As I concluded in my last post, I’ve decided to self-publish GOLIATH FALLEN. Bless my soul, Hugh Howey. With that decision now behind me, the next step is to do some budgeting for my book to see whether this is even feasible. I must reiterate that I’m a non-native English speaker writing a novel in English, which will only make things harder on my wallet.
Figuring out my needs
After some research and reflection, this is what I believe I will need to budget for to get my book ready for publishing:
- Copy and substantial editing — I’m pretty self-aware of my English proficiency. While I’m confident I can write a book that makes sense, some phrasing might read awkwardly. I try my best to make dialogue feel as natural as possible, but it’s impossible for me to write it from the perspective of a native speaker. I’ve found Grammarly and ProWritingAid to be priceless, essential tools to check my grammar and strengthen my writing, but they can only take you so far. With this in mind, I’ll need to hire a pro to polish the rough edges.
- A badass cover — I’ve been publishing my draft on Wattpad to gain initial impressions and get my name in front of a community of readers and writers like myself. On the platform, I used a cover I designed in Canva with art from the incredibly talented @naked.monkey, who was nice enough to license it to me for non-profit purposes for a small fee. (Always compensate and credit other people’s hard work.) As much as I love that cover, I’ll have to commission a new one for ebook and print distribution due to commercial license limitations.
- A badass blurb (aka the “book description”) — Writing compelling, effective book descriptions is a talent that few writers have. Those who are good at it actually build entire careers writing descriptions for others. Personally, I am terrible at writing blurbs, which isn’t a great skill to lack when the appeal of a book weighs on the blurb as much as the cover (if not even more).
Okay, that sums up what I need to budget for prior to publishing. Post-publish expenses (ARCs, promos, etc.) are a topic for a later day.
Adding up the numbers
It took me a few days to figure out how much these expenses would cost. Here’s what I’m budgeting:
Service | Rate |
|---|---|
Copy editing | $2,750 — $5,500 |
Cover design | $350 — $800 |
Blurb | $350 |
Total | $3,900 — $6,300 |
Editing is very expensive, especially for a 92,000-word book like GOLIATH FALLEN. Depending on where you look, a good editor can be even more expensive than you thought possible. I’m staying optimistic and budgeting $2,750 for the task of copy editing. If I can get a full editing combo (developmental editing, 2‑pass copy editing, and proofreading), I’d have to budget closer to the $5,000 range. Luckily, I’ve been able to run my novel through several critique partners who have helped me with most of the developmental aspects. Who knows, maybe I can find an editor who has mercy on my soul.
As for the cover, I’ll plan to go all out as that’s one of the first things the reader will notice while browsing Amazon. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but many literally do. I want it to look professional, so I’ll plan to budget accordingly. I’m aiming to pay a designer between $350 on the low end up to a whopping $800 (and something tells me I’ll end up finding out this high end is actually the low end).
So, there you have it! That’s my very optimistic budget so far. I’ll start reaching out for some quotes and come back with an updated table once I have more precise estimates.
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