Publishing School 201: The costs of book publishing

Your publishing costs will probably go far beyond
the cost of physical production

Watch out for greatly inflated prices and for cheap bargains that will not deliver a quality book. Here are some rule-of-thumb prices (always changing) to take into consideration.

Assume that your book will be 5 1/2 inches wide, 8 1/2 inches tall, will have a full-color front cover design by a cover artist, and paperback binding. Price also includes line-by-line editing, page formatting, proof copy to the author for final checking, printing and binding 2,000 books.

1. 25,000 words, 112 pages, $2.76 per book.

2. 65,000 words, 208 pages, $3.95 per book

3. 100,000 words, 320 pages, $7.28 per book.

Expect to pay more if original artwork is needed for the cover, if you want to include illustrations, graphs, or charts in the book, or if your book requires ghostwriting or developmental (structural) editing. Hard cover binding, dust jacket, embossing, and other special effects will add to the total cost. If the price quoted to you is considerably more than these prices, ask for an explanation.

If you want only a few copies of your book, be sure to ask for Print on Demand (POD) options. The cost per book is considerably higher for POD than for traditional printing, but the total cost is much less for small quantities. POD makes economic sense for 50 to 500 copies. Regardless of whether you choose POD or traditional printing, the cost to prepare your book for printing is the same.

Don't shop around cafeteria style for the best prices for each phase of book production and expect to be satisfied with the results. You'll do better if you choose one "packager" or "publishing consultant" who can handle all aspects of your book. Also, many packagers will not take on your project unless it includes printing and binding as well as pre-press services. They maintain this policy because they feel they cannot guarantee the quality of the final book unless they are involved in all the steps required to produce your book

And what about your book?

Tell us about it.

We'd love to hear from you. Call us any time at 800 359-9503. Or send us email (hodi@mindspring.com).