Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
I disagree on cheap editing. Editing and covers are actually fairly expensive and have gone up substantially in the last 7 years. Even if you do your own cover, you are probably going to pay 70 to 100 dollars for various pieces of stock art--and that is at the low end.
While copy editing can be had for around 200 to 300 dollars, that isn't all that cheap for some budgets and it doesn't include storyline editing which is often more like 300 to 600. Marketing is becoming extremely expensive for self-published authors--check the prices at bookbub one of the most popular places to take an ad out these days. Some one-day ads are over 1000 dollars. I think the cheapest is 300 or so for a one-day ad. Book sites that used to take a percentage of the haul (Based on amazon numbers sold) now price such that they take nearly 80 to 100 percent of what they guess the profit to be. The author gets "visibility" and hopes for "sell-through" on a series.
Marketing USED to be cheaper because many sites relied on at least some income as an Amazon (or other) associate. But the cost of ads has skyrocketed, especially on a site that has the ability to drive sales. You can buy 5 and 10 dollar ads, but your results are usually zero. (Many ad sites spend too much time trying to reach AUTHORS rather than readers.)
Some of the low-cost advantages of being indie have receded as the cottage industry serving us writers has expanded and grown.
That said, we don't have employee costs such as paying out for healthcare or 401k or pensions or whatever benefits a large company might offer.
(These are not complaints. Just pointing out some of the costs of indie publishing.)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnemicOak
It can be minimal, but many of the more successful self-published authors are spending thousands of dollars per title. Developmental editing can run big bucks (thousands), copyediting in the hundreds or more depending on length, covers free to thousands depending on artwork used, formatting can be free but can also have a cost, ISBN fees, distribution (Amazon & other retailers are free besides their percent of sales, but getting on OverDrive can cost), print formatting if doing on demand printing (free to $$?), translation costs for other language editions (and editing in those languages), audiobook costs depending on how you do it. That's all before marketing costs which from what I hear are rising.
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My point was that compared to the costs associated with semi-pro video (the Hollywood scheme), even self-published video, the costs associated with ebook publishing are relatively minor. Yes, these costs can add up, but it is up to the author to limit those costs. And some people do spend a lot of money on marketing, etc, but they are generally successful authors protecting and exploiting their brand/products.
While there can be costs associated with self-publishing ebooks, there are higher costs associated with semi-pro (and pro) video production. For example, just the number of crew involved in the shooting is at least 10 people, all of whom expect to be paid.
One would expect that self-published ebooks are at least at the semi-pro level of quality. I realise that some are lower than this, but then again, some professional video/movies aren't even at the semi-pro level.