Thread: The Requirements of Publishing

What are the requirements of publishing a book? I need to know, how much does it cost, what do i need?

Going with a commercial publisher costs you nothing other than time and effort to find a good agent. Self-publishing costs whatever you decide your book is worth in terms of hiring editors, cover designer, etc. And, of course, if you go with a vanity publisher, it will cost you up the ying-yang and you'll have very little to show for it.

I would suggest you start studying this and other writers' forums and learn about the whole of publishing, since there are so many questions and twice as many answers.

This question merits a really long answer, and unfortunately, it's one I don't feel like typing. I'm assuming you're not talking about traditional publishing, because that shouldn't cost you anything. (If you're trying to go that route, any agent or publisher that charges a reading fee is probably scamming you, so stay away.)

As to self-publishing, the answer really depends on what method of self-publication you choose. Lulu and Createspace are probably the cheapest routes to go, just for the simple fact that you don't have to buy several hundred copies of your book and then try and sell them. Print on Demand publishing (such as Lulu and Createspace) will cost you a little bit of money to get started, especially if you opt for Createspace's $40 premium program that allows you to make more profit per sale. But any copies of your book you do choose to buy, you will have to pay for, and obviously, you'll have to buy some in order to check formatting and all that.

If you just want to publish in ebook or PDF format, that really won't cost you anything to publish.

If you want to promote your book, however, that's probably where you'll spend the bulk of your cash. It's recommended to get reviews, which unless you have some really good reputable friends, you'll have to pay for those as well. Advertising itself can cost quite a bit too, but there are cheap ways to go about doing it. Blogging and such can be a good route, but you have to know how to do it right. Making a blog and writing posts isn't going to get you much traffic unless you get some readers, so not only will you be promoting your book, but you'll also have to promote your blog.

More than cash, the whole process costs a lot of time, so hopefully you can squeeze it all in.

And then there's editing, which could potentially be done for free if you've got a sharp eye, but I'd recommend hiring an editor anyways. If you want your book to be taken seriously, you need to take it seriously first, and no one wants to read a book filled with typos, misspellings, and all that.

Anyways, that's a little bit of information to get you started, but if you just google "self publishing" or "how to self publish" or any other such term, you'll find a wealth of information at your finger tips. So get started.

Originally Posted by shadowwalker

Going with a commercial publisher costs you nothing other than time and effort to find a good agent. Self-publishing costs whatever you decide your book is worth in terms of hiring editors, cover designer, etc. And, of course, if you go with a vanity publisher, it will cost you up the ying-yang and you'll have very little to show for it.

I would suggest you start studying this and other writers' forums and learn about the whole of publishing, since there are so many questions and twice as many answers.

This post is incredible! A good place to search for agents to query is AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher I hope I don't get in trouble with the mods for providing that link. I recommend you check it out, but first make sure you polish that MS to the best of your ability and I also recommend you find beta readers to give you suggestions on how to improve your work if there are any improvements to be made.