18. The self-publishing roadmap I wish I had

A second step you should understand when self-publishing is making sure you have a game plan!

I know you've heard me talk about this already, but it's super important. This whole process took me well over 8 months from "ok time to start looking for an editor" to "Launch day!" This doesn't even include all the time it took to actually write the book!

So here's what I learned and some helpful tips as you start:

Start with a budget and stick to it! It is not going to be crazy expensive, but it won't necessarily be cheap either. I'll give you some ball park numbers of what you can expect for some quality middle of the road estimates for self publishing a book. These numbers are gleaned from my own experiences as well as the research I've done over the past year and have learned from other self publishers I've met as well as other online resources. Go with what you're comfortable with and remember that paying more will often yield more quality results - but you don't want to over pay. Paying less can often result in a lower quality result, but will not always produce garbage. If you are limited in budget, then sometimes you can find great ways to get quality product.

For a good Copy edit - grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and word flow for AFTER you've finished your draft - you can expect between $1,200 on the lower end and $2,000 on the higher end. A developmental edit - a 10,000 foot edit that combs through the plot, character arcs, and story as a whole DURING your writing process- can be upwards of $1,800 to the mid $2,000's. If your story has solid bones and you're already done with it, you'll do just fine with a copy edit.

A good note is that often times many editors will include a "proofreading" in their services alongside a copy edit. This checks the final version - usually after a copy edit - for spelling mistakes, spacing, punctuation, and formatting issues. So you can save money there!

You definitely want a good editor. But as equally important, you need a good cover artist. I would recommend budgeting just as much - or slightly less - on a cover artist as you did for your editor. You don't want your book to look bad, but you also don't want to blow everything on the art and have the story be sloppy or filled with mistakes. You can find a good cover artist for $800-$1,500 as well. I again, recommend Reedsy as a great starting point!

Get a general sense of what you are willing to spend and stick to it. Keep a spread sheet for EVERY single thing you spend. This way you don't over spend and you can actually see how much you've spent and how much you have left. Consider costs like: website platform subscription (Wix, Square space, etc. - ~$100-200 a year); The cost of a website domain (You can find these for $20's almost anywhere/per year); a Custom business email to keep your own personal email safe (~$50); Author copies for friends or events you are hosting (with Amazon KDP you can get about 100 for production price). If you are curious about more details about what I personally spent, I'd be more than happy to chat sometime and help you get a better idea of what you can expect!

On top of sticking to a budget, create a schedule of what and when you are going to do before your book launch. I'll share some general ideas, but here's what mine looked like:

• Have your launch date in mind. Give yourself at least 6 months from the time you start looking to seriously publish to your launch day. I personally started my final round of edits on April 25th, 2025 and published the book on November 7th, 2025.

• Start with the edits and the over art. Give yourself plenty of time to make corrections and adjustments from your editor. This will take time! It took me about 2 straight weeks working on the edits every night when I got home from work until bed time + all day Friday and Saturday from 9-5pm.

• Have in mind how you are going to promote and celebrate your book! If you are going to use social media, plan out what content you are going to create (concept art, blogs, posts, reels, video's, etc.) and plan out what you are going to post, how often, and when.

• Build a team who can help you develop your book (Shout out to you Dream Team! Love you guys!). Find people who are close to you who you can trust to read your final (close to final) versions and give feedback so you can make further adjustments. Giving them a free copy (Advanced Reader's Copy [ARC]) is super great because they get your book for free and in return you gain their valuable insights into how you can improve.

• If you are doing a website, get that up and running. Provide info about you the author, your book, and a way for people to get a hold of the content; a free chapter; merch; or something via email or a virtual sign up.

For me, all of this was in place and built by June 2025. Once it's built, you can start filling it all in!

Next week, I'll share the final piece of the end of the process to publish your first book.

Stay tuned!