One of the first questions for an indie author to ask is: How much does it cost to publish a book?
With advances in digital and print-on-demand publishing, it makes sense for many authors to cut out the “middle man” and become independent (aka “indie”) publishers of their work, if they so choose and if they’re willing to think like an entrepreneur. 
Notes from Traditional Publishing
As a traditionally published author, it did not cost me money, personally, to publish a book. I always think that people know this, and I’m surprised when I learn otherwise!
Though I was paid to write each book (from its profits), you may be stunned to learn that publishers expected me to work just as hard marketing my own books as I did writing them.
That meant spending money AND time promoting each book after the publisher released it to readers. (Publishers did some promotion as well, but with each new book, that support dropped dramatically.)
So, how much does it cost to publish a book?
Keep in mind that publishing a quality book costs money. You want your book to stand up against books that are, essentially, released into the world by teams of people: writer, publisher, and editorial staff.
To do that, you’ll need to not only write the book, but also to edit and proof it, format it for print and eBook, create a professional cover, and yes, market it.
Think of these costs as investments in your business, not something to be skipped over.
Okay, here are ballpark costs for each one of those steps in the publishing process:
EDITING
My editors charge by the page, though other editors charge by the hour. I prefer by the page (250 words) so that there are no surprises in what I owe. So for example, if your manuscript is 75,000 words, you’ll divide that number by 250 to get a page count–300 pages, in this case.
Range of editing costs:
Developmental – a thorough read to catch story holes, inconsistencies, and to gain help with story structure; not all authors require this first step, but many, many do : $6-$8 per page
Copyediting – correction of sentence structure, misspelled words, overused words, poor grammar, etc.: $2.50 – $4 per page.
PROOFREADING
Proofreaders typically charge by the page (250 word page) too. Some proofreaders charge even more than copyeditors, but if your copyedit was solid, I don’t believe that to be necessary.
Range of proofreading costs: $2-$3 per page
FORMATTING
I now format my own books using Vellum. It’s easy and the software is a one-time cost that paid for itself VERY quickly.
Read my review of Vellum Book Formatting Software here.
Range of costs for book formatting:
Vellum user: One-time purchase fee of $250, then FREE to use for as many books as you can write
Hire a formatter: $50 – $200 per book
COVER DESIGN
I’ve posted several articles about cover design on this blog (you can find them in the drop down menu up top), but I wanted to mention two that might be particularly helpful at this stage of your book publishing process:
How to Create Book Covers Using Power Point
Range of costs for cover design: FREE to $500 (I usually pay about $200 for a full-wrap cover)
BOOK DISTRIBUTION
The GREAT news is that eBook distribution is pretty much free.
BUT … many of the poorly produced books available in the marketplace are there because some writers skip all of the above and go straight to the free upload stage. You are better than that! I know this because you are still reading :-)!
Once you’ve done all that you can to perfect your work, you can have your book distributed for free on all the major distributors, i.e., Amazon, BN, Kobo, Google Play, and iTunes.
I always advise authors to sign up to sell your books directly to Amazon; however, if you’re just getting started, I suggest using either Smashwords or Direct2Digital to distribute your ebooks through the other booksellers for a small cut. (I’ve used Smashwords for some of my books).
Also, if you’ll be publishing your book in print, you can do that through your KDP Dashboard (Amazon) for free as well.
Want to get your book up on Amazon soon? Sign up to receive my free checklist in the box below:
MARKETING
Finally, a word about marketing. Obviously you can produce a book and upload it to Amazon, etc. rather inexpensively. That doesn’t mean you’ll sell a lot of books out of the gate. There are gobs of courses and information on the Internet focused on how to market your books.
Yes, you can spend a lot of money, and sometimes the return is substantial enough to warrant that! But if you’re new at indie publishing, here’s an article I wrote showing that you can market your books with very little cost–if you’re willing to invest a good amount of time and effort: Read 9 Free Ways to Market Books here.
So, how much does it cost to publish a book? Here’s a summary:
Editing: Developmental – $6-$8 per page; Copyediting – $2.50-$4 per page
Proofreading: $2-$3 per page
Formatting: Free (DIY) – $200 per book
Book cover design: FREE to $500
Book distribution: FREE
Marketing: FREE to sky’s the limit!