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Self-publishing cost calculator. What a book costs to publish.

Add up what you'll spend on editing, the cover, formatting and ads, then see how many sales earn it back at your royalty. Every figure is yours; nothing is assumed.

Developmental or line edit
A last pass for typos
Ebook, and print wrap if you need one
Interior layout, if you pay for it
If you buy your own
Anything you pay for to make the book
Your launch budget
Review copies, a website, a proof print
What you earn on one sale

These starting figures are examples, not quotes or averages: replace each with what you’d actually pay. Not sure of your royalty? The Kindle royalty calculator works it out.

Your total

To publish this book

$975

Sales to earn it back

390

at $2.50 a sale

How the maths works

Publishing a book is a handful of separate costs, and most authors only think of one or two. Listing them side by side shows where the money goes, and the break-even line shows whether the book can plausibly pay for itself.

total cost = editing + proofreading + cover + formatting + ISBN + tools + ads + other
sales to break even = total cost ÷ royalty per sale (rounded up)

Worked example. The starting figures add up to $975. At $2.50 a sale, that takes 390 sales to earn back. Cut the ads line to $0 and it’s 310.

It counts money, not time, and it counts only what you enter. If a line doesn’t apply, set it to zero.

Keep going

Frequently asked

Still have a question? Write to us.

It depends on what you buy. Some authors spend almost nothing but time; others pay for editing, a designed cover, formatting and ads and spend far more. Enter your own quotes and the calculator adds them up.

Not for a Kindle ebook: Amazon assigns its own identifier. KDP offers a free ISBN for paperbacks too. Buy your own only if you want to be the publisher of record or sell the print book widely, and put the price in the ISBN line.

Your total cost divided by your royalty per sale, rounded up. The Kindle royalty calculator works out what a sale pays at your price, and you can paste that figure in here.

No. They're examples so the calculator isn't empty. Replace each with a real quote or your own budget.

The writing is the part an AI draft changes most: writing a how-to guide with SuperEbook costs about $1.52 in credits on the Pro plan. Plan figures assume every monthly credit gets used: monthly plan credits expire at the end of each billing period, so a book costs more if some go unused. Editing, the cover and ads still apply, so the lines above are yours to keep or cut.

No. It counts money spent, not hours. If you want to value your time, add it as a line under anything else.

Start with 50 free credits. No card needed.

Plan a book for free, write it with the free credits, and read every word before you pay for anything.

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