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Publishing Your Book? is it Worth it? (OR The Cost Of Publishing)

Whenever I get into a series on publishing, any type in fact there seems to be a build up of two armed camps shall we say? Those who believe in traditional publishing and those who are firm in their belief on self-publishing. Yes, publishing your book is worth it, worth it all the way. But I ask for both sides what is the cost of publishing?

For Both: Lack of sleep, late night editing, correcting, rewriting rereading. Then doing it all over again, craving out family time, working another job, learning the basics of marketing, getting a blog out there. Being interactive. Speeches, public speaking, book signings, getting reviews for books (which I do). Sending out letter, which cost money, sending out books which cost money. That is the basic cost of publishing.

For self-publishing: If you aren’t well versed in this group it is both an emotional cost and in some cases an monetary cost. I recommend self-publishing for somethings not for everything. for emotional cost: when a book doesn’t do well or does very well what do you do? do you know the average number of book sold by self-publishing companies? Are you a great do it yourself for everything or are you willing to pay, sometime dearly for “needed extras”? There is a cost, always.

For Traditional publishing: From writing a novel, or a book, to getting it edited to late nights to editors to no quite time, to loss of a regular routine, to meetings to a little less control. In case you’re wondering you do have some control just not as much as if your were self-publishing. The cost of publishing in this case in time, effort, a bit of money and time.

Still, is publishing a book worth it? What are in your mind the cost of publishing?

5 Comments

  • Jill Edmondson

    I think the costs must be weighed against the goals you set for yourself.

    A friend of mine self-published because he liked what he had done. He had a separate career, many hobbies, financial independance, and basically self-publsihed his novel as a lark. He gave copies to friends and family as gifts.

    But, if you want to eventually develop a readership, be reviewed in the news media, and be widely distributed in the big chain stores, self-publishing may not be the way to go.

    Either way, you need time, patience, energy… and money, because even with a publisher, the author will still bear much of teh promotional costs.

    Cheers, Jill
    "Blood and Groom" is now in stores!
    http://www.jilledmondson.com