"Writing is too expensive!"

If you've dreamed of becoming a writer, but the fear of finances is holding you back, I'm here to tell you, it's not as scary as you might think. Having some capital to start with doesn't hurt, but I definitely don't think you need hundreds or thousands of dollars to get started.

What do I spend money on for writing?

There are several things I either invested in upfront or pay for monthly. I'm going to go through each of those things and let you know if it's worth it and what alternatives exist for money savings.

1. DabbleWriter: dabblewriter.com

I pay for a subscription to Dabble Writer because I absolutely love the service. I utilize it when I am writing my first and second drafts. It helps me organize my thoughts and separate plotlines into chapters that move together smoothly. My favorite feature is the ability to move chapters around. This is great if during one of my edits I realize an entire chapter is out of place and should be moved to later in the story or even just one chapter ahead of where it's at. Instead of copy/paste or reformatting the entire book, I'm able to just simply drag and drop.

Dabble Writer offers three different types of subscriptions. There are options for $5, $10, and $15 each month. You can also opt to pay an annual fee to save about 20%. When I signed up I was able to take advantage of a 10% off for life coupon, so I pay $13.50/month for Premium Dabble.

This is a cost I find worth it and will continue to pay as long as I am writing or until I find something I like better. Cost-saving options include opting for a basic subscription for $5/month or utilizing something else like Google Docs for writing.

Dabble Basic: $5

Dabble Standard: $10

Dabble Premium: $15

Google Docs: Free

2. Website

I did some research when I started writing to see what some of the "must-have" items were. Almost every blog I read mentioned having a website, so I searched around until I found one that I liked and landed with WIX.

I will say, I do not utilize my website as much as I thought I would and I definitely think it is something you could skip over if you are writing on a budget.

As I grow, I am unsure if I will continue to utilize a website, but I do like having my blog and mailing lists seamlessly wrapped into my website.

But again, these are also things you can find for free. There are many blog websites that will allow you to post for free and you can utilize Mailchimp or other mailing list websites without having to utilize a paid-for website.

3. Book Cover

If I had to choose what to spend money on it, it would definitely be my book cover. If you are fluent with Photoshop and cover photo templates, you may be able to save some money here, but for me, this was a must spend item.

Cover art seemed like a simple concept when I started looking into what I wanted to do for CS, but as I dove deeper, I realized I definitely wanted to hire someone to do the art for me.

I hired Teased by Antonette and plan to utilize her services for my entire St. Augustine University Series. When she created the cover for CS, she provided me with an ebook cover, a paperback cover, and several additional graphics. I also utilized her services for my author logo and watermark.

For me, Photoshop came into play in my decision. I didn't have Photoshop on my computer and I didn't want to start paying a subscription for a service I likely wouldn't use much. I know the basics of Photoshop, but there's also a lot I don't know, so that played a huge factor as well. Antonette is familiar with how Photoshop works and is able to create and modify things easier than I would have been able to do on my own.

Another benefit to hiring someone instead of utilizing a premade website is that some websites allow multiple people to purchase and utilize the cover. In fact, one of the covers I was considering for CS has appeared several times on other indie books, so for me, this cost was worth it.

Cost-wise, I paid Antonette around $150 for CS because she also did a lot of graphics for me. I purchased her highest package. For my second book, I paid $85, because I found I could make my own teasers and basic graphics utilizing Canva.com.

There are money-saving options available for covers, you'll just have to decide what is worth it for you.

Canva.com has a book cover option so you can create your own cover easily.

Bookcoverzone.com sells covers on their website for decent prices.

4. Editing

Every blog you read you'll see the top two things authors recommend spending money on are editing and quality cover photos.

It took me six months to complete and edit Chasing Sedona. Mainly because I edited the final copy a million times before I landed on a version I loved. I was not planning on hiring an editor but made the last-minute decision to hire one, just to see if it was an investment I needed to consider for each book.

I hired Whitney's Book Works to edit Chasing Sedona. I will say, for my first novel, my editor provided great insight into how to format dialogue and other things throughout the novel. For that alone, I found her services to be worth it, but when I compared the edits my editor made against the edits my Advisor made, I found them to be almost exact, with the exception of the dialogue formatting.

Ultimately, this cost was worth it and necessary for publication for Chasing Sedona, but moving forward, I'll be saving money by utilizing my Advisor for final edits.

Editing costs vary greatly. There are some that charge per line, and some charge per word. There are some that only do grammar/spelling and others that only do plot/world-building edits, and there are some that do it all.

It is important to take a peek at what you might be good at when it comes to editing/formatting and what you may struggle with to determine what type of editor you should hire or if you should hire one at all.

The cost for my editor was around $400 for the entire book. I paid a portion of the editing costs before she started and finished paying once she was completed. I found this cost to be slightly below average, but she did a great job.

5. Personal Assistant (PA)

Another cost that was highly recommended by other indie authors was a Personal Assistant or a PA.

PAs can help with many things. They can:

• Set up and run social media groups

• Run social media accounts

• Create teasers/graphics

• Engage with readers

• Organize ARC teams

• Organize mailing lists and help with emails

• Set up and plan takeovers

• Collaborate with other artists and PAs

• etc.

While I was preparing for the release of Chasing Sedona, I started to feel overwhelmed with the number of things I needed to accomplish before I could get my book out into the hands of readers. For that reason, I started looking into a PA to see what they could assist with. I did end up utilizing a PA for two months but quickly found it wasn't a service I needed to spend on any further.

My PA was great. She engaged my reader group and helped me out as needed, but I also found myself doing a lot of the things myself and ultimately determined I like to have the control in my own hands when it comes to what information is being delivered to my groups and how that information is being delivered. For me, it's simply a control thing.

I do not feel you need to have a PA in order to be a successful writer. I'm sure it helps some of the authors who have larger reader bases, but I definitely don't think it is a service you need to worry about hiring out when you are first starting your indie-publishing gig. Save yourself the approximately $100 a month and put it toward advertising, book cover costs, or editing fees.

6. Printing!

As an extra, let's talk about printing your book. Printing is absolutely not a necessary thing. For me, I had the money available and wanted to be able to provide physical copies to friends and family, so I opted to print about 100 copies.

Printing costs vary, but when compared to the profitability of selling the books and profiting without any royalties paid to anyone else, it was a "worth it" cost to me.

If you check out my previous blog, you can see some of the printers I utilized and what I found with each of them. This is definitely a cost you can choose to save yourself from spending.

If you do choose to sell your paperbacks yourself, utilize a service like Square or place the books onto your website. Square has worked seamlessly for me. I am able to utilize it if I sell books at an event, like a book signing, and I'm able to utilize it online for purchases as well.

With selling books yourself, there are a few additional costs for shipping.

I purchased these bubble mailers: https://amzn.to/3jh7Jtb

and these labels: https://amzn.to/3lTBcea

I also utilize Stamps.com and media mail for shipping, which saves a little money. I do charge for shipping at this time so that I am not fully losing the cost of shipping.

I hope this long blog provided some helpful insights into things that are and are not of benefit to me as a new writer. Take the information and do with it what you will. Each author is different and each author is going to have different wants and needs. What works for me likely won't work for you, but it might :)

Xo,

Kenzie