First of all, I had a great response for book reviewers. Thank you all so much. There’s still one more ebook to giveaway so pm me if you’re still interested!
I thought it might be a good time to show a run down of what it cost me to get this book published if anyone was curious.
Expenses so far:
Music donation for book trailer= $20
Photos for my book trailer= $60
Ebook cover= $150
Full print cover= $30
Chapter vignette graphic= $15
Ebook formatting files= $150
Smashwords formatting file= $50
Print formatting file= $100
Extra formatting since I added the bibliography after the fact= $75
ISBN #’s = $250 (for ten and I used two for the ebook and print) = $50
Bar code for print version= $25
Editing = $375
Copyediting = $175
Website (per year for domain)= $25
Grand Total= $1,300
Obviously, you could do this for less money if you forgo a book trailer, format yourself, or decide not to make a print version.
So if I sell my book for $2.99, and at the very least make $1.79 a copy with premium catalog retailers, than I will have to sell around 727 ebooks to break even. Who says algebra wouldn’t come in handy later?
Selling 727 ebooks is my first goal. No matter how long it takes, this will be the carrot I’ll dangle above my head. That breaks down to 60 ebooks a month, 15 ebooks a week, to 2 ebooks a day. 2 ebooks a day! That is completely possible. Plus, if I sell my print version it will help get there even faster.
Writing is so fulfilling for me, so to break even will make it possible to keep going. It would be great if I made money, but if I can at least not lose money with my passion than that is all I can hope for.
laurenwaters 
You’ve already achieved so much with just the book! Whether or not it sells is not relevant to your individual accomplishment.
I’m so proud of you…..
Dad
Ah…thanks Dad!
Wow. I recently started reading about self-publishing instead of going the traditional route and it definitely appeals to me. I was wondering, though, around how much it really cost to do so. Thanks for the post.
I’m so glad I could help. If you have any questions feel free to pm me and good luck with your book!
Congratulations on finalizing your book! I am still on my journey with my own and hope it will be ready sometime in 2012 & it was useful to see all the expenses that go hand in hand with publishing. Which POD publisher did you go with? I have been reading up on posts for future information and it seems a lot of people have varying opinions on which is best & finally choose the one that works best for them.
Congratulations again & hope to see your book in the Bestseller list soon!
I’m so happy that this is helping people. This is exactly the kind of information that I needed when figuring out if I could afford to self-publish. I went with Create Space since it seemed that most people were happy with their service. Many say they’re shipping prices are higher, but I wasn’t planning on hand selling anytime soon. It was supper easy to upload everything and I’m thrilled with the quality and appearance of the book. Best of luck on your journey 🙂
This goes to show how affordable self publishing can be! Thank you for sharing this list. It is very attainable to sell 2 ebooks per day. And as your popularity increases, you will sell many more!