What Does it Cost to Publish a Book?

A lot goes into producing a book and the costs can quickly add up. In our case, it also takes a whole team of people to make the magic happen in the world of publishing. Let’s break it down, shall we?

Submissions

For a publishing house like ours, the process starts when we receive a submission. A small team of slush pile readers read and review hundreds of submissions and provide their feedback. Sometimes these readers are volunteers, like our anthology judges, but most of the time this job is done by in-house staff. 

Content Edit 

Once the contract is signed, the first step is to read the manuscript and give detailed feedback on the story structure, setting, characters, theme and general readability. This is typically done by one of our editors, though we also have the option of hiring someone on a contract basis. For the anthology, we call this our ‘workshopping’ process, which is where we work with the author to improve the story using the notes provided by our judges before the story goes to print. 

Line Edit

After the author has completed any rewrites, an editor goes through the manuscript another time, this time paying attention to sentence structure, spelling, and grammar, while also keeping an eye out for anything that might have been missed in the content editing phase. This, again, is done by one of our editors in-house, or may be contracted out. 

Beta Readers

At Mirror World, our beta readers have all been volunteers, but it’s not uncommon for beta readers to get paid as well. Basically, a beta reader is an advanced reviewer who has a chance to provide feedback to the author and publisher before the book is finalized. 

Formatting – eBook and Paperback

Next, the finished manuscript gets formatted twice; once as an ebook and once as a paperback. At Mirror World, this job is done by the publisher.

Cover Art and Layout

At Mirror World, we really invest in our covers, so this is typically one of our larger expenses. The cost of the art itself ranges anywhere from $250 to $1000, depending on the artist and the complexity of what we’re asking them to do. Then we have a designer arrange the font and the layout of the jacket design, which is done in-house or, again, contracted out. 

First Print Run

Another costly aspect of publishing is printing. Each book costs anywhere between $5.00 and $8.00 USD to print. When we first produce a book, we have to order stock to be able to fulfill pre-orders and launch week sales and ensure we have enough copies to bring to upcoming events. And don’t forget, books are heavy, so shipping them is an additional cost we need to factor in.

Marketing

Something I have learned over the years I’ve run Mirror World is that you can really spend as much as you want on marketing and it will still never feel like enough. Our marketing budget includes ads, social media, blog tours, and table fees at as many local events as we can fit on our calendar. 

Paying the Authors! 

Probably the most important of all of these costs is ensuring that our writers and artists get paid. For books, that comes in the form of royalties. At Mirror World, we give our authors 50% of all net revenue on the sale of their books. For the anthology authors, we offer prize money and a printed copy of the finished anthology.

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Publishing a book is a process that takes a lot of time and love. Unfortunately, the process is also a costly one, which often limits how and how many books get put out into the world by small publishers like Mirror World. However, knowing the costs that publishers (and self-publishers) may incur can help demystify the process.

-Justine