2. You need a Budget

Marketing your book

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Once you make the decision to self-promote, the first thing you need is a budget. There are certain things you have to do to create a professional-looking book that people will love, and more importantly, purchase. I will outline these things here for you. Now, if you decide to cut corners it doesn’t mean you won’t be successful in selling your work, but it will reduce your chances.

1. You must have your work edited. Thinking you can edit your own work is really a decision to gamble with disaster. There are six types of editing which you can learn more about here: Types of Editing - Reedsy (Reedsy is a great source for finding the things you need done. I found a wonderful editor there, shout out to Elizabeth Denoma). 

Editing costs will depend on the type you need and how many words your book/novel is. I had a developmental edit done for my novel which was 95,000 words. It cost me $1,800.  I would budget around $2,200 for this service if you are writing a full length novel. Figure in about .02 per word.

1. Cover design. A professionally done cover is a must.  The first thing that any buyer will be attracted to is the book’s cover.  If it doesn’t intrigue them, if it doesn’t ‘sizzle’, they are going to browse some more until they find a cover that does it for them. Having your best friend/sister/son/nephew/neighbor’s best friend’s sister’s son do a cover for you just isn’t going to work trust me, unless you know what you are doing and can accurately direct the person, or they are professional cover designers. This service can cost up to $1,000. I would budget $500 for it and if you act soon, you can get this service from me (and more) for only $350. Best Selling Book Promotion - Cover Design offer.
2. You might want to budget to have someone turn your manuscript into a form that will easily upload into Amazon (via Kindle Direct Publishing). This will cost you $100 to $200 but the process is not so hard that you can’t learn to do it yourself. Or hire me to promote your book and I’ll include this service in my fee.
3. Advertising – Nothing is going to sell without some form of advertising. Whether it’s a hand written sign you prop up on a card table in a flea market or a sophisticated online ad campaign, you gotta get the word out!  For an initial launch, I tell my clients to budget at least $500 to get their book launched to a best seller status. On going advertising, you should figure on spending $10 to $20 a day to start, and then adjust according to sales. Once you have the book launched you just need to allocate some of your profits back into keeping your book in front of buyers.
4. Professional promotions. I charge anywhere from $800 up to $10,000 for a launch promotion. It all depends on what the client’s goals are and what they can afford. Of course, you can do it yourself and hopefully learn what I know through trial and error.

 
So to recap, you need to budget:
 

1. Editing          $2,200
2. Cover            $   500
3. Convert        $   200
4. Advertising $   500 (minimum for launch)
5. Promote      $   800 (minimum) to $10,000 (depending on what you can afford and what you need.)

 
So, with a budget of $4,200 you can create a professional book and launch it to Best Seller status. You may be thinking you could go to an independent (vanity) publisher for this price, and you can but what you will get will be the book and no promotion.  They will do a great job editing and designing a great looking book for you, but you won’t get more than a few tips on how to promote it let alone how to get to a Best Seller Status. 
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                I went this route with my children’s book. I spent $8,000 on it and got a very well-done children’s story but when it came time to market it, all I got were a few bookmarkers, a special ‘author’s discount’ on purchases, and a sales sheet to send or hand out to book stores. Needless to say, I did not sell very many copies of my children’s book!
 
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In my next post, I’ll discuss ways you can save up to get your book promoted