How Much Does It Actually Cost to Self-Publish a Book? Here’s My Real Breakdown.

The moment someone discovers I self-published a book, they ask me the same question: "How much does it cost to self-publish a book?"

The answer you'll find online ranges from "absolutely free!" to "$10,000 minimum." 

Both are technically true, but equally misleading.

When I self-published a book, I made $164 (no, not the result I wanted after eighteen months on the sales shelf). But it didn't cost me $0 to publish.

Here's exactly what I spent, what I should have spent differently, and what you actually need to budget for if you're planning to self-publish.

My Total Cost: $3,547

That's what I spent to take my manuscript from "finished draft" to "published book on Amazon."

No, that's not a typo. And no, I didn't hire a full publishing service or go overboard on unnecessary expenses.

That was the cost of doing it semi-professionally, combining DIY and paid services.

Here's the breakdown.

The Actual Costs (What I Paid)

Editing: $2,000

This was my biggest expense by far. I hired a professional editor for developmental editing and copyediting.

• Developmental edit: $1,200 (for structure, pacing and plot holes)
• Copyedit: $800 (for grammar, consistency and flow, but I still did much of this myself in order to save costs)

I did not hire a proofreader for a final pass. This was a mistake; my published book has one or two typos I didn't catch. Having said that, it's still an amazing piece of work, and the best thing I've ever written. So I do sit on the fence with this. 

In hindsight, it should have been: $2,300 (add $300 for proofreading)

Cover Design: $1,000

I hired a graphic designer on Fiverr to create the graphics and visual elements. Then I assembled the final cover in Canva myself.

This was fine, I guess. The designer provided me with high-quality graphics, and I was pleased with my Canva assembly. I'm proficient with the program, and everything lined up perfectly in the final print (which was my biggest concern, having never designed a cover before). 

However, could this cover have been better? Yes. Should it have been the best possible? Also yes. 

In hindsight, it should have been: $300–500 for a professional cover designer who specialises in book covers, not just graphic design.

Writing/Editing Tools: $547

I used multiple tools while writing and editing:

• Grammarly Premium: $12/month x 12 months = $144 (but this ended up more because that's USD pricing, not AUD for this Aussie gal)
• ProWriting Aid: $20/month x 6 months = $120
• AutoCrit: $30/month x 9 months = $270
• Scrivener (writing software): $13 (one-time purchase on sale)

Was this necessary? Not all of it. I could have picked ONE editing tool instead of three, especially as Grammarly and ProWriting Aid are essentially the same program.

Should have been: $150–200 (just Grammarly or ProWriting Aid, not both + AutoCrit)

What I Didn't Pay For (But Probably Should Have):

Formatting: $0 (did it myself, it looked great, but once again, it's not professional, so I assume it could have been better)

• ISBN: $0 (used Amazon's free ISBN)
• Marketing: $0 (this was my biggest mistake)
• Professional cover designer: $0 (should have spent $300–500)
• Proofreader: $0 (should have spent $300)
• Author website: $0 (should have spent $100–200 instead of a free Linktree at the time)

What I Should Have Spent: $3,450–4,200

Now that I'm on the other side of the process, I can easily evaluate the amount I would spend on self-publishing a book. Here's what a smarter budget would have looked like:

Editing: $2,300

• Developmental edit: $1,200
• Copyedit: $800
• Proofreading: $300

Cover Design: $400

• Professional book cover designer who understands genre: $400
• Skip the Fiverr + Canva hybrid approach

Formatting: $150

• Professional formatter instead of DIY: $150
• Clean, professional interior matters

Writing Tools: $150

• Pick ONE tool (Grammarly OR ProWriting Aid): $150/year
• Stop paying for multiple tools that do the same thing

Marketing Foundation: $350–500

• Email marketing tool (ConvertKit/Mailchimp): $150 for 6 months
• Basic author website: $100–200 (domain + simple site)
• Lead magnet design: $100

ISBN (optional): $125

• Your own ISBN instead of Amazon's free one
• Only matters if you care about appearing as the publisher

Launch Marketing: $200–500

• Small ad budget to generate initial momentum
• NetGalley or similar for advance reviews: $50–100

Total Smart Budget: $3,675–4,225

The "Free" Self-Publishing Myth

Here's what I find fascinating, eighteen months on from launching my book. Everywhere you look, you'll see articles claiming you can self-publish for free.

Technically true. You can:

• Write in Google Docs (free)
• Edit it yourself (free)
• Design a cover in Canva (free)
• Format in a free tool (free)
• Upload to Amazon KDP (free)
• Use Amazon's free ISBN (free)

Total cost: $0

But here's what that actually looks like:

• Your book will have typos and structural issues you can't see because you edited it yourself. 
• Your cover will look like a crude Canva cover, which signals "amateur" to readers and turns off readers before they even know what your book is about. 
• Your formatting will be functional but not polished. You'll have no marketing foundation, no reviews and no audience, which is the most important of all.

You can publish for free. But you can't publish well for free.

And a poorly published book is invisible, I've painfully discovered. No one finds it, no one buys it, and it sits on Amazon with (almost) zero sales.

I know because that's what happened to mine, even with $3,500+ invested with the blood, sweat and tears, too.

What Actually Matters (Where to Spend Money)

If I could go back and redistribute my budget, here's what I'd prioritise:

#1: Professional editing ($2,000–2,500)

Non-negotiable. You cannot see your own mistakes. You're too close to the work and need someone who can objectively help you make it the best possible. 

A professional editor catches the plot holes, pacing issues, and inconsistencies you'll never spot. They make your book better, as much as we want to argue with them. 

Skip this, and your book will read like an unedited draft. And having read a lot of self-published books, I can attest that readers notice.

#2: Professional cover ($300–500)

Your cover is marketing, not art as we've come to regard it. It needs to fit genre conventions while standing out slightly.

Readers make buying decisions in two seconds based on the cover. If it looks amateur or doesn't signal the right genre, they scroll past.

A $400 cover that sells 100 books is a better investment than a $1,000 cover that sells zero (because you spent your marketing budget on the cover).

#3: Marketing foundation ($500–1,000)

This is where I completely failed. I spent $0 on marketing and wondered why nobody bought my book. Well, that isn't exactly true. I knew why no one bought it, but I thought there would be a little more organic traffic on a big website like Amazon. 

I was wrong. 

From my experience, you need:

• Email list tool to build your audience before launch (hello Substack!)
• Basic website so people can find you
• A small ads budget to generate initial sales and reviews
• Tools to get your book in front of readers

A book with no marketing is a book nobody knows exists.

#4: Formatting ($100–200)

A professionally formatted book looks polished. A DIY formatted book looks DIY.

Most readers won't consciously notice good formatting, but they'll notice bad formatting. It breaks immersion.

For $150, you can have a pro make your interior look like a real book and ensure you have met all the basic conventions readers expect.

Lower priority:

• Multiple editing tools (pick one)
• Expensive cover designers ($1,000+ is overkill unless you're in a visual-heavy genre)
• Your own ISBN (Amazon's free one works fine for most authors)

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

Beyond the direct expenses, there are costs people don't talk about:

Time: 8–12 months

I spent eight months writing, then another six months editing and revising, and then another month on publishing logistics.

If you value your time at even minimum wage, that's thousands of dollars in opportunity cost.

Learning curve: Priceless

I spent hours learning:

• How Amazon KDP works
• What categories and keywords to use
• How to format for Kindle and print
• How book marketing actually works (too late)

This knowledge has value, but it took time to acquire, time that I wasn't earning from my book. 

Emotional cost: Significant

The disappointment of launching to zero sales, the embarrassment of telling people about a book nobody bought, and the questioning of whether you're actually a writer cost me everything.

I didn't budget for that. But it was the most expensive part, and it's the part I'm still paying for now as I'm staring down the barrel of writing another book. 

What You Can DIY (And What You Can't)

You can DIY:

• Writing (obviously)
• Basic formatting if you're tech-savvy and patient
• Social media marketing (though you'll need to learn it and exercise patience as you build)
• Uploading to Amazon KDP
• Keyword research (free tools available)

You cannot DIY well:

• Editing your own work (you're too close to see the problems)
• Cover design (unless you're a professional designer who understands book covers)
• Marketing strategy (you can learn, but it takes time you might not have)

You shouldn't DIY even if you can:

• Professional formatting (it's cheap enough to outsource and is a game changer)
• Proofreading (fresh eyes catch what you miss, and you will miss a lot)

The Minimum Viable Budget

If you're on a tight budget, here's the bare minimum to publish something decent:

$1,500–2,000:

• Editing (developmental + copy): $1,200–1,500
• Professional cover: $300–400
• Proofreading: $200–300
• Everything else: DIY

This won't give you a perfect book, but it'll give you a professional-looking one that doesn't scream "amateur."

Here's what I know: skip the editing, and you're not saving money. You're publishing an unfinished book.

The "I Have No Budget" Strategy

If you literally have zero dollars, here's what you do:

• Don't publish yet.
• Here's what I would recommend doing instead:
• Write and revise until you've saved $1,500–2,000
• Build your audience while you save (free: social media, blogging, networking and email marketing)
• Learn marketing (free: YouTube, blogs and podcasts will educate you cheaply)
• Test your book concept with a newsletter or blog series (free and allows you to iron out kinks in real time)

By the time you've saved enough to publish professionally, you'll also have an audience to launch to.

Publishing a $0 book to a $0 audience gets you $0 sales. I know from experience.

If I could impart any wisdom, don't do what I did. It's heartbreaking. 

The Real Cost of Self-Publishing

The financial cost is $1,500–4,000, depending on how much you DIY and how professional you want to be.

But the real cost is:

• 8–12 months of time (that's being conservative)
• Emotional energy and resilience
• Learning curve and mistakes
• Opportunity cost of not doing something else

You can absolutely self-publish for free. But you can't self-publish successfully for free.

I spent $3,547 and still failed because I didn't invest in what actually matters: marketing.

If I'd spent $2,500 on the book and $1,000 on marketing, I might have actually sold copies.

Instead, I have a professionally edited book with decent graphics that nobody has ever read.

Self-publishing isn't free. But it's also not as expensive as some people claim.

You just have to spend money on the right things, which I didn't figure out until after I'd already failed.

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I write about the emotional and practical reality of being a writer - drafting, doubt, discipline, and publishing while still figuring it out.

Mostly for people who write because they have to, need to, want to | https://linktr.ee/ellenfranceswrites