How do I finance my self publishing project?

Recently, Indie Authors Scotland ran a survey to establish what people think about self-publishing. As part of the survey, the respondents were given the opportunity to ask questions of Kim and I. For the next few weeks I am going to respond to those questions through my blog. This week’s question is "How do I finance my project?"

This is obviously a very personal question that will result in a different answer for each individual, but I will try and offer some suggestions that may help.

My first recommendation is to decide how much of the process you would like to take control of. There are many companies out there who will produce your eBook and paperback for you, but they tend to be expensive. If you have money available and don’t want to spend time producing the book yourself, that may be the best route for you. The downside is that you’ll be spending that amount of money every time you want to produce a book. Alternatively, the training we offer at Indie Authors Scotland will teach you as much of the process as you would like to learn. Not only do we offer a comprehensive course called the ‘Bookcamp’ but also shorter, more specialised courses that might be more suitable to your budget. (Well, I had to plug the course somehow.) :-)

During the production cycle, the single most important area to spend money on is an editor. If you are on a tight budget, an editor should be your first priority. A well-edited book will be the key to retaining readers and helping you to grow sales beyond your first book.

With the formatting skills you have learned in our course and a well-edited manuscript you will be ready to submit your book to Amazon for sale on the Kindle. If your budget can stretch a little more, then you should get a professionally designed cover. Although we shouldn’t, everyone judges a book by its cover. It may not generate sales on its own merits, but I guarantee that an amateurish cover will put off some people from even reading the blurb.

The majority of online marketing tools and social media are either free or very low cost. Using them well in combination with good reviews will hopefully begin to generate some income for you, which you might want to invest in producing a paperback or in more training. If things go well you will have a virtuous circle where what you earn is re-invested back into book production and then into more traditional marketing and advertising.

The priority in your budget should be:

1. Editor
2. Cover design
3. Paperback production
4. Marketing
5. Advertising

To learn more about our list of  ‘How to Self Publish’ courses, visit the Indie Authors Scotland website.