I was wandering, how much does it cost to publish a book on average? I'm talking about books for young adults, fiction. I also want to know if I'll need an agent or not. Thank You.
2007-09-22 05:45:30 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
If a publisher charges you to publish your book, they are a scam. There are certain publishers who seem like they are legitimate, and they will have very presentable websites, and maybe even a list of published novels, but if you do some research you find that you can't find these books anywhere. Why?
Because for that 10,000 you send to this company, they will print out a few thousand poorly made novels and expect you to get them out. Which, is not going to happen. They basically seem like a real publisher, but end up being more or less the same as self-publification, which has already been expressed to be a waste.
At most it should cost you 30-40 dollars to mail out a manuscript, and that will be the only cost, well, that, and printing it.
2007-09-22 20:42:05 · answer #1 · answered by Dan A 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unless you are self publishing, there is no cost to publish books other than the cost of mailing queries to publishers and agents. An agent may charge for things like copy fees, mailing, long distance calls, etc. But basically they are working for you and if they sell your book they get a percentage of the royalties.
Self publishing is vanity publishing. It is publishing for people who cannot get published through traditional publishing. It is a financial black hole. Expect it to cost between about 2,500 dollars and up. I read a story in the paper the other day about a lady who refinanced her house to self publish a children's book. She spent over 60 thousand dollars and hasn't gotten back 10% of that yet. She is likely going to lose her house over it.
I have this advice for you. If you believe in your book and in yourself, you owe it to yourself to spend at least twice as long trying to sell the book than you did writing it. If everthing else fails, then consider self publishing, but be aware self publishing will NEVER get your book sold in bookstores. It is a waste of money.
You need to start learning to advocate for yourself. You do that by reading and researching everything you can on the publishing business. Believe it or not, people used to have to find this information all by themselves without the benefit of Yahoo Answers. Start here. If you go to my profile, you will find hundreds of starred questions regarding publishing and writing with great answers. You should print out a bunch of them that relate to you and study them. You should also invest in a copy of Writers Market every year and read it thoroughly. There is a lot of excellent information there. For 30 bucks it is a steal. Then, you need to spend time learning how to write 1) A query letter 2) A synopsis and 3) A book proposal because you will need all three. They are your selling tools. If you don't learn how to write all three very well, you won't sell any manuscripts to publishers.
Hope that helps. Start reading. You have a lot to learn. Pax - C
2007-09-22 13:10:30 · answer #2 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Another option: If you wanted just to make copies of the book but not to sell them, it only costs 22 dollars per hardcover copy to make them at www.lulu.com
Just throwing an option out there!
2007-09-22 13:31:08 · answer #3 · answered by Elfie 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you are a good writer the cost is free.
2007-09-22 18:45:04 · answer #4 · answered by ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋