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Publishing a Book in India: Cost Breakdown for New Authors
Publishing a Book in India : Dreaming of publishing a book in India, but wondering how much does it cost ? Every author has a dream to publish their book. In publishing, there are different ways to publish a book; authors are confused on how much the book publishes, as there are different ways to publish a book, that is, through traditional publication, hybrid publishing or self-publishing. Authors need to understand these publishing ways to decide in which way to publish their books according to their budget.
Types of book publication
Traditional publication
In traditional publishing, the publication house will do all the work. The author only has to submit the complete manuscript to the publication. Then the publication takes care of the other things like editing, cover design, printing and book Marketing. But here is a challenge: it takes months, like 6-12, to finally publish a book. And it’s hard to get accepted by a publishing house. Sometimes the cost is spent on networking and travelling.
Cost : 0% it’s free of cost most of the time if the book is produced in-house. A plus point is that you get royalties of (5-10% on print books and 20 – 30% on Ebooks).
Some authors spend money on professional editors before submitting the manuscript to publication (5,000₹ – 25,000₹).
Self Publishing
Self-publishing is where the authors fully take control of publishing their own work. In self-publishing, you have to choose the package in which style you have to publish your book, including things like editing, book cover making, book printing and marketing. You get all rights to all of your books and get 100% profit from your book.
Editing
Copy editing: In which the grammatical mistakes in the manuscript are corrected by a professional editor, which requires cost. And the cost also depended on the amount of word count, which costs up to (₹8,000 – ₹30,000).
Developmental editing: In developmental editing where a professional editor edits the flow, logic, and character development of the story. If the character is not well written in the manuscript, the author is told to rewrite the character a scene is not written properly, it is changed by the editors, which costs up to (₹15,000 – ₹50,000).
Proofreading: In this, the editors edit and polish the leftover small mistakes like typos, page numbers, margins, page alignment and grammatical mistakes. And polish the manuscript, which costs up to (₹5,000 – ₹15,000).
Cover Design
Basic: A basic book cover is like a template-based cover, which is made by using simple photos and fonts. It is not very unique but simple in design, which is suitable for budget-friendly authors which costing (₹1,500 – ₹5,000).
Professional: a professional book cover custom-made without any use of a template by using typography, photos and colour analysis according to the genre of the book. Professional book covers are made if the author wants their book to stand out to readers. The amount to make a personal custom-made book cover reaches up to (₹7,000 – ₹25,000).
Interior Formatting (Layout)
NEELAM PUBLICATION
Simple text: simple texts are formatted like margin page numbers only, which are used on books like novels or non-fiction books, which cost less than complex formatting, ₹3,000 – ₹10,000.
Complex : complex formatting is editing in books like cookbooks, children’s books, documentary books, which need images, tables and illustrations in the books alongside the normal formatting, which is a bit costlier than basic formatting (₹10,000 – ₹25,000).
Publishing a Book in India : ISBN & Copyright
ISBN: ISBN is a necessity for books to track their sales, so they are Free in India due to the Raja Rammohun Roy Agency rules, which make the ISBN free of cost, so authors do not need money to buy an ISBN in India.
Copyright registration: Getting copyright registration of books is not necessary in India, but in case of disputes, it can be used as proof. Book registration is required if an author plans to make multiple editions of the book. The cost of book registration reaches up to ( ₹500 – ₹1,500 ).
Publishing a Book in India : Printing
Print-on-demand: print-on-demand is when the book is printed when an order is placed by a reader. Print-on-demand is mostly used on selling sites like Amazon KDP, Notion Press, and Pothi. By printing a book on demand, it saves the cost of book printing, as when an order is placed, the printing charges are deducted from the book price, and the rest is given to the author as a royalty.
E.g., book cost – print cost ₹300 – ₹120
= ₹180
Which is given to the author.
Offset printing: The cost spent on bulk book printing (100-500 books).
Paperback: Paperbacks are books that are produced in bulk and made up of paper covers. They are cheaper in price, which can be used by authors who want to set it in their budget. A book up to 200 pages costs ₹40–₹70 per copy and higher if more pages..
Hardcover: The books that have hardcovers can cost up to ₹100–₹200 per copy if they are printed in bulk.
E.g., 500 copies of a 200-page paperback may cost ₹25,000 – ₹40,000.
Publishing a Book in India : Marketing & Promotion
Basic social media: An advertisement on a social media platform like Instagram, Facebook. And many other platforms help to reach the right audience by advertising the book; this may cost up to (₹5,000 – ₹15,000).
Book launch events: An offline event in which the book is officially launched and discussed by the author is held in a hall, cafe, or library, may cost high (₹10,000 – ₹50,000),
because renting the palace for a period of time. But a book launch event gives good media coverage, which helps to bring new readers to buy the book.
Publishing a Book in India : Self-publishing platforms
In self-publishing platforms, authors can choose any publishing company they want. The publishing company then provides bundle services in which they can choose various services like editing, printing, book cover, etc.
Notion Press: they provide services like editing, book cover, marketing and book distribution, and their Packages are up to ₹5,000 – ₹50,000+. They have a strong base in India
Pothi.com: This platform is good for DIY authors and is flexible in nature. They only provide printing options and other optional services.
White Falcon / BlueRose / Educreation: they give extra services like ISBN, registration, global distribution, etc., which cost up to ₹10,000 – ₹1,00,000 depending on the package.
Publication of a book in India can range from zero cost to a large amount of investment in book production. Like in traditional publication, authors invest a small amount and the rest of the work is done by the publication, but in self-publishing, the author has to invest a large amount to publish their book, like editing, marketing, making the book cover and other essentials, but they also have the independence on how they want to publish their book in the market. Many hybrid platforms are also emerging in this publication world. They promote various packages to authors, which include services like editing, printing, etc., for various publications. A trusted publication named Neelam Publication helps and supports writers by transforming their manuscripts into books with affordable pricing. Neelam’s publication helps such writers by making sure their books reach the readers. For further information visit :- https://neelampublication.com/.
BY- ANURADHA KAMBLE
