Plan your complete book launch budget. Track editing, cover design, marketing, and all publishing costs in one place.
Track all launch costs in one place: editing, cover, marketing, formatting, ISBNs, and promotional tools.
Know your total investment before launch to make informed decisions about service quality and marketing spend.
Use total budget with breakeven calculator to know exactly how many sales you need to profit.
A typical self-published book launch costs $1,500-$5,000 depending on service quality. Minimum viable launch: $500-$1,000. Premium launch with professional services: $3,000-$8,000.
Biggest costs are editing ($800-$2,500), cover design ($300-$2,000), and marketing ($500-$3,000). Don't skimp on editing or cover - they directly impact sales. Marketing can scale with results.
Start conservative. You can always add marketing budget post-launch based on performance. But you can't un-publish a book with poor editing or an amateur cover.
$1,500-$2,500 is realistic for quality editing, professional cover, and modest marketing. You can go lower ($500-$1,000) by doing more yourself or higher ($5,000+) for premium services.
$500-$800: developmental editing ($300-$500), stock photo cover ($50-$150), self-formatting (free), basic marketing ($100-$200). Quality will be compromised but it's launchable.
Editing first, always. A well-edited book with amateur marketing will eventually find readers. A poorly edited book with great marketing will get bad reviews and tank.
Calculate how many sales needed to recover your launch budget.
Calculate per-book earnings to plan breakeven timeline.
Estimate when your book will become profitable based on launch costs.