How to cut the cost of self-publishing

Jan 20, 2025 | Publishing, Writing | 0 comments

Publishing can be an expensive endeavor. But self-publishing offers many inexpensive options. Following the success of her first guest post on the Bashful Blagger, indie author Valerie Fuqua now shares what she has learned about cost-cutting in self-publishing, and the effect it can have on your publishing experience.

Valerie Fuqua, indie author and artist

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about self-publishing. Unfortunately, many of the sources have their own interests at heart. A vanity publisher will tell you all the things you absolutely have to pay for to be a successful author. Yet somehow… success still eludes many of us.

The truth is, finding success as an author is challenging, no matter what path you choose, no matter how much you spend. It’s best to assume any money you spend on your book is gone forever and will never come back. Never spend any money you can’t stand to never see again.

To cut through the bull, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about being a self-published author. You don’t need to spend ANYTHING to self-publish. Thing is, you also get what you pay for. For my first stories I chose to pick a website, upload my files and get things out there because my anxiety couldn’t tolerate anything else. I was too scared to investigate. I was too scared to ask questions. I was too scared to advertise or make promises for things that didn’t yet exist.

So, of course, I got nowhere.

Since then, I’ve been asking questions. And learning. And finding out all the things I didn’t know about self-publishing. Based on my own experiences and what I have heard from the stories of the successful and unsuccessful authors around me, this is what I have learned about what and how to cut costs, and the effect it can have on your publishing experience. This is not a guarantee. Every experience is different. Some people can pay nothing and get unmitigated success and others can spend thousands and still find themselves consigned to obscurity. But this general guide can help you find the path that works best for your situation and your experience.

PREPARATION

After you’ve finished drafting your story, and let it rest a while so that you can be objective about it, it’s time to start the self-editing process. [See Valerie’s first guest post for the Bashful Blagger: How To Do Self-Editing.] Of course you can do all the revising yourself, but an outsider will likely notice things you haven’t spotted yourself.

Developmental Editor

A developmental editor helps make your story read better. They look at everything; the characters, the plot, any twists you do or don’t have, how the words flow, your dialogue and even how you transition from one scene to the next. They are INVALUABLE for helping you improve as an author, and they set your book up as best it can to go far and do a lot in the marketplace. Highly recommended, but the good ones will charge you. You can give it a shot getting an editor to do an editing swap for you, or swap with other skills you have, but this can have iffy results.

Finding good dev editors can be challenging, but the good news is that writing groups with professionals will usually have good advice on where you can find all the best resources [see below].

Blurb

A blurb is a short description written for promotional purposes. It tells readers what your book is about and why they should buy it. I don’t know why you’d pay for a blurb, just give it a shot, post on a writing site, get some feedback and make adjustments. Yes, it can do a LOT for getting your book seen. But it’s so short, everyone offers their help for free! So why pay for it? Kudos if someone offers this as part of a package with something else though! I just see it a lot like tossing in a free car wash after the shop fixes your car. Except…probably a much better quality. I like to take inspiration from voiceovers on blockbuster movie trailers, but other book blurbs work, too.

Beta readers

These are basically practice customers for your book. Just like beta testing in the gaming industry, a beta reader will go through the reading experience of your story, then give you feedback on how it was and what you can improve. Can’t say how likely they are to actually reply, but if you get twice as many beta readers as you need, you should have enough opinions shake out to be helpful. I do not recommend paying for betas, but those who do offer their services for a fee seem to include a much more detailed analysis of the story, and they are probably more likely to reply. If it’s worth it to you, go for it. I prefer to cut costs here, myself.

Finding betas can be easy, especially online. You find them wherever you find readers. Typically this is unpaid because they get to read the story for free. They just agree to give you feedback in return for that. It’s easiest to get volunteers for the position when you approach it the same way you’d sell the book. You post your blurb and just add at the end that it’s free for their opinion. The catchier you make the blurb, the more likely you will find takers that’ll actually read the book.

PRODUCTION

Editing

I admit, I don’t know much about the difference between a copy editor and a proofreader  but they are both about finding the mistakes in your story and fixing them. Grammatical errors, spelling errors, punctuation, that sort of thing. This is very important because too many of these left in your story will make it unreadable and anger anyone who spent money on your story lickety-split! This may be something you can get away with doing for swap or free, but I do not recommend using AI or even just relying on a spellchecker. Computers do their best, but I know the English language is very much in the habit of breaking its own rules. This is too intuitive a job for even AI to keep up with. Definitely best to wait on hiring either of these until no more changes are planned on the story. And don’t forget to ask them to check your blurb as well.

Cover artist

This is definitely recommended if the cover you want takes a lot of skill to create, or you have no idea what kind of cover to create. Cover artists have an eye for what works and what will speak to people because this is their medium. But most will charge you for it. I wish I knew a good, safe place to find artists instead of scammers, but… you’re on your own there. I’m an artist, so I did all my own artwork. Wish you luck on that one.

You can also get it done on a dime with a close-up pic of abstract art or a random photo you’ve taken. I can’t say for sure how effective it will be at getting people to read your book, though. I can only say that I’ve seen plenty of professional covers that were basically that. Just do your best to balance and properly frame your photo with decent resolution. It can easily be created in GIMP, free for download via GIMP.org. And try to pick a photo that has at least something to do with the plot of your story, and/or the feel of it. It’s good to find publishing, cover art or author groups that can give you feedback on how effectively the cover speaks to your target audience about your book.

SELF-PUBLISHING OPTIONS

Vanity publishers

If you’re self-publishing, I do NOT recommend getting it ‘professionally’ done.  Seriously, it is not rocket science to upload a few files on the internet or create an account. It is complicated and there are things that can go wrong and it’s a pretty big headache, but I’ve seen the other side of the coin go much worse on people. And unfortunately, a lot of the places that ‘offer’ this will charge you enormous fees, won’t deliver on much and you can’t even gain access to any of the accounts because they ‘manage’ them for you, which is a load of crap.

I have not dealt directly with any of these services myself, but I have spoken to many people who have. The feedback isn’t great. I have met a handful of people that were fully satisfied by the service, but MANY who were not. Some were outright accusing theft and fraud to the company. You’re basically paying someone else to set you up for a major scam. Too many of those places just do all the easy stuff you could’ve done yourself and set you up for print on demand. It’s too easy for them to hold your royalties hostage without any ability on your end to hold them accountable or even verify the truth! It’s all based on trust. Far too much, if you ask me.

Seriously, just make your own accounts on several sites, upload your story yourself, and use tech support and/or contact an online writing group if you have any trouble making it work. Chances are good that several people here have already had your error and done the six weeks of fighting and research to find out the answer on how to fix it.

Some services will print up a physical book, which does have advantages. Those would be worth the money if the books were actually of any kind of quality. I haven’t heard good things about the print results, though. To me, it just doesn’t pay off often enough, nor does it sound like it’s actually worth the cost. Not to me. By the way, this is based on my own and other people’s experience with vanity publishers.

Hybrid publishers

I don’t know too much about the results of hybrid publishers, however the few things I have heard sound positive. I’m not a fan of paying for publishing, but those that have with hybrids seem to be happy with the results. My sample size is pretty small though.

It is tough to tell a hybrid publisher from a vanity publisher, but a good place to start would be checking out the website. The main page and often even other pages will be generally geared toward the avenue of their highest income. If it’s aimed at selling books to readers, it may be a hybrid. If it’s aimed at selling publishing packages to authors, it’s probably a vanity publisher. It’s hard to trust a company that doesn’t make money off selling books. Makes you wonder if the books are even worth buying, doesn’t it? But on hybrid publishers’ sites, their main page is all about the books. [For example, see the main page of Iguana Books, the quality publishers of Becoming Janice.] If they are genuinely a hybrid publisher, the quality could be worth it, but it’s good to ask questions and do your research before handing the money over, just in case.

Writing groups

I STRONGLY recommend relying on the support of a decent, knowledgeable writing community that has experience working with an outside marketing team.

Many writing groups are mostly hobbyists and hopefuls, but when you find one with successful authors in it, it opens up a world of experience you never knew was possible. I’m lucky to be in the Facebook group Women Writers, Editors, Agents and Publishers. They’re such an amazing resource! This group has been an eye-opening experience for me and taught me a LOT about what I didn’t know about the publishing world. I definitely recommend finding at least one good writing group with successful published authors so you can plug in and soak up their wisdom.

Women writers, I do recommend joining this group if you want to make a go of self-publishing. They’ve got sooooo many successful authors on there who actually know what they’re doing, and many will give you the benefit of their experience for free.

Sorry guys, I don’t have anything to recommend for all of you, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. It just means I stopped looking after I found this group.

Lastly, remember this

There is no wrong way to publish a book. No more than there’s a wrong way to write a book. Some ways will be less expensive than others. Some ways will bring fewer tears. But if you end up with a book in your hand, your way wasn’t wrong, no matter how many missteps there were along the way. Bring all that knowledge and experience with you to your next book!▼

 

COMING SOON

Did you notice that Valerie didn’t mention a really important topic for indie authors? Don’t worry, it’s intentional. Watch out for her next appearance on the Bashful Blagger when she will share her tips on “inexpensive ways you can get your book out there” in How to Market Your Book.

Besides being a skillful writer, Valerie is a talented artist. She calls this colorful work of art “My Paint Horse”. To support her artistic endeavors, buy Valerie a coffee.

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