What Is the Average Cost to Publish a Book?

Thinking about Amazon KDP? You’re probably wondering about the book publishing cost, but let’s talk about the real traps: book-reading apps. It’s a harsh world out there. Many apps promise readers, but bury your book and take most of your profit. 

It’s frustrating for new authors! At Lincoln Book Publishing, we skip that mess. We show entrepreneurs like you how to master KDP directly, control your royalties, and build a real business. Forget the app-maze, we’ll show you the straightforward path to publishing success and cover the actual book publishing cost you need to know.

Publishing Costs by Book Genre

Ready to launch on Amazon KDP? You’re smart to look at book publishing cost, but don’t get trapped by book-reading apps. Many of these apps look like a great shortcut, but end up burying new authors. They control your audience, take massive cuts of your money, and make it impossible to build a real business. 

Lincoln Book Publishing helps entrepreneurs like you bypass that entire system. We guide you through KDP to build your own brand, keep your royalties, and take control from day one. Let’s look at the real costs for your specific genre. Here is a breakdown of publishing costs by genre.

The cost to self publish a book professionally generally falls between $2,000 and $5,000. This covers professional editing, cover design, and formatting. However, your book’s genre is one of the most significant factors influencing that total price. Here are some typical price ranges for publishing, broken down by popular categories:

• Standard Fiction (Romance, Thriller, Contemporary)

• Average Total Cost: $1,500 – $3,500

• These are often the most straightforward. Costs are mainly for developmental editing, copyediting, and a professional cover design that fits genre expectations.

• Sci-Fi & Fantasy

• Average Total Cost: $2,500 – $6,000

• These books are usually 30-50% longer, which significantly increases editing costs. They also often require custom cover art (digital painting) and, sometimes, custom maps, which add to the design fees.

• Non-Fiction (Business, Self-Help, Memoir)

• Average Total Cost: $3,000 – $7,000+

• Why? This genre requires intense editing, including fact-checking and sensitivity reads. It also frequently requires professional indexing and may involve fees for graph/chart design or permissions to quote other sources.

• Children’s books

• Average Total Cost: $4,000 – $12,000+

•  The cost of Children’s books is almost entirely in the illustrations. While the word count is low (making editing cheap), hiring a professional illustrator for a 32-page book is a significant expense. You are paying for 16-30+ full-page pieces of art.

• Graphic Novels & Cookbooks

• Average Total Cost: $5,000 – $20,000+

• These are the most expensive genres. They combine all the high-cost elements: full custom illustration or professional photography for every page, complex interior formatting, and intensive editing.

What are Costs to Publish a Book on Amazon

So, you’re looking at Amazon KDP and asking the most critical question: “What’s this going to cost?” That’s precisely where a visionary entrepreneur starts. Before we break down the KDP numbers, we need to talk about the other path many new authors get lost on: book reading apps. You’ve seen the ads. They promise a massive, built-in audience and easy publishing. It sounds great, right?

Here’s the hard truth from us at Lincoln Book Publishing: those apps are often a dead end for entrepreneurs. They are designed to benefit the app, not the author. They bury your new book under thousands of others, making you invisible unless you pay for expensive promotions within their system. Even if you are found, they control your pricing and often take a massive, unfair cut of your royalties, leaving you with pennies. You can’t build a business on pennies.

We guide our authors to avoid that trap. We focus 100% on Amazon KDP, where you build your brand, control your listings, and keep the lion’s share of the profits. It’s the absolute path to owning your success. Now, let’s look at the actual book publishing cost on Amazon, the investments that pay you back.

Thorough Steps in Publishing a Book

Here is the professional checklist, broken into three phases:

Phase 1: Creating a Professional-Grade Product

This is the foundation. Skipping these steps is why most books fail.

• Finalize Your Manuscript: Complete your first, second, and third drafts. This is the raw material.
• Professional Editing (The Big Three):

• Developmental Edit: A high-level edit focusing on the book’s structure, flow, and “big picture.” (Crucial for non-fiction’s argument and fiction’s plot).

• Copy Edit: A line-by-line edit checking for grammar, syntax, repetitive word use, and clarity.

• Proofread: The final pass to catch any remaining typos, spelling, or punctuation errors.

• Get a Professional Cover: This is your #1 marketing tool. It must be high-resolution and designed to fit the specific expectations of your genre. Do not do this yourself unless you are a professional book cover designer.
• Format Your Interior: Your manuscript must be formatted into a clean, readable file.

• Ebook: A reflowable .epub file.

• Print: A .pdf file with correct trim size, margins, and page numbers.

• Get Your ISBN: You can use the free one from KDP (which lists “Independently published” as the publisher) or buy your own from Bowker to list your own publishing company name.

Phase 2: Building Your Amazon Listing

This is the technical setup where you build your “store shelf.”

• Create Your KDP Account: Set up your free account on Amazon KDP, including your tax and payment information.
• Enter Your Book Details (Metadata):

• Title & Subtitle: Must match your cover exactly.

• Author Name: Your legal name or pen name.

• Book Description: This is your sales copy. Write a compelling blurb that hooks the reader and tells them what’s in it for them.

• Strategic Keyword Research: Choose 7 “backend” keywords (phrases customers type into Amazon) that will help your book get discovered.
• Strategic Category Selection: Select two niche categories where your book can realistically rank as a bestseller.
• Upload Your Files: Upload your finalized manuscript (e.g., .epub or .pdf) and your cover file (e.g., .jpg or .pdf).
• Preview Your Book: Use KDP’s “Launch Previewer” tool to ensure everything looks perfect. Check for formatting errors, weird page breaks, or cover issues.
• Set Your Price & Royalties:

• Ebook: Price between $2.99 and $9.99 to get the 70% royalty rate.

• Print: Price high enough to cover the printing cost (which Amazon shows you) and leave you a solid profit.

Phase 3: The Launch & Running Your Business

“Publish” is the starting line, not the finish line.

• Hit “Publish”: Your book will go into review and typically appear live on Amazon within 72 hours.
• Order a Proof Copy: Always order a physical proof copy of your print book to check for errors before you tell anyone to buy it.
• Execute Your Launch Plan: This is what you should plan before you hit publish. This includes:

• Activating your “street team” or launch team.

• Running Amazon Ads.

• Announce the book to your email list and social media.

• Get Reviews: Your primary goal in the first month is to get honest reviews, as this is the “social proof” new buyers need to see.

In addition, if you are looking hire amazon book publisher, don’t look further from Lincoln Book Publishing. 

Conclusion

Ultimately, the book publishing cost isn’t the real question. The real question is: “What will you invest to build a successful book business?” 

This blog from Lincoln Book Publishing showed that professional publishing costs are an investment in your product. Skipping essential steps like editing and cover design to save money will cost you far more in lost sales. We guide entrepreneurs to invest wisely. 

We create a custom plan that avoids wasted spending and focuses on building a high-quality, profitable book. Stop guessing at the cost. If you are looking to hire amazon book publisher, Contact Lincoln Book Publishing, and let’s make your business right.