How to Self-Publish an Amazing Book Without Breaking the Bank

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Bunny’s Pages

10 min readMay 10, 2020

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Self-publishing a book could cause you upwards of thousands of dollars. But it doesn’t have to.

How do I know? Because I’ve been there and done that. I have self-published 3 books so I know a thing or two about publishing.

I’m going to show you how to self-publish a book on a budget.

Try checking out my new book, “Through the Storm.” You can find it here or here?

How to Self-Publish a Book on a Budget

Self-publishing a book is not easy. I’m not here to sugarcoat the experience. However, it’s important that you know that self-publishing a book can be a great experience, if you know what you’re doing.

By using the right tools and websites, as well as your head, you can publish an amazing book on your own.

Let’s discuss the first step of the self-publishing journey!

Write a Book

Okay, okay, this one seems obvious. I know!

But you won’t believe how many people try to skip this step. They think it’s as simple as getting someone to write the book for them.

However, if you’re on a really tight budget, you likely don’t have money for a ghostwriter.

According to Jane Friedman, ghostwriters can cost anywhere from $22,800 all the way to a whopping $100,000!!

How crazy is that?!

When you consider all of the work that goes into planning and writing a book, it’s really not crazy at all.

But who has nearly $23,000 to put towards writing one book? Let alone $100,000.

That ain’t hardly chump change, is all I’m saying.

Ghostwriting Alternative

So what do you do? How do you get to a completed book?

Easy. Write the book yourself. There’s only one problem with that.

It’s not all that easy after all. I get that.

If you have a full-time job, a family to care for, and anything else that sucks up your time, then you may struggle to find time to write.

You’ve probably been saying you were going to write a book for so long but never got around to it.

Now, is the time to make that dream a reality.

You could write the book yourself by learning to better manage your time and cut out those unnecessary things that you do.

This will buy you more time.

However, the purpose of this article is to help you self-publish a book on a tight budget.

Hire a Ghostwriter

One of the ways to self-publish a book without breaking the bank is by hiring people with affordable prices to help.

You could visit this site to find an awesome ghostwriter to help with your project. I have been using this website for several years and I really like it.

You can practically find someone for nearly any project. There are definitely some great ghostwriters on Fiverr.

I must admit I was a little skeptical at first but this is overall a good company, especially for finding freelancers.

You Need a Great Book

I can’t say that enough!

Do not take shortcuts when it comes to creating quality content for your readers.

They will be able to tell if you just throw something together. They’ll stop trusting and believing in you.

And you don’t want that.

So, take your time and write an amazing book that your readers will adore!

Hire an Editor

Now, you have a completed book and you’re ready for the design process, correct?

Wrong!

Please do not, I repeat, do not jump to designing the interior of the book without getting it edited.

No, I do not mean your great Aunt Lucy or your cousin Greg. I mean hire a real-life editor.

Believe me, this can make or break your book.

I made the mistake of trying to edit my books myself and that was a complete disaster.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t read over your work. However, your eyes should not be the last ones to read it before moving on to the next step.

Writing a book is totally different from writing a blog post.

For example, I edit my own blog posts and that’s okay. But I don’t edit my books, alone.

After writing a book, I go back and read over it to peep out any obvious mistakes I may have made.

Then, I go to Fiverr and Upwork in search of a great editor.

This is a step that you want to be careful in. Not all editors are created equal.

Not all editors are created equal.

Beware of Fraud Editors

There are some people claiming to be editors who don’t even know the half of it.

I hate to say it but they are frauds.

I found an editor for one of my books and she convinced me that she knew what she was doing.

She even went as far as providing proof of her past work and everyone had given her shining reviews on Upwork.

Long story short, she edited my book but not really. When I went to get it edited again, there were so many mistakes.

It appeared that this book had never been edited. I was so embarrassed to have to confess to my new editor that I had actually paid someone to edit the book before her.

Several Rounds of Editing

I had read somewhere that you should get your book edited several times before moving on to the next process.

At first, I didn’t understand why. It wasn’t until I experienced the fraud editor that I understood this reasoning.

It’s truly better to be safe than sorry.

Therefore, you should run your book through editing several times.

What I recommend is read through the book yourself the first time. Then hire your first editor.

Once they have finished editing and return it to you, read through it again.

Yes, this can be very tedious work. But that’s one of the not-so-great things about self-publishing your book.

You’re probably tempted to skip this process because you’re anxious but don’t!

I get it because I was the same way. And I had to suffer the consequences of a poorly edited book being published and having to be snatched off the market.

The time that I could have spent promoting this book and making sales, I spent trying to get the manuscript straightened out.

In the end, I still had to pay someone to edit the book again. I hate not getting things right the first time.

And maybe you do, too. But it’s much better to realize that you are going to make mistakes when writing your book.

Yes, it can be a headache to read and continuously have to re-read your book before ever hitting publish but you’ll be glad you did.

And you can do it all on a budget. By going to Fiverr and finding a few great editors, you will be able to save yourself a lot of time, money, and heartache from a poorly edited book.

When you’re holding that beautifully edited book in your hands, you’ll feel a sense of relief. Trust me when I tell you.

Get Illustrations Drawn

This part can be really difficult. But it doesn’t have to be.

If you are a children’s author like me then you may need illustrations drawn for your book.

Unless, you’re one of those really awesome writers who can draw their own illustrations.

But maybe you’re like me and can’t draw more than stick people, hearts, and flowers.

For some, stick people are great. A really cool book that features stick people drawings is The My Life Book Series by Janet Tashjian & Jack Tashjian.

On the other hand, stick people may not be your cup of tea. If this is the case, you need an illustrator.

You can find an illustrator online. Check Fiverr! You very well may be surprised at what you find.

You likely have ideas about how you want your illustrations to look.

Maybe you even have some examples that you really like the style of.

It is important that you communicate this information to your illustrator.

For one of my books I had illustrations drawn and I wasn’t happy with the end result. It’s not a good feeling.

Your book is your baby, your pride and joy. Treat it that way and make sure you end up with something you’re proud of.

Negotiate Price

Being on a tight budget or just simply not wanting to pay an arm and a leg for an illustrator is understandable.

But do understand that in most scenarios, you get exactly what you pay for.

Meaning if you pay $20 for 30 illustrations, it’s probably going to look that way.

I know from experience. I paid $20 for 26 illustrations plus cover and I got an incomplete and mediocre job.

That’s a story for another time.

This article is all about how to self-publish an amazing book without breaking the bank. Therefore, you’re probably reading this because you want to know how to get a great job done for less.

On Fiverr, there’s not much wiggle room for negotiation. However, on Upwork, you can set your own price.

Whatever your budget is you can set it on Upwork and if someone is interested they will send proposals.

Choose wisely.

Get Logo Designed

Since you are self-publishing, your book will either be published by Amazon or Ingram Spark.

Or you probably have decided to create your own book imprint.

If that is the case you will need a logo designed to place on the spine and copyright page of your book.

Fiverr has everything you need to get a stunning logo designed.

You’ll want to choose a logo that you really like. Make sure you are satisfied with the final result.

If you aren’t, you may request revisions.

Get Cover Designed

This is one of the most important aspects of self-publishing a book.

You can save money on a cover by finding someone on Fiverr or Upwork who is willing to work with your budget.

Please note that your budget must be reasonable. It should also reflect what you are willing to pay.

Leave room for negotiation.

For example, if you’re willing to pay $500 for a cover, don’t put $500 as your budget on Upwork.

You may think of setting your price between $100 to $200. This gives you room for negotiation.

People will send over proposals and you can even invite them to your job.

By doing this you can save a good deal of money.

Setup Your Title

Setting up your title on Ingram Spark or Amazon KDP is very important. You can choose one or the other. But you can also choose both.

If you want the most cost-effective way to do this then I suggest setting up with Amazon.

Amazon is free and changes and edits are also free.

On Ingram Spark, things are not so free. You have to pay to set your title up with Ingram and you also have to pay to make any changes or submit new files.

Ingram Spark is what I use and trust me when I say I’m on a tight budget.

It goes back to those several rounds of editing. By doing this you will have less mistakes to fix.

Therefore, you won’t have to pay a whole lot with Ingram Spark.