# Publishing a book?



## bugbear (Aug 8, 2016)

Is anyone here interested in publishing a book? I am thinking of self-publishing and I am looking at either taking out a loan or teaming up with someone. I am particularly interested in stories involving people who are able to switch to animal forms - in HP-speak, animagus


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## feathertoad (Aug 9, 2016)

Hi! I know this is not the answer to your question but I suggest self-publishing.  Sometimes it's hard to deal with other people especially when that other people is not really that well known by you.  Good luck!


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## Chilari (Aug 9, 2016)

I have moved this thread to the Publishing section of the forum as that is more appropriate for this topic.


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## bugbear (Sep 4, 2016)

feathertoad said:


> Hi! I know this is not the answer to your question but I suggest self-publishing.  Sometimes it's hard to deal with other people especially when that other people is not really that well known by you.  Good luck!



I understand what you mean about self publishing. I know someone who self published, though, and the cost was just a lot. I mean, I've been planning on doing this all my life (an exaggeration of course - but it feels like it) and I've got some money saved just for this purpose, but I am scared of starting something and realizing later on that I am in way over my head. Either I push forward and spend more than what I've been planning to or fall back and I would have thrown my savings down the drain  Either way is just painful to think about 

I also talked to another friend who published online initially - and when he started getting hits on his website and earned some $, he self-published. He did this for two years writing full time! I believe he also took out a personal loan from San Diego's Oldest Credit Union  California Coast CU. The point is, though, it will take a lot of time and money. 

Oh ... the life of a writer. Do all writers have the same challenges or am I going about this the wrong way?


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## skip.knox (Sep 5, 2016)

Self publishing should not cost you a nickel. You can do your own editing, make the cover yourself, put it on Amazon, and you're done.

No, I do not recommend this. You should hire an editor and hire an artist.

You can also try to get traditionally published. To do this, write a book. Send query letters to agents and publishing houses until one says yes. They will give you an advance and you're published.

I recommend this only if you are really good, feeling lucky, and have months to years to wait until someone finally says yes.

What have you written?


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## Russ (Sep 6, 2016)

Yes, making a living at writing can take a great deal or time and/or a great deal of money.  You are correct.

If you could be a bit more specific about your goals and circumstances we might be able to give you some more specific advice or commiseration.


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## deilaitha (Sep 8, 2016)

My advice would be: under no circumstances should you take out a loan to self-publish a book. Instead, set aside a line in your budget and save up for your costs (cover artist, editor, etc.). Your ROI with a self-pubbed book is not likely to warrant a loan, especially if it's your first book.


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## Ronald T. (Nov 16, 2016)

In September, I published my first e-book, THE UNNAMED RUNE, on Amazon and Smashwords.  It's the first novel in an epic-fantasy series I'm writing, and the cost was not terribly prohibitive, although it's not insignificant.  Of course, that's just one person's opinion.

The cost came to a total of approximately $500.00 dollars.  That was to cover the cost of formatting ($160.00), 10 ISBN numbers ($250.00 -- much better than $125.00 for one number), and the print shop costs of less than $100.00.

Of course, if I hadn't wanted my own ISBN numbers, I could've reduced the tally dramatically.

I was able to keep the costs as low as possible by doing much of the work myself.  That work, along with other commitments I couldn't shrug off, has eaten most of my time for the past year.  I had to terminate all social communication, including Facebook and emails, and sadly, my time here on Mythic Scribes, so I could focus all my energy and time on getting my novel ready for publication.  

I did the cover design myself, wishing to create an image that would show up in "thumbnail" proportions.  My wife was my beta reader and my editor, and that saved me a ton of money.  Had it been necessary to hire an editor, I would've been in a world of hurt.  I'm fortunate to have a wife who was, and probably still is, far smarter, grammatically, than that I.  I guess being married for forty-seven years to the same beautiful lady has its advantages.

But here's my advice, for what it's worth.  If you know you're going to publish a book in the future, or have high hopes to do so, start setting aside a little bit of money each month.  When the time for publication comes, it will make that task much easier.


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## psychotick (Nov 16, 2016)

Hi Bugbear,

A little confused by your post. Have you actually written this book? Your post seems to suggest otherwise.

In any case the costs should not be prohibitive, depending on how much you are willing and able to do yourself.

First I do not recommend doing your own cover unless you are an experienced artist. Buy a book cover on line - it should cost from one to three hundred bucks.

Editing is a must, and a professional editor will cost anywhere from five hundred to five thousand bucks. It depends on what sort of editing you're looking for - proof reading or a complete overhaul, how long the book is and how much work there is to do. You can reduce the cost by using beta readers, who usually work for free and maybe a copy of the finished book. But since they aren't professional editors you'll need to use several of them, and revise multiple times. But if they are good readers, hopefully they'll be able to find the plot holes and story issues for you, allowing you to get the final draft into shape and only in need of proofing which is cheaper. Likewise digital proofing programmes will help as well, though they are incredibly frustrating and mostly pull up errors that aren't errors at all. And if you happen to have a grammar nazi in the family or among your friends,or better yet an actual editor, use them. Also critique groups can help at all stages of the writing process.

Next you don't need ISBN's. They are a complete waste of money for most situations since most online publishers either provide them for free or don't require them.

As I say the cost of self publishing doesn't have to be huge. But the amount of effort you put into publishing that way, does, if you want to put out a top quality product.

Cheers, Greg.


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## neodoering (Jan 23, 2017)

Hi Bugbear.

Self-publishing should cost you hardly anything.  I have self-published story collections and novels on CreateSpace.  All it costs is time to format the manuscript and edit it, and a little money to license the cover art through an image provider like Dreamstime.com.  You build the cover yourself off a set of templates, and once they approve it, it appears on Amazon.com, at the price you set.  I've been doing this for years.  I don't have much in the way of sales, but I'm out there.


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