How I self-published my first book “Getting OUT of Limbo- A Self-Help Divorce Book for Women” by Diane Tegarden
August 4th, 2008-rev 2
When I finished the manuscript for my first book “Getting OUT of Limbo- A Self-Help Divorce Book for Women”, I asked a professional editor (whose work I trusted) to edit it for me. Several drafts went back and forth before the final edition was completed.
A gentleman that I had met through a networking group agreed to set up the manuscript in the proper format and design the cover for me. I had the original concept for the cover in mind, and had explained it to him, then he set up three mockups for the cover, and I chose the one I liked best.
The last step was printing the book, and I asked my editor, Ann Luke, for referral to a good printer. I ordered 480 books from him, which was the smallest order available, and had them delivered to my home in April of 2004.
I’ve been promoting “Getting OUT of Limbo- A Self-Help Divorce Book for Women” since April 2004, first only through my website, then had it listed on Amazon.com, and have now added promotion via talk show radio interviews.
The total price for the whole project from start to finish was $4,000/480 books = $8.33 production cost per book. That does not include shipping cost ($1.20 per book) and the padded envelope it ships in (.99), which brings the total production cost to $10.52 per book. I set my sales price at a competitive $11.95-10.52=$1.43 profit per book (if sold directly through my website).
If I sell the books through Amazon.com it actually comes out at a loss because their commission on the sales of my book is 55 percent. This means that for every $11.95 book I sell through Amazon.com they give me only $5.38 per book. If you take into account the original cost for me to produce the book was -$10.52 and my profit at Amazon.com is only +$5.38=I come out with a net loss of $5.14 per book, but at least they are selling!
I can vaguely remember the production phase taking approximately four months from start to finish; with the editing taking the longest, then several weeks back and forth over the cover, and the printer got the order out in 3 weeks. Of course, this was all at 2004 prices, I’m sure the market has changed noticeably by now! I currently have a thread on just this subject over at the Ryze Wordmeisters, Poets and Writers Unite Network, drop by to read the posts and see how other authors are getting published.
Energetically Yours,
Diane Tegarden
Author:
“Getting OUT of Limbo- A Self Help Divorce Book for Women”- www.amazon.com
“Light Through Shuttered Window- A Compendium of my Poetry”- available exclusively at: www.firewalkerpublications.com
“Anti-Vigilante and The Rips in Time” (a preventable vision of the future)- available exclusively at: www.firewalkerpublications.com
