Self-Publishing Bang for the Buck

by Joel Friedlander

When you get down to it, when you have an idea that’s bigger than your budget, when your book is finally done, but your checking account is flying on a wing and a prayer, you have to know where to put your money to get the best effect from self-publishing, to get the most bang for the buck.

Lots of people want to publish now, get in the Kindle store, see if they can match the success of the ebook authors we keep reading about.

What to do? Here’s a simple plan.

Spend money on two things:

1. Editing. There’s nothing else that will improve your book, and its chances in the market, more than a good editor. And here’s a secret: you may be creating the book to fill a short-term need, but it will be around for the long term anyway. Books are persistent in a way lots of other things aren’t. I still have books from my college days decades ago, but none of the music from that era will play on anything I own now. No matter how small your budget, find someone to edit your book.  Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services is a great choice for editing and proofreading. See http://writersinthesky.com/.


2. Cover design. Nothing will be as critical to how your book is perceived in the marketplace than the cover. It’s the branding for the book. It positions the book within its genre. It should create excitement and interest, drawing readers in. It has to pop out in searches that return screens full of little postage-stamp sized cover images. Book cover design is a specialty and rightly so. Once you’ve got the editing under way, find a cover designer who can fit into your budget and see what magic they can work with your book.

Editing addresses the content, the interior, the guts of the book. Cover design dresses it for its existence in the world. A way to interest readers, and a way to give them something satisfying. Two great places to use the budget you have available to make the best book you can.

Joel Friedlander is a self-published author, a book designer and blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He's also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.