It is one of the first questions every author asks, and one of the hardest to find a straight answer to. The honest answer is that it depends on your manuscript, your genre and how you want your book to look and sell. But every self-published book goes through the same stages, and each stage has a typical price range. Here is what to expect in Australia.
1. Editing
Editing is usually the biggest single cost, and the most important one. A well-edited book earns good reviews; a poorly edited one rarely recovers.
The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) says authors should expect to pay a minimum of $60 to $80 an hour for a professional editor in Australia, and up to $160 an hour or more for very experienced editors. How many hours your book needs depends on its length and how polished it already is.
- Structural editing looks at the big picture: plot, pacing, structure and characters. It is usually the most expensive edit.
- Copyediting fixes sentences, grammar, consistency and clarity.
- Proofreading is the final check for typos once the book is formatted, and costs the least.
Not every book needs all three. Our guide to structural editing, copyediting and proofreading explains how to tell which one your manuscript needs.
2. Cover design
Readers really do judge a book by its cover. A professional, custom cover from an experienced designer typically costs somewhere between a few hundred and a couple of thousand dollars, depending on whether it is an ebook cover only or a full print cover with spine and back. Pre-made template covers are cheaper, but the same design may appear on other books. Read more in what makes a book cover sell.
3. Formatting and typesetting
Formatting turns your manuscript into a properly laid-out print interior and an ebook file. A text-only novel is quicker and cheaper to format. Books with images, tables, footnotes or a picture-book layout take longer and cost more.
4. ISBNs and barcodes
In Australia, ISBNs come from Thorpe-Bowker, the official Australian ISBN agency. A single ISBN costs $44 and a block of 10 costs $88. New publishers also pay a once-off $55 setup fee. Each format of your book needs its own ISBN, so a paperback and an ebook need two, which is why most authors buy the block of 10. Our step-by-step guide covers how to get an ISBN in Australia.
5. Legal deposit
Australian law requires publishers to send a copy of each new book to the National Library of Australia and to their state library. There is no fee, but you pay for the copies and postage. Ebooks can be deposited online.
6. Printing
You have two main choices. Print on demand prints a copy each time someone orders, so there is little or no upfront printing cost; the printing cost comes out of each sale. Offset printing means ordering hundreds or thousands of copies at once. The cost per copy is lower, but you pay upfront and need somewhere to store the books. Most first-time authors start with print on demand, then order a short print run for launches and events.
7. Distribution
Getting your book listed with online retailers and available to bookshops and libraries usually involves small setup costs, with the retailer and distributor taking a share of each sale. The bigger question is reach: which stores, which countries and which formats. See our distribution service for how we handle this.
8. Marketing
A book nobody hears about does not sell, so set aside part of your budget for your launch. Marketing can include advance reader copies, review outreach, an author website, social media, advertising on Amazon or Facebook, and launch events. You can start small and grow your spend as the book proves itself.
So what is the total?
Add up the stages and you can see why the answer varies so much. A short, already polished book that only needs a proofread, a cover and formatting will cost far less than a long manuscript that needs a structural edit, an illustrated layout and a full launch campaign. The best way to get a real figure is to have someone look at your manuscript and tell you exactly what it needs, and what it does not.
How to spend your budget wisely
- Do not skip editing. It is the one cost readers notice most when it is missing.
- Get your own ISBNs. Free ISBNs from some platforms can limit where you sell your book.
- Use print on demand at first so you are not paying for boxes of books before you know how many will sell.
- Plan marketing before launch day, not after. Our guide on marketing your book before launch shows where to start.
Get a clear quote for your book
At Flinders Press we start every project with a free manuscript review, so you know what your book needs before you spend anything. We then give you one clear quote covering editing, design, ISBNs, distribution and marketing. Learn more about our book publishing services or why authors choose us as their Australian book publisher.