Self-publishing a book for your small business is a big commitment, in both time and money, but the benefits can be huge: more customers, publicity for your business, more credibility within your industry, a point of difference from your competitors – the list goes on and on.
Publish Central exists to help small business book authors share their words with readers. We work to the highest design, editing and production standards and partner with the same people and companies as the major publishers to produce our authors’ books. We have been helping self-publishers for almost 20 years. So if you’re in need of help with self-publishing your book, why not connect with us today and let’s make your dream a reality.
With that out the way, let’s see what’s involved in self-publishing a book for your small business.
A significant time commitment to writing your book
The minimum for most authors I work with is an hour or so of writing every morning for a month or so to get a 30,000-word draft. That’s about 1000 words a day. Then, it’s usually the same effort again for a second draft, and then usually a few weekends to tidy up and revise before sending it to an editor. This, of course, requires support and commitment from your family and others in your life.
A significant time commitment to publish your book
If you manage the self-publishing process yourself, this will be a significant project over about three to five months. You’ll have to:
- find and brief your team
- check proofs from your editor, designer and printer
- coordinate the different aspects of the project
- deal with any issues that arise
You’ll need to commit at least a few hours a week over a number of months to make this happen.
If you have a self-publishing company help you, you’ll still have to check proofs and be available to make decisions about your book, but the time commitment will be lessened.
At Publish Central, we can help you with all of the aspects listed above. We provide a variety of book publishing packages that involve services such as book editing, proofreading, book design, and printing and distribution services to help your book become a reality.
A significant financial commitment to publish your book
Following are some indicative costs to self-publish a 40,000-word book. Services and options will differ with different suppliers, but this information will help point you in the right direction. The figures I’ve provided cover the range of what you can expect to pay for your book to be produced by an experienced team (all figures include GST):
- Manuscript assessment (optional): $500 to $1000.
- Developmental edit (optional): $500 to $2000.
- Copyedit: $2000 to $3200. This will be at the lower end if you write well and have worked on your manuscript a lot before sending it to the editor.
- Interior layout: $1600 to $3200. This will be at the lower end if your book is mostly text. It will be at the higher end if you have many different styles of text or lots of images, tables, diagrams and the like.
- Cover: $800 to $1500.
- Proofreading: $600 to $900.
- Indexing: $600 to $2000.
- ISBNs: Free to about $70 each.
- Barcodes: Free to about $70 each.
- Project management and publishing advice: $1000 to $3000.
- Printing: Giving a price range on printing is very difficult because there are so many variables, but here are some sample specifications and some indicative prices. These specifications are very common for a business book:
Size: A5
Pages: 200
Cover board: 240 GSM
Full-colour cover with gloss lamination
Text paper: 80 GSM
Black-only interior
Perfect binding (the most common form of bookbinding)
100 copies: $700 to $1300
200 copies: $1300 to $2200
500 copies: $2200 to $3500
1000 copies: $3500 to $5000
The benefits you’ll gain from self-publishing a book for your small business
So, if you’re going to make this time and financial commitment, there has to be a great payoff, right? There is. I recently wrote an article ‘50 awesome things that can happen when you publish a book for your small business’. If you check it out, you’ll understand how powerful it can be. Here are the first 15 things on the list:
- You’ll attract new customers.
- You’ll be seen as a leading expert in your field.
- When writing, you’ll spend time thinking carefully about what you do every day, which will benefit your business.
- You can gain publicity.
- You can be invited to speak at events and conferences.
- You can make new contacts for your business.
- You can turn the book into blog posts.
- You can use Amazon as a marketing platform.
- You can use the book as a gift.
- You can do book signings in bookstores.
- You can put free sample chapters on your website.
- You can promote your book in your email signature.
- You can sell books through a range of retail outlets.
- You’ll stand out from your competitors.
- When you meet people who have read your book, they will already feel like they know you.
I’ve been working in this area of publishing for 20 years. I’ve seen firsthand hundreds of times the effort and commitment it takes to write and publish a book. I’ve also seen – thousands of times – the great things that can happen as a result.
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