Editors and Book Covers
My Quest is drawing ever-nearer to its conclusion. Over the last five years I have done a lot of research into how to self-publish a book, and everyone, but everyone, says that it is necessary to have a professional editor.
So off I trot, emailing a few editors that I found from a trusted source. I was hoping to find someone based in the UK, but that was the first stumbling block. However, undeterred, I contacted a few people, mainly in North America. Everyone replied, and everyone was lovely – but, my! I had had no preconception of the costs.
I have 85,000 words and I had been expecting (well, hoping for) something in the low hundreds. Well, I soon came down to earth with a bump! For developmental editing (where they look at the book as a whole, rather than looking for typos, etc) the rough cost would be around #2, 500 (pounds sterling). It is probably a fair price, given that editors train and qualify and pay for membership of organisations, and have experience, etc, but given that I am unlikely to ever recoup my costs, it was out of my reach. One of the people that I contacted has taken pity on me and has done a work-around for me. So I will at least have a professional eye cast over my work.
The photo shows my calculation for 90, 000 words at 0.023 per word, which was one of the possibilities. (By the way, the free Gemini Ai app that comes with my phone told me I would need to pay just #20.70 – twenty pounds and 70 pence, even I could see that the Ai had got the maths wrong. Be careful!)
I didn’t have the same luck with my query for assistance with my book cover. I was hoping to find someone who would pick-up what I have already done, and continue with it from there, on a very simple and basic level. But the people I contacted (again from a trusted source, and again not really in the UK, they are all over the world this time) didn’t seem to want to do something so basic.
And everyone wants me to do a zoom call with them before they will give me an estimate. I am a shy person, and I don’t find it easy to simply have a zoom relationship with a complete stranger. So that has really put me off.
However, I have a friend whose son might be able to do it – so fingers crossed. It isn’t difficult, I can do it myself, but it is more of a time-related problem. I really want to get the writing and the formatting done, rather than spend time on making the cover. And again, even a cheap pre-made cover starts at around #500 (pounds sterling) and given that I want three books, that is another cost that I doubt I would ever re-coup. I am hoping that if my friend’s son can do it, he might do a deal whereby I pay a small sum, and then advertise his graphic artist services on my website, etc. Fingers crossed.
This Quest is indeed interesting, ha ha ha.
