Hey Authors – not to freak you out or anything – but is Jim reasonably accurate with his figures here? 😀
People do occasionally ask this question. Normally they’re too polite; sometimes they just assume the money just keeps rolling in. Other times when they actually meet me they make the inspired guess that it doesn’t put my amateur status at risk. There again, perhaps it’s the new bathroom that leads to them jumping to conclusions.
So how much does it cost to produce a book properly?
Well first let’s ignore the writer’s hourly rate. Let’s look at the stuff that ought to happen.
Assuming we’re talking about a book that’s 70,000 words long I’d suggest you’re looking at the following figures. We’ll stick with an e-book because the numbers are less complicated.
Front cover. I’d guess somewhere between £30 and £70 should get you something acceptable so we’ll say £50. Be aware, artists are considered remarkably flaky, prone to attacks of the vapours, but unlike…
View original post 1,135 more words
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
As Jim says, there’s a lot of financial juggling involved. And then you break even. But once you’ve earned out your costs, the rest is pure profit. Not an enormous profit for most of us, but I manage (just!) to get by as a full-time writer. Of course it helps to have a large backlist. But it’s taken me over three and a half years to get my head around all the must dos, format all my books and jiggle incessantly with the bloody covers. And I’ve STILL got one more to do. Flagging.
LikeLike