Self-publishing a book: traditional, hybrid or on your own

Today there are three ways to publish a book, and it pays to know which is which before you sign anything.

The three paths

Traditional publishing. The publisher takes on the costs and the risk, and in exchange holds the publishing rights for a set term. The author earns a royalty on the book's price, usually somewhere between 8 and 10% for print. The author never pays.

Self-publishing. You handle everything: editing, typesetting, cover, ISBN, distribution. In return you keep between 35 and 70% of the price, depending on the platform. In practice you're running a small business, with the work that implies.

Hybrid publishing (co-publishing). You share the costs with the publisher. This is where you need to read the fine print: honest hybrid deals exist, but “hybrid” is also the label vanity presses use so they don't have to call themselves vanity presses.

How to spot a vanity press

• It replies within days with an enthusiastic, generic report.
• It talks about an “author contribution,” “shared production costs” or “author investment.”
• Its catalog is sold only on its own website and never shows up in bookstores.
• There's no filter: it publishes everything it receives.

A real publisher takes months to reply and turns down almost everything. It's uncomfortable, and it's the sign that a real selection process exists.

The real costs of self-publishing

The figures below are approximate market rates in Spain; English-language freelancers in the US and UK usually charge more, so treat them as a floor. Proofreading: €3 to €6 per thousand words. Copyediting: about double that. A professional cover: €150 to €600. Typesetting: €200 to €600, or nothing if you do it yourself. ISBN: around €45 in Spain (a single ISBN from Bowker in the US costs $125). It's optional on Amazon but required for bookstores.

At those rates, an 80,000-word novel published to a decent standard comes to €800–2,000. The one line item you should never cut is editing.

Typesetting: the bare minimum

• Margins: the inner margin (the gutter) is always wider than the outer one, because the spine swallows part of the page.
• Text block: 60 to 70 characters per line is a comfortable reading measure.
• Widows and orphans: stray single lines at the top or bottom of a page. Fix them by hand.
• Page numbers: place them away from the inner margin, and leave chapter-opening pages unnumbered.

Frequently asked questions about self-publishing a book

How much does it cost to self-publish a book?

In Spain, between €800 and €2,000 for a novel of about 80,000 words produced to a professional standard: editing, cover, typesetting and ISBN. Expect higher figures if you hire English-language professionals in the US or UK. You can cut the cost a lot by doing some tasks yourself, but professional editing is what shows most in the result and the last place to save money.

Do you need an ISBN to self-publish?

Not on Amazon KDP: the platform assigns its own free identifier. You do need one if you want to sell through physical bookstores, appear in your country's ISBN listings or sell to libraries. A single ISBN costs about €45 in Spain or $125 in the US, and it registers you as the publisher of your own work.

Does self-publishing close the door on traditional publishers?

Not automatically, but it complicates negotiations: the rights to that edition have already been used, and the sales figures are out in the open. If the book did well, that becomes an argument in your favor; if it sold fifty copies, it's an awkward data point. Many authors keep an unpublished manuscript in reserve for the traditional route.