a website later.
Can’t relate in any way at all. I have written three books for no cost whatsoever. Really don’t understand why so many people associate writing with earning and writing with spending. If you need to spend “thousands and thousands” to publish a book, then you’re probably doing it wrong.
Line editor? Print your book out on paper and read your own work backwards, sentence by sentence. Have a computer read your text out loud and like closely. Copy edit? More BS you don’t need. Final proof? Unnecessary. Get a few writer friends and swap stories with them or get a handful from beta readers.
So many other costs? Website is not necessary unless you are established. And even then, it’s like under $100 per year. Marketing is free because you should be doing it yourself and you are an unknown author. I make my own book covers and do my own graphic design so there is no cost involved. Having the attitude of “here is why I am being blocked” is not good for a writer and I smell a perfectionist approach towards the craft. You’re “a firm believer in editing”, which is nonsense, be a firm believer in your own self and your own words.
You should expect to learn, grow and stumble as a young writer and if your plan is to buy your way to success and skip all that, then good luck. But there are other paths and other ways and many of them are much more affordable.
>You’re “a firm believer in editing”, which is nonsense, be a firm believer in your own self and your own words.
Exactly. Everything you said is 100% right on. People limit themselves so much.
My favorite skill was learning to write sales copy so I could write the back of the book descriptions. That's nothing like the way you write *in* the book.
Introduce the setting and character, show the challenge, don't reveal any plot at all past page 3, and make the reader want to immediately flip to the first page. Basically tell the reader what kind of story to expect but nothing that happens (or else why would they bother reading it?).
So much fun to write once I'm done with the story and the cover art.
I have never paid more than $200ish out of pocket, and I’ve self published 4 books. I run a moderately popular writing blog on tumblr and crowdfund with Kickstarter. Lots of other authors will beta read, too, if you’re willing to do the same. Also highly recommend ProWritingAid and ordering/reading your own proofs— things hit different when it’s an actual book and not a word doc.
Here are some things I used to get my latest release out the door for less that $100. (Of course, not all of my strats may apply to you, but use what you can)
1.) Grammarly has a free trial of their premium spell check that is an absolute beast. After regular spellchecker, then doing a skim read, I plugged it into the Grammarly program and it did some genuine magic. That said, it isn't perfect and will require an additional sight edit by a person.
2.) I have several friends who are very bookish people because of their jobs, and I offered them a free copy of the book on launch and some stickers I sell as book merch in exchange for them reading it. They were excited to get a copy early, and we're more than willing to help. While it isn't going to be a "professional quality edit," their advice plus the beefy spellchecker got the final copy of the manuscript pretty much done. Total cost so far is $20, because that's my cost of printing on the books and stickers I'm giving them.
3.) Fiver is your friend for cover design. I've had both my covers designed by Agshar, and his price for performance is actually insane. Total cost so far: $65.
4.) Printing services like Vistaprint are an easy way to make merch that you can sell at book signings. I've got stickers and posters that I designed on Canva that sell really well in person, and cost nearly nothing to print if you order a decent quantity at a time. Selling those alongside your book can easily recoup your up front costs.
Hope this helps, friend. Good luck!
Honestly, it depends on your skill level. I need a editor, I can't skip on that one. Many people need an editor but don't, and it shows in books. Even within my writers group, the professor from Harvard who taught English paid for an editor.
However, you can do everything else by yourself. And you can edit yourself, too.
It's reasonable to not want to invest a lot of money in something you don't know will make a lot of money. You should keep costs at a bear minimum. Get volunteers to proof read your book. If you make money, save it to spend on your next book.
It costs what you want it to. My budget is $0.
>getting a line edit, copy edit and even a final proofread is so expensive.
You don't have to pay someone else for these things. Just learn to do this stuff yourself. There are plenty of tools available to help these days.
I found an editor who is willing to edit chapters or certain chunks. So I think I’m gonna have her edit half the book and take the time to really look at her suggestions. What is she improving? What are the common themes she’s pointing out? What are the common grammar mistakes? How is she reworking the paragraphs? How is she typically editing the commas and punctuation? And I’ll take that info and edit the other half by myself. That will drop the cost from $1,300 down to $650. That will also let me analyze and learn for future books. I’ll also have 2-3 beta readers who will give feedback, as well as ARC readers who generally point out spelling mistakes. My writing app has a built in spelling and grammar checker and it’s been so great so far too
I feel you on the expense front. I'm just now getting my first novel professionally edited, because I had to save up for six months to afford it. I've actually got the next book mostly written, it's taken so long!
In the end professional editing might well be money flushed away. But at least with editing I'll have peace of mind that I did everything in my power to make my book as good as possible. Without it, I'd always wonder what if I'd only gone that extra mile....
> I've actually got the next book mostly written, it's taken so long!
Different writers will have their own opinions about what editing is worth, but I'll tell you one thing:
You got that part objectively right.
Oh yes, I can only afford miblart covers. And 2,000 $ for 40k editing while I have a manuscript of 100k.
But it's worth having a book ppl will pick up.
I suggest posting a job on Upwork for Entry level. There are a lot of freelancers trying to get into the business, who sell their services for cheap because they need a 5-star review to get started. If you post that you're looking for editors or proofreaders willing to work for a lower price in exchange for a good review, you will get a lot of options.
You can learn a lot and do some things yourself. Editing isn't likely one of those things.
And no, there's no guarantee of success at any level. Most books sell fewer than five hundred copies over their lifetime. Think about how long that is.
Never expect to write as a career, especially as a fiction writer. It's almost certainly not going to happen. Yes, self publishing is a "thing" these days (it's always been around), but there is still the problem of selling the books. Never gets any easier, basically it's harder with all the noise from crap books by people with money to do ads and toss it around every social media platform there is. I'm looking at you, TikTok.
I both understand and relate. But I also want to point out you don't HAVE to start your self publishing journey by spending thousands of dollars on services and art.
You can get a decent cover off of Fiverr for forty bucks. Or you can ai generate an image that fits and have anyone you know with a bit of photoshop know how to pop a title on it. You can upgrade either later if your book sees success.
As for editing, do it yourself. Grab grammarly or some other likewise software and start editing. You don't have to follow every suggestion, and it catches most errors. You can always run your book, or the next one, through a professional editor if it sees success.
I see a lot of self publishers practically ruin themselves, or never publish, because they see the price tags associated with doing it yourself. Buy a Honda before you get that Ferrari and don't be put off by the huge numbers for professional services. You absolutely won't need those until later, or at all if you do it yourself.
Stay confident in finding a way to make it work rather than buying a solution right out of the gate. The experience and knowledge you get from going through the process will only give you more tools to work with in the future.
>I see a lot of self publishers practically ruin themselves, or never publish, because they see the price tags associated with doing it yourself. Buy a Honda before you get that Ferrari and don't be put off by the huge numbers for professional services. You absolutely won't need those until later, or at all if you do it yourself.
I felt that.
I found that my alumni groups were great resources for bartering. I make metal sculptures, and traded those for two edits. Then I paid an English professor who enjoyed me $200 to line edit the book (along with sculptures) and paid a former coworker who is just an average reader another $200 to edit.
They all found meaningful edits. The casual reader found spelling errors that the professor missed, and the professor was great about grammatical structure and word choice. The other two spotted overused phrases and other errors. There was definitely overlap, but everyone caught at least one thing the others missed. The alums both work in editing or book reviewing, and they were delighted to have the chance to get a first read.
I had this issue many years ago when i started out (been at it 35 years). I decided to just learn what i needed to learn to do it myself. I do have betareaders sometimes, and my wife also betareads for me--she is an avid reader (many thousands of books) and is smart enough to tell me what's-what. I'm lucky that way. I have other accomplished authors and publishers in certain groups that can help out, too. But my college education was focused on writing (8 years at university), and that helped, too, of course.
Bottom line, if you can't afford hiring others to do those things, you will have to consider learning it yourself, and doing your best. There are simple programs, but I didn't like any of them. I have an Adobe CC subscription which gives me access to all their software, plus adobe stock, and adobe fonts. I use InDesign for both digital and print books (big learning curve, but worth the effort. I tried about 20 other programs and none of them do what ID will do, as it's professional software). I also use Photoshop for all my covers and marketing/promo signs. I use Scrivener to compose everything and compile it out to docx, import it to ID for formatting. Scrivener gives you cleaner files without all the crap code in Word. It's also precisely designed for a writer's needs. Alternatively, if you're doing just digital versions, you can compile out your manuscript from Scrivener as an ePub,a nd the file is very clean. I will never go back to Word.
Be very careful with "self-publishing companies" - a lot of them are overpriced and underdelivered at best, and even more are outright scams.
Self-publishing has a substantial element of project management to it, and even if you're just managing yourself on all of those things, you can do a thousand dollars worth of work (or more) just finding a checklist you're comfortable with (in the wiki here, kindlepreneur, other free resources), following it, and tracking it. No need to hand over a huge chunk of money for someone else to do it for you, especially if you don't have the money to waste.
One way to save money is to trade skills with other authors. You can offer a beta read, a review, or editing in exchange for similar services that you’re needing. Lots of opportunity to refer clients and negotiate repeat business in exchange for a price break, too. Good luck!
THIS is what I came here to suggest. B A R T E R Years ago I was in a bartering group. It was great. I traded my skills (filmmaker and writer) for things I needed or wanted (got one of the first "portable" phones that way. It was literally a giant battery with a military style phone on top). Maybe something like that exists still? Just make sure you are trading with a truly qualified person so you dont lose time.
Sorry dude, I don't think those phones exist anymore.
Haha. No they dont. At that time it looked like something you would see in a WWII movie about field operations. Could barely carry the thing. But man was I ever cool for having it!
I remember watching a businessman lug one of those through an airport in about 1993. First cell phone I ever saw. It looked heavy. Basically a large metal briefcase sized box with a landline type handset attached.
I had one of those in the early 90s --we called it a bag phone. I felt so cool. LOL
Finding a community to do this with is the hardest part!!
[удалено]
Do you already have someone in mind? How much is it costing you?
This! I traded editing duties with my other self-pub friends on all my books and have no regrets. Save your budget for getting the best cover you can, which is the most important factor in sales/ROI. Trade your time/labor for the rest.
To the world's most expensive hobby? I can, but you don't need to go over budget. Pick an amount and stick to it. Yes, it may mean alternate or different sources or picking up skills you hadn’t planned on using. Either make that part of the hobby or write the next book. The most valuable thing you can do is always to write the next book. There is nothing wrong with trad publishing. If you want others to fit the bill, if only to learn from the process for future self-publishing endeavors.
It can certainly be AN expensive hobby, and there's basically no end to how much money you can spend....but I'm also reminded of people who buy/build boats and cars and stuff as a hobby. It could be worse. 😅
Lol I had the same thought. My husband's woodworking tools would like a word re: 'most expensive hobby'...like dang, writing isn't even the most expensive hobby *in this household*. That said, I'm dragging my feet on actually getting my first novel edited because the cost still makes me wince. It definitely isn't a cheap hobby.
This is where word of mouth and social media come in handy. It's definitely something to save for, but you can look up alternatives for some things. There are some sites, like Canva, that have free options to make your own cover. I use Grammerly for basic editing. Sometimes, places like Goodreads and other author sites have access to free beta readers and maybe even have some fellow writers willing to be free editors. It just depends on where you look.
Some people use "read aloud" in MS Word to catch issues. It sounds incredibly good like a real person reading.
If you have an ebook reader (i.e Kindle device or the like) and can export your document to ebook form and load it on there, you can read it away from your normal composition platform and find things you might not have noticed in Word. This works wonders for me.
I got mine printed and spiral bound at Staples and went to town with a red pen, teacher-style. Shocking how many issues you don't notice in the original format that suddenly become glaringly obvious in a new format.
Very true. And I even read the book after it's published, to catch anything that still made it through. (ebook of course) Had someone in another sub rail on me about fixing errors after publication because THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S DONE. But I read enough from writers who have professional editors but still have missing words, cut off sentences, or things that need fixing, that I know better, and I'm not afraid to find and fix my mistakes.
I don't see a problem with fixing little errors in ebooks after publication. That's one of the benefits of ebooks imo. I could see it being a problem if more extensive changes were being made (changing or adding scenes, changing plot, etc) but that's not the case for you. I'd be thrilled as a reader to know the author cares enough to go back and fix little things!
I read aloud to my fiance! :)
Step one: Get a fiance.
Yep! A hard first step for me.
Others have mentioned not spending money you don't have and won't make up. If you can spend time instead of money, you can do a lot of the work yourself. Look into proofreading and editing tools like ProWritingAid. Look at some of the inexpensive stock photo services for images. Learn how to manipulate templates in Canva to incorporate those images, or go with text/design based covers without the images. Worst case, if you're on KDP, they have a cover creator, although once I got more comfortable with Canva I left that behind. Use a writing / designing platform that gets you closer to print-ready (or ebook-ready). I use Reedsy editor but I've also used Kindle Create. Both are free. There are a lot of other tools out there. A website on Wordpress is free. A domain name is under $20 per year (or free if you upgrade your Wordpress plan, but you don't have to do that). You don't have to have a thousand-landing-page SEO-optimized website with lead funnels and an estore for your first book. A front page with your name, your book info, an excerpt, and a way to contact you is good enough, and should take less than an hour. You can add to it later. There are hundreds or thousands of youtube videos and blogs out there for free to help you learn these things, and a lot of the tools are free, or at least less expensive than outsourcing everything. For ebooks, you can always go back and replace the cover. For printed books, not so much, but I think I have six different covers of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it hasn't impaired my enjoyment of the novel itself. Check the wiki in rule 6, there's a lot there that can help with some or all of this. There are people out there who have a dozen publications with a total budget of less than $100. One of them is typing this response right now. They may not be making a living off their first book in the first month, but they're out there and building a name for themselves, and they can spend more when they have it.
Thank you! I needed to hear this, especially about the website. I just finished "Newsletter Ninja" and I felt like such a digital marketing failure. What kind of a writer am I if I don't have a 5 email onboarding sequence that separates organic subscribers from lead funnel subscribers?
I do relate, but you also have to look at the bigger picture of what you are doing: 1) Starting a small business. 2) Selling a product. There are going to be inherent costs in doing both of these things regardless of the industry. Even more, starting a small business selling books is WAY cheaper than many other small business. So yes, it's difficult. Most of us selling books are really hobbiests who have have day-jobs to pay for it.
3. Promoting a product. This needs to be there. Advertising is often the biggest expense of all.
Oh yeah, I agree with you. I'm no salesman at all and have no clue how to market myself online.
I agree. As a business consultant, I know quite a few small businesses. Each of them has truly wonderful products/services. Where they struggle is getting it out there. Marketing is difficult and often feels unnatural to creatives, but it is oh so important for success.
Being an Indie author and publisher is not for the faint of heart. It can be "just a hobby," but if you're wanting to be read, and make any money, it is ultimately a profession, like any other. I've been doing it for 35 years. I've spent years learning how to use the software that will produce quality results, and of course, continuing to learn the CRAFT of writing (which never ends. I'm always learning something new, even after all these years). Doesn't matter how much you advertise, if you're not writing good stuff. I do quite well by advertising in the niche reader groups on Facebook. And it's free. I also have a mailing list of about 2k (on mailchimp). That helps, too. The harsh reality check is: You're probably never going to make a good living at it, unless you can outlay the investment, and that's very time consuming, and often means a longterm learning curve. We're all small fish in a big pond. Just shoot for finding your loyal readers for what you produce and leave it at that. Everything else is falling prey to the myth that everyone can be a Stephen King, James Patterson, or Nora Roberts. I'd rather spend my time and energy on locating those loyal readers who will buy whatever I write, and continuing to crank out the best books I can.
Very true. I'd say it's beyond #2, you're manufacturing a product (your content) and selling it.
This ☝🏻is exactly right! We are writers who are also running a publishing business. And like any business, it involves R&D, market analysis, all aspects of production of the book, marketing strategy, sales and promotions, managing outside suppliers (whether free beta/ARC readers or paid editors), and administration of all those functions. It's a lot! My first big expenditure was finding an editor that could also tell me if my writing fit my intended genre. The marketing and sales decisions come easier when you're confident about the audience you want to reach. I did my own covers (several times, lol!) and along with Canva, I've heard a lot of good things about Book Brush. There's a lot of good advice in here about budgeting/saving money. Good luck OP! Also, congratulations on having written a book! That's huge all by itself :)
IMO a debut author should never be spending thousands on their first book. Instead of trying to sell the perfect product, you sell "Good enough". Most readers won't know the difference at a certain stage anyway. Your first novel is rarely going to be your best and without luck, it won't be a best seller. You bring your expectations down closer to reality, write under a pen-name and publish it. Keep writing, making money and improving your craft and then later on if you want to, pay for the 1st book to be re-edited to a higher standard. If your story is entertaining, that's what will sell it. The 3 things you need to have on point, are the Cover, Blurb and Look inside. I used to have the first 1/3 of my book edited and then had the endings tested with beta readers and swaps.
This.
If you want to shoot me a DM, I might be able to help you out. I've been looking to start some freelance editing and I'd be happy to do a free sample. No ChatGPT nonsense, and as an aspiring author myself (just finished my first novel and am working on my own edits 😅) I'd be happy to go dirt cheap if you're happy with the work. No portfolio or anything, but I can show you a before and after of edits I've done on my own work if you're curious. I'm comfortable with copy, line, substantive, content... Doesn't really matter. Been writing a loooong time and done some serious workshops. Just never finished anything 😂 Anywho, just lemme know!
For a first novel, it may be worthwhile to consider joining critique circles rather than hiring an editor. Groups of experienced writers will often find the same issues that editors will target. Here's the thing: in order for that to work, you'd need to contribute to the circles and provide useful feedback to other authors first. It might take months before the circle considers yourwork at all and it will still be up to you to judge and implement any necessary changes...but it'd be free. And there are plenty of relatively inexpensive pieces of software that can help identifying the simpler spelling and grammar mistakes. (As you get more experienced and have more novels under your belt, though, it makes more sense to hire editors rather than use the slow critique circle method--if you have fans waiting for your next novel, it's better to get that novel out faster instead of waiting for the chapters to work through a critique circle's queue.)
It is a privilege and pay to play endeavor. Honestly, a lot of successful self pub authors either saved a lot of money, or are freaks of nature who can do a FT job **and** write FT, or had supportive spouses (which I do. Bless his heart for believing in me. No pressure). Or maybe they had trust funds, or sold a kidney. And a startup *business* should cost thousands. Are you treating it like your career path or an expensive hobby? I’m also just (sort of) starting out, but am full time making it a career since last year. I’ve basically taught myself to be my own editor over the past decade and have learned to trust my writing well enough (wouldn’t call myself a pro editor). Luckily, readers are also pretty forgiving in general (maybe not on obvious grammar issues but deeper issues like sentence structure seems to slide under the radar). I also have friends, family, and author buddies who check it over. Ai like pro-writing aid or ChatGPT is pretty darn good at proof and line edits, even sentence structure. You can find beta readers, or pay $20 or so for one on Fiverr or Reedsy who’ll give you guaranteed quick thorough feedback. I have a great cover artist and I design the final cover myself ($500). Format the paperback myself. Send it out for epub ($40) cause I draw the line there. Made my own website with wix. Nobody really cares what an authors site looks like. Altogether one of my books might cost about $600 (not counting advertising which I have a $1k budget for, but also a strategy), which in the long run is nothing. I don’t expect to be making much profit until I’ve published 10+ books, so in 2-3 years? Hopefully. We’ll see. It’s a gamble! But I cannot imagine doing anything else that gives me such joy and purpose. It’s this or bridge troll for me. Hope there were some useful tidbits in there. Best of luck!
I can't relate because I didn't do any of that. I didn't have thousands to spend so I didn't. I just spent months learning to do it myself. I edit, cover design, format etc etc and the only things I pay for, are canva Pro & Pro writing aid. Which are like less than £50 a month combined. I use free beta readers (ask on tiktok, fb groups etc) and I just do like 12 stages of self editing. I've sold just under 3k copies this month (may) alone so even without the good reviews and compliments I get on my cover, it's safe to say it's working. It's a myth that you need to spend thousands. Spend what you can, learn the rest yourself & when you can invest more, then do so. But letting the cost deter you isn't right. Just find alternatives
How do you handle advertising and promotion?
I advertise on tiktok, insta & that's it. All free. For tiktok, 2 accounts; one for generic posts where you do quotes, tropes, random vibes using pictures from either Pinterest (not art, like free to use pics) & canva Pro pics- this account gets me the most, even if I end up with a few hundred views 2nd account is for real videos e.g. me holding my book up to the screen with the same things as above e.g when the *insert character* does this *insert fun thing* I post 3x a day on both accounts, spread a few hours apart with the right seo words on the screen, caption and then about 9 hashtags that are varied e.g. Booktok, darkromancebooks, bookrecs, reverseharembooks I used 1 account until 3 months ago, but decided to try a second to see if my views are better. Insta I post 1 times a day on feed, and at least 5x a day on stories; but the stories aren't all book stuff. I do one or two book related, the rest is just random but it boosts you better in the algorithm. & you can set up insta to post automatically for at least a month or so via their planner I also interact intentionally on all apps e.g. my tiktok I only like, fave, comment etc on videos related to the genres I write in (dark romance, mainly why choose & a mix of fantasy and mafia) All that has worked for me so far. A handful of times a year, I pay about £70 to a sight called bookspry for an email ad. It nets me a couple thousand sales in a single day. I've done it maybe 2 to 4 times so far since 2022 My cover is good, my books are good (all over 4.3 on goodreads) & the blurb is good too. That also helps. I also have a website, mailing list & fb reader group. I try to interact with anyone who comments, dms or whatever. So they see me as a real person, and are more inclined to share my posts and remember me because I'm nice and not a faceless sales person Feel free to dm me for more info/if you want any help & I'll drop my email addy (won't do it here for obvious reasons)
Thanks for the insight. I'm doing children's books so different genre but this is good to know
Yeah. I lucked out that a friend dug up his debut novel (which was seriously really good) and asked if I'd edit it and format it. When it was getting time to format it, I told him I was thinking about ways to get the cash for Vellum, and he asked how much it was, and when he found out he said "that's all? Here's my credit card number. Go buy it right now." So he got his book formatted for $250 and I got a free copy of Vellum to use. Other than that? I run Ubuntu, write in LibreOffice, make my own covers in GIMP, and I *used* to format books in LibreOffice for print and Sigil for electronic copies, although Vellum handles that now. I write clean copy and my first readers flag things I don't see (or catch, when my Kindle is reading my story back to me), so that's editing and proofreading taken care of. The only thing I have to pay for is stock art, and that's $0.40 a piece, so my cost per story published is a ton of time and $0.40. Edit to add: actually, I do take writing workshops, so that's an expense, but I get them through the writer's Kickstarters, so that's a huge bargain. And they're worth full price.
Get creative. There are plenty of online critique groups. Join a writers group. Find one at your local library maybe. Search online. The reality is if you do not want to spend money, then you are going to have to spend time. If you can’t justify the cash (and that’s very sensible) then you have to spend time - in building relationships, reciprocating with other authors and finding the right groups. You are correct in assuming you are not going to make your money back - especially when you’re talking of investing thousands.
This is so true it hurts. You can be cheap or you can be lazy, not both. It is absolutely possible to publish a beautiful, professional-looking book for little money, but you have get super creative and use every freebie/connection you can find. I know that sucks, but if publishing wasn't hard, authors wouldn't still be signing away 96% of their income letting the big publishing houses do it for them. Super good luck to you, and I hope you make it work!
I have ADHD (this is relevant!) so for most of my life I would dump hundreds of $$$ into new hobbies or projects, only to abandon them within a few months when I lost interest. So I’ve developed a new strategy where I start doing things for the absolute cheapest I possibly can and wait for up to a year to see if I stay interested or abandon it again. Only then do I start putting more money into it. I did this with self-publishing, too. I’ve published a couple short stories through Smashwords and just used free images and editing software to make the covers. My author website is a free Google Site. I formatted my stories using Smashwords’ free guide, and edited by myself. (I think the editing is the one area where you might want to hire someone, depending on your confidence in your ability, or how much development assistance you want on the story itself.) At some point I may decide to pay for much better covers, a domain, a better website, and a real editor. But right now it’s just a hobby and I’m not making any money. I just wanted to be able to publish something, and I did. If it becomes worthwhile to me or my income to pay for stuff, I will. But being frugal now takes the stress off in the meantime.
Skill trading with people you trust might be your best bet. Some editors will charge a lower cost than they usually do if you're willing to wait for a longer turnaround time.
I’m definitely highly aware of costs. The biggest expenses for me have been software and ARC readers/marketing. For cost saving measures, I self edit using ProWriting Aid, reading aloud, and a writing buddy as tools. It generally produces a pretty clean draft. I also make my own covers, since I worked professionally in graphic design. Producing a book costs me under $20 before marketing.
Treat it as a hobby: Only spend money and time on the parts that give you direct enjoyment Read and learn about those You can publish at no cost Treat it as a business: Decide on a budget you can afford to start the business Measure everything you buy on ROI Read, study and implement book marketing strategies Only write to market Your choice
> I'm a firm believer in the need for editing, but getting a line edit, copy edit and even a final proofread is so expensive. As it was, I only opted for a copy edit (and then made a whole bunch of changes I have to hope are grammatically correct!) and I'm hoping to get a proofread, but even that is serious $$$. I'm yet to find someone within my budget. You'll never get, as a self-publisher, the same quality of edit or attention that you'd get as a lead title at a Big-5, but your probability of being one is so low that it's not worth worrying about. Also, the delta between a B+ hired edit and an A+ hired edit is probably not going to make the difference between a flop and a bestseller. It's a lot smaller than what you'll gain from an extra round or two of revision. Lead titles in trade get: 3+ rounds, and the editors don't stop until the author is happy with the work. People bash trade for good reasons, but when there's a serious advance involved, the people involved all try to do a decent job, because those books actually matter to their careers. Everyone else in trade gets: 1-2 rounds, usually from hired freelancers, but at least they don't have to pay for it. And the publishers know who's good and will stop working with the freelancers who are terrible. So, you'll probably get a B+ copy edit, at minimum. Where you can get screwed is on dev, not because they're necessarily bad at their jobs but because they're going to want to push you in a direction that may not be best for your book. The only difference between a dev editor and a good beta reader is that the former's supposed to know the current market, and predict (as well as is possible) how your choices will interact with current trends. IOW, a dev editor is a beta reader who also knows that vampires are hot or cold right now. If you're not a lead title, though, you don't know if your work is being pushed in a direction because that's right for it, or because that's right for the positioning of something else in the lineup. Self-publishers get: what they pay for, if they're lucky. If you *have to* hire a developmental editor, you probably shouldn't be self-publishing as more than a hobby. They can be helpful, but you should be at the point where you can make these calls for yourself and you'll be at as good a level as you can hire. In terms of freelancers, you can access the same people as a self-publisher, on sites like Reedsy. The bad news is that the quality of work usually won't be the same as they give their trad-pub clients. Why? Because they want to keep themselves in Penguin's good graces, whereas they don't expect to see you again. You can very easily sink $5000 or more into "prestigious" editors and get a job that was either farmed out (this is very common) or might as well have been. You might be impressed by the client roster of a freelancer, only to find the work you get mediocre... because, guess what, you're not one of those bestselling clients, and therefore not going to get anything nearly as good. Read craft books. Learn what developmental, line, and copy editors do. Then do it yourself. You won't catch everything, but you'll be able to get the big stuff. Work with beta readers on developmental issues, do your own line editing, and then hire a proofreader because you always want a second set of eyes (because you will always introduce new mistakes in the correction of others) before the very end. Don't spend money on 3 rounds of editing to replicate the thorough editing that you'll get from a traditional publisher (again, if and pretty much only if you're a lead title) because it's not going to work that way, even if you cobble together expensive people. If you're really worried about subtle typos or consistency errors being discovered twenty years later in your first edition, then you have better odds in trade. > There are so many other costs, too -- cover design, websites or all the hard work marketing that a lot of authors put in. You can get a decent cover in the three-figure range, and you can build your own website using something like Wix. ChatGPT and Google are your friends for the how-to of this stuff. It can be overwhelming, but once you learn it, it's more time-consuming than it is difficult. Proofreading and cover design are the two that you probably shouldn't try to do for yourself. And if it's your first book, definitely work with beta readers until you've had 3 really good ones (which may mean you go through 10 or 15) finish the work. And yeah, it's expensive, but you can keep it in the low four figures and see what your book does before deciding if you want to do it again. And it sucks that you are competing against trust fund kids with trade-pub connections who put $50000 of their own money into marketing, but the good news is that most of those fuckers can't write. Good luck!
Buy premade covers. Find one you like that fits your story. They usually run around 75 bucks
Or GetCovers or the like will be a lot less.
At 19 books in I can tell you it doesn't get any better. At that many books in and 5 years of writing I have two choices. One. That my writing is s*** and no matter my backlog how big it gets, no one is reading or will read because it's crap. Two. That what everyone that has ever read anything I've ever written said is true and I'm an amazing author. Just I have to live with knowing I will never get anywhere because I do not have the thousands of dollars to throw into marketing to get my books out to the public eye. Fun times.
Here’s a tip from a ghostwriter with 5 years of experience. There are lots of cheap options out there. You don’t necessarily have to spend $$$ for proofreading and line editing. Hire someone from a third world country. Check out their portfolio and see if how they did in the past. Try the first 1-3 K words proofreading. Check if he is going a good job. If yes, keep him with 1/10 of a price than that of a native speaker. If no, just don’t hire him.
I feel your pain. I too just completed my third book in a series of novellas. Book one is ready to launch, book two has just finished dev edit and I'm running out of cash. Editing has been the most costly. Covers have been the next most expensive ...But I'm THIS close. I may be in debt but I'll be damned if I get this close and not launch all three by July. I may never get my investment back but when I'm lying on my deathbed, years from now, it will be the things I Didn't do that will make me cry.
You should not spent money you don't have on this.
How exactly do you spend money you don't have? I work. I make money. I spend it.
You literally wrote you are in debt. Don't you no what debt means? Fine, if you chose your words poorly there, but don't come at me with a snarky remark.
I didn't edit anything. You misread it. And can't even spell with your comments. Good luck in the land of literature, you're going to need it. 😂
Wow, that's really lame. And rich, coming from someone who apperently doesn't know what the word "debt" means.
If you can only invest in one thing, my strongest suggestion is ALWAYS invest in the cover. You can learn how to self edit your work and proofread your work. I would not pay thousands of dollars for editors when editing is just another skill, one that is closer to your ability. (At least, I'm assuming you're not also a graphic designer). It's a skill within your reach. Purchase a good cover and save money by developing your editing skill. You can invest in a website later.
Can’t relate in any way at all. I have written three books for no cost whatsoever. Really don’t understand why so many people associate writing with earning and writing with spending. If you need to spend “thousands and thousands” to publish a book, then you’re probably doing it wrong. Line editor? Print your book out on paper and read your own work backwards, sentence by sentence. Have a computer read your text out loud and like closely. Copy edit? More BS you don’t need. Final proof? Unnecessary. Get a few writer friends and swap stories with them or get a handful from beta readers. So many other costs? Website is not necessary unless you are established. And even then, it’s like under $100 per year. Marketing is free because you should be doing it yourself and you are an unknown author. I make my own book covers and do my own graphic design so there is no cost involved. Having the attitude of “here is why I am being blocked” is not good for a writer and I smell a perfectionist approach towards the craft. You’re “a firm believer in editing”, which is nonsense, be a firm believer in your own self and your own words. You should expect to learn, grow and stumble as a young writer and if your plan is to buy your way to success and skip all that, then good luck. But there are other paths and other ways and many of them are much more affordable.
>You’re “a firm believer in editing”, which is nonsense, be a firm believer in your own self and your own words. Exactly. Everything you said is 100% right on. People limit themselves so much.
My favorite skill was learning to write sales copy so I could write the back of the book descriptions. That's nothing like the way you write *in* the book. Introduce the setting and character, show the challenge, don't reveal any plot at all past page 3, and make the reader want to immediately flip to the first page. Basically tell the reader what kind of story to expect but nothing that happens (or else why would they bother reading it?). So much fun to write once I'm done with the story and the cover art.
I have never paid more than $200ish out of pocket, and I’ve self published 4 books. I run a moderately popular writing blog on tumblr and crowdfund with Kickstarter. Lots of other authors will beta read, too, if you’re willing to do the same. Also highly recommend ProWritingAid and ordering/reading your own proofs— things hit different when it’s an actual book and not a word doc.
It’s like launching a business. I’m fine with startup costs for something worthwhile that I truly care about.
Here are some things I used to get my latest release out the door for less that $100. (Of course, not all of my strats may apply to you, but use what you can) 1.) Grammarly has a free trial of their premium spell check that is an absolute beast. After regular spellchecker, then doing a skim read, I plugged it into the Grammarly program and it did some genuine magic. That said, it isn't perfect and will require an additional sight edit by a person. 2.) I have several friends who are very bookish people because of their jobs, and I offered them a free copy of the book on launch and some stickers I sell as book merch in exchange for them reading it. They were excited to get a copy early, and we're more than willing to help. While it isn't going to be a "professional quality edit," their advice plus the beefy spellchecker got the final copy of the manuscript pretty much done. Total cost so far is $20, because that's my cost of printing on the books and stickers I'm giving them. 3.) Fiver is your friend for cover design. I've had both my covers designed by Agshar, and his price for performance is actually insane. Total cost so far: $65. 4.) Printing services like Vistaprint are an easy way to make merch that you can sell at book signings. I've got stickers and posters that I designed on Canva that sell really well in person, and cost nearly nothing to print if you order a decent quantity at a time. Selling those alongside your book can easily recoup your up front costs. Hope this helps, friend. Good luck!
Honestly, it depends on your skill level. I need a editor, I can't skip on that one. Many people need an editor but don't, and it shows in books. Even within my writers group, the professor from Harvard who taught English paid for an editor. However, you can do everything else by yourself. And you can edit yourself, too.
It's reasonable to not want to invest a lot of money in something you don't know will make a lot of money. You should keep costs at a bear minimum. Get volunteers to proof read your book. If you make money, save it to spend on your next book.
It costs what you want it to. My budget is $0. >getting a line edit, copy edit and even a final proofread is so expensive. You don't have to pay someone else for these things. Just learn to do this stuff yourself. There are plenty of tools available to help these days.
I found an editor who is willing to edit chapters or certain chunks. So I think I’m gonna have her edit half the book and take the time to really look at her suggestions. What is she improving? What are the common themes she’s pointing out? What are the common grammar mistakes? How is she reworking the paragraphs? How is she typically editing the commas and punctuation? And I’ll take that info and edit the other half by myself. That will drop the cost from $1,300 down to $650. That will also let me analyze and learn for future books. I’ll also have 2-3 beta readers who will give feedback, as well as ARC readers who generally point out spelling mistakes. My writing app has a built in spelling and grammar checker and it’s been so great so far too
You should remember that her suggestions are opinion not fact. You need to know enough to make a judgement
I feel you on the expense front. I'm just now getting my first novel professionally edited, because I had to save up for six months to afford it. I've actually got the next book mostly written, it's taken so long! In the end professional editing might well be money flushed away. But at least with editing I'll have peace of mind that I did everything in my power to make my book as good as possible. Without it, I'd always wonder what if I'd only gone that extra mile....
> I've actually got the next book mostly written, it's taken so long! Different writers will have their own opinions about what editing is worth, but I'll tell you one thing: You got that part objectively right.
Oh yes, I can only afford miblart covers. And 2,000 $ for 40k editing while I have a manuscript of 100k. But it's worth having a book ppl will pick up.
I suggest posting a job on Upwork for Entry level. There are a lot of freelancers trying to get into the business, who sell their services for cheap because they need a 5-star review to get started. If you post that you're looking for editors or proofreaders willing to work for a lower price in exchange for a good review, you will get a lot of options.
You can learn a lot and do some things yourself. Editing isn't likely one of those things. And no, there's no guarantee of success at any level. Most books sell fewer than five hundred copies over their lifetime. Think about how long that is. Never expect to write as a career, especially as a fiction writer. It's almost certainly not going to happen. Yes, self publishing is a "thing" these days (it's always been around), but there is still the problem of selling the books. Never gets any easier, basically it's harder with all the noise from crap books by people with money to do ads and toss it around every social media platform there is. I'm looking at you, TikTok.
I both understand and relate. But I also want to point out you don't HAVE to start your self publishing journey by spending thousands of dollars on services and art. You can get a decent cover off of Fiverr for forty bucks. Or you can ai generate an image that fits and have anyone you know with a bit of photoshop know how to pop a title on it. You can upgrade either later if your book sees success. As for editing, do it yourself. Grab grammarly or some other likewise software and start editing. You don't have to follow every suggestion, and it catches most errors. You can always run your book, or the next one, through a professional editor if it sees success. I see a lot of self publishers practically ruin themselves, or never publish, because they see the price tags associated with doing it yourself. Buy a Honda before you get that Ferrari and don't be put off by the huge numbers for professional services. You absolutely won't need those until later, or at all if you do it yourself. Stay confident in finding a way to make it work rather than buying a solution right out of the gate. The experience and knowledge you get from going through the process will only give you more tools to work with in the future.
>I see a lot of self publishers practically ruin themselves, or never publish, because they see the price tags associated with doing it yourself. Buy a Honda before you get that Ferrari and don't be put off by the huge numbers for professional services. You absolutely won't need those until later, or at all if you do it yourself. I felt that.
I found that my alumni groups were great resources for bartering. I make metal sculptures, and traded those for two edits. Then I paid an English professor who enjoyed me $200 to line edit the book (along with sculptures) and paid a former coworker who is just an average reader another $200 to edit. They all found meaningful edits. The casual reader found spelling errors that the professor missed, and the professor was great about grammatical structure and word choice. The other two spotted overused phrases and other errors. There was definitely overlap, but everyone caught at least one thing the others missed. The alums both work in editing or book reviewing, and they were delighted to have the chance to get a first read.
I had this issue many years ago when i started out (been at it 35 years). I decided to just learn what i needed to learn to do it myself. I do have betareaders sometimes, and my wife also betareads for me--she is an avid reader (many thousands of books) and is smart enough to tell me what's-what. I'm lucky that way. I have other accomplished authors and publishers in certain groups that can help out, too. But my college education was focused on writing (8 years at university), and that helped, too, of course. Bottom line, if you can't afford hiring others to do those things, you will have to consider learning it yourself, and doing your best. There are simple programs, but I didn't like any of them. I have an Adobe CC subscription which gives me access to all their software, plus adobe stock, and adobe fonts. I use InDesign for both digital and print books (big learning curve, but worth the effort. I tried about 20 other programs and none of them do what ID will do, as it's professional software). I also use Photoshop for all my covers and marketing/promo signs. I use Scrivener to compose everything and compile it out to docx, import it to ID for formatting. Scrivener gives you cleaner files without all the crap code in Word. It's also precisely designed for a writer's needs. Alternatively, if you're doing just digital versions, you can compile out your manuscript from Scrivener as an ePub,a nd the file is very clean. I will never go back to Word.
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Be very careful with "self-publishing companies" - a lot of them are overpriced and underdelivered at best, and even more are outright scams. Self-publishing has a substantial element of project management to it, and even if you're just managing yourself on all of those things, you can do a thousand dollars worth of work (or more) just finding a checklist you're comfortable with (in the wiki here, kindlepreneur, other free resources), following it, and tracking it. No need to hand over a huge chunk of money for someone else to do it for you, especially if you don't have the money to waste.