Before readers can purchase your self-published book, they need to know it exists—and that requires marketing and promotion. It’s also important your book has the cover design and quality workmanship that will convince potential buyers it’s a worthwhile read. Making sure you address all these sales-boosting selling points can quickly become expensive. Fortunately, the experts at Self-Publishing Relief have a few insider tips that can help keep your project affordable. Here’s how to save money when self-publishing your book.

3 Ways To Save Money When Self-Publishing

Plan, Plan, Plan: Having a plan in place before you begin your self-publishing journey is one of the best ways to stay on budget. Doing your research first means you won’t be hit with surprise costs. When you have an outline in place, you’ll be less likely to miss any important steps that could prove costly later in the process. Use the checklist you create to guide you in choosing the best, most affordable professionals for any publishing tasks that you need to outsource.

Cross-Promote And Barter: Bartering can help keep costs down! Offer to trade your expertise with someone who has a set of skills you need. For instance, if you’re a skilled proofreader, perhaps you could offer to proofread the website of a professional book cover designer.

You can also offer to cross-promote with other authors and small businesses. Create a marketing power team of authors who will talk up your book on their social media in exchange for you doing the same for them on your platforms. Or, if the protagonist in your book is a chef, cross-promote with restaurants. Does the villain in your mystery dress to the nines? Consider a cross-promotion with upscale clothing boutiques. With these money-saving tips, you won’t have to spend big bucks on advertising to reach a new, engaged audience.

Use A Predesigned Book Cover: Your book cover is your point-of-purchase marketing tool—so you should never skimp on its design. Unless you’re a professional graphic artist, leave this book design element to the professionals. Trying to Photoshop a few images together will only look amateurish and ultimately tank your book sales.

However, a professionally designed custom cover can be pricey. The budget-friendly solution? Use a predesigned book cover. A predesigned cover can still be personalized with your title and author name. Plus, the expert designer who created the cover will have incorporated genre touchstones into the visuals to ensure your book appeals to the right audience.

Bonus Tip: Hire Professionals! You might think that hiring pros to do the work for you would be expensive, but making mistakes and wrong choices or having to constantly redo elements will cost you more in the long run. Putting the entire project into the hands of experts ensures every step is done right the first time. The knowledgeable staff at Self-Publishing Relief has helped many authors navigate the self-publishing process to create books they’re proud to put their names on. Here are a few words from just one of our many happy, satisfied clients:

“To say I was pleased with the work that Self-Publishing Relief did for my book Diehard Fan would be an understatement. ‘Delighted’ would be closer to it, but it still wouldn’t capture my feelings. From the beginning they understood what I was going for, and they delivered in a big way. I could not be happier!” — Lenny Levine, author

And working with Self-Publishing Relief can be more affordable than you think! Check out our options and services, then schedule a free consultation call today!

Question: How did you save money while self-publishing your book?