Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
A lot of people jump onto the self-publishing bandwagon in the hopes to make money. However, it’s a bit more involved and difficult than what a lot of “experts” tout. You can’t just write a book, slap it up on Amazon, and expect the royalties to come flowing in.
There are simply too many variables to consider when trying to figure out how much a self-published author makes in general.
Two Types of Self-Publishing to Make Money
When we talk about self-publishing, there are two primary methods: publishing houses and being independent. They are two very distinct forms, and you need to be very clear as to which one you want to use.
The amount of money you’ll need to invest will be vastly different depending on several factors.
Publishing Houses
Most self-publishing houses will require quite a bit of money upfront. Usually, these costs include marketing materials, book printing, editing, and a few other things to help get your book looking amazing.
However, they can also be the source of some major issues down the road. For example, my sister had her book published and had a horrible experience with a self-publishing house that went belly up.
The end result was losing thousands of dollars in both her investment and royalties.
Independent and Print-on-Demand
Another route to make money with self-publishing is by being independent. Now, when I say, “independent,” I mean doing all of the work yourself.
Perhaps one of the most common platforms for this is Kindle Direct Publishing through Amazon. With this method, you can sell eBooks or use KDPs print-on-demand service to sell paperbacks and hardcover books.
You are in control and responsible for everything. Amazon is simply the platform to sell the book. Essentially, you’re leasing it to Amazon to sell, and you still own all of the rights to your content.
Of course, this is also probably one of the most difficult to master.
You have to do everything yourself, from writing the book to marketing. Then again, you can hire experts to help with certain aspects if you wish. Nonetheless, you can literally get your book published without spending a single dime.
I self-published A Freelancer’s Tale for free. Though, I plan on spending a bit of money to market the book.
How to Make Money with Self-Publishing
No one can guarantee you’ll make X amount of dollars publishing your own book. As I said, there are simply too many variables. Some people can publish a book that instantly goes viral, while others will languish with a handful of sales.
So, let’s look over the things you need to consider if you’re looking to make quite a bit of money.
Write Something People Want to Read
The most important thing to consider when writing your book is putting out something someone wants to read. This is especially true if you’re working with non-fiction.
Just because you think a topic is interesting doesn’t mean a lot of other people will as well.
With how easy it is to jump on trends and use search data nowadays, coming up with something that people want to buy isn’t as difficult. However, knowing the topic is only part of the struggle.
Have a Writing Style Your Audience Enjoys
Not everyone is going to have a style that engages an audience. Some of the best authors in the world spent years honing their style to accommodate their target audience.
Case in point, stuff I wrote in 2016 makes me cringe today simply because I’ve come a long way.
But if you can’t string a plot together or have issues connecting with the reader, you’ll get bad reviews. These bad reviews usually end with fewer sales.
Spend Time Marketing Your Book
The biggest contributor to self-publishing your book to make money is marketing. After all, no one is going to buy your book if they don’t know it exists.
Depending on your book, this could easily become the greatest expense.
One of the difficult parts of marketing the book yourself is figuring out what methods work the best. And since there are many ways to market anything online, it’ll take a bit of effort to find those methods.
Pricing to Make Money with Self-Publishing
When it comes to pricing your book, it can be a bit tricky. You want to make money, but you don’t want to price your book so high no one will buy it. You need to spend a bit of time figuring out what a fair price may be for your type of book.
Take a look at what other authors sell their books for on the platform for similar topics. It can help you get an idea of where your price point should be.
Build Up Your Audience
A quick way to sell several copies at the moment your self-published book goes live is to have an audience already interested in the topic. In fact, I sold more copies once it went live from my fans and followers than any other time so far.
Building up an audience can take quite a bit of time, though. And it’s possible to make a fair amount of money self-publishing your book without one. Yet, there’s no denying how your fan base can drive immediate sales.
In my case, a lot of my YouTube subscribers bought the book as soon as Amazon had it available.
Common Expenses for Self-Publishing Your Book to Make Money
I didn’t spend anything to publish my book. Then again, the purpose of the first book was to see how much I could do for free. When it comes to my next book, which comes out in a couple of months, I plan on spending some cash.
So, what are some of the more common expenses to get a book ready to make money?
Editing
The editing process can take nearly as long as the writing process. This is because you want the manuscript to be clean, legible, and interesting with a good sense of continuity.
Editors can charge anywhere from $400 to $4,000, depending on the length of the book.
If you have the money, it’s worth hiring a professional editor. No author should edit his or her own works. Just make sure you find someone who is experienced and justly priced.
Your name is on the self-published piece, and a poorly published book can hurt your reputation. You want it to read well, otherwise, you’ll see a drop in sales due to poor reviews.
Cover Design
There are a lot of ways to design the cover of your book. And a lot of apps out there today make it quite a simple process. For example, I used Canva for the eBook version of my book, and it was incredibly easy.
Still, you may want to consider hiring a designer or illustrator if you have pictures within the book. A lot can be said for having stunning visuals to give your manuscript a professional appearance.
Yes, people will judge a book by its cover.
Formatting
When self-publishing to make money, you want to consider the overall formatting of the book. I’m talking about fonts, font sizes, how headers appear, empty pages, front and back matter, and much more.
In my case, I used Kindle Create. Though, it’s not the most stable nor intuitive free software on the Internet.
In any case, you can buy professional software or hire an expert to format your book. This can vary greatly in the hundreds of dollars depending on which you choose.
Luckily, a lot of editors include formatting as part of the process and is rolled into the price.
Marketing
As I said earlier, marketing is going to be huge if you plan on making money with your publishing. There’s only so much that can happen for free, and it’ll probably take a few bucks to get the ball rolling.
The thing about marketing, though, is that you have a slew of ways you can go about getting your book out there. You have access to Amazon ads, paid blog posts, YouTube commercials, Facebook and Google ads, and the list goes on.
It’s probably going to cost a bit to find the best paid marketing methods that work for you. And most will have significant cost differences.
For example, you can use Kindle Lockscreen ads on Amazon. But, you’ll need a minimum of $100…plus your bids cannot be less than 100x your investment. This means at the minimum, you would be charged $1 per click.
It’s very easy to burn through your marketing budget, so weigh your options carefully.
So, Can You Make Money Self-Publishing the Book?
The potential to make money publishing your book on something like Amazon or Barnes & Noble is there. It’s not a case of whether or not people read eBooks or paperbacks today.
It comes down to you as the author and who you’re writing for.
Creative works are usually much easier to market as the audience is so vast for nearly every niche. But non-fiction works are usually more focused because of the topics they cover.
If I was to compare how much I’ve made off of royalties versus how much I’ve spent thus far, then yes, you can make money by publishing the book yourself.
The amount of money you make, though, will depend on the book’s content and how well you market it.
Remember, you need to write something people will want to read, and then figure out how to tempt them to buy and read the book.
What Kind of Book Are You Writing?
Every topic, niche, genre, and industry will have an audience. Unfortunately, the audience can greatly differ in size.
Yet, even though I’ve only sold a handful of copies, I can say that I’m a published author. Especially since I have a book with my name on the spine sitting on the bookshelf behind me.
For me, that’s all that really mattered with the first book.
Create something amazing for yourself and your readers. It’s possible to make money with self-publishing as long as you realize the work that’s involved.
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