Self-publishing can be a great option for authors who want to maximize the profits from the sale of their books, but it can also be quite costly to publish a book on your own. The great benefit of having a publisher is that they pay for many of the costs of printing, distributing, and marketing your book, but they take lots of the profits. If you’re looking to self-publish, you may be concerned about the costs it will take you to self-publish. However, it is possible, albeit difficult, to self-publish for free.
- Use an E-book Platform
Don't pay for printing. One of the biggest costs of self-publishing is paying large sums to have your book printed. However, in the age of the Internet, it’s now possible to publish you book online and get it distributed to readers through tablets instead of traditional paper books. Some e-book distributers will charge you to create your e-book, but many won’t charge you a thing. The main thing to remember here, though, is that e-book distributers make their money by taking a percentage of your sales. So while doing an e-book won’t create costs, you do end up paying for it because it decreases your profits. - Print On-Demand
Another option to avoid printing costs is to print on-demand. This means that you only print books as you sell them. While you do have to pay for printing on-demand, you can usually charge the customer for printing costs, which eliminates the upfront costs on your hands. - Do the Formatting Yourself
These days one major problem self-publishers face is how to get their book formatted. Many people just pay someone to format their book, but it can cost you a few hundred dollars. There are, however, ways to do it for free. If you know Adobe InDesign, you can format your pages fairly easily through a multi-page document that takes your text from Microsoft Word and formats your pages. There are also other free services like diybookformats.com, but these services may not look the best or give you nearly as many options as InDesign will. - Find Free Editing
If you want your book to be successful, you need to get it edited. Professional editing can cost a lot, but you can have amateurs edit it for free. Attend peer-editing workshops or classes and have your peers edit your manuscript as a part of the curriculum to avoid costs. - Don’t Buy an ISBN
ISBNs are important for distribution purposes and reputability, but they cost $100. If you want to distribute your book all on your own, then just don’t buy an ISBN. Or, use an e-book site. - Use Free Platforms for Marketing
If you want to reach a wide audience, you have to do a little marketing and public relations work. It’s always great to hire a professional, but you can also do it on your own for free. Use social media sites and blogs to get the word out there. You can also create a website for free using Wordpress.com. Keep in mind that the more work you put into it all, the better your sales will be.
