This is the eighth and final post in a series on how to become a writer.
How much does it cost to become a writer? You might go into it with the idea that you’ll spend nothing but time, and plenty of royalties will flow your way. Don’t we all wish that was so?! But it does require some money on your part not only to get a good book published, but to maintain an online presence and protect your assets.
This post is mainly aimed an indie authors and writers, but anyone seeking to run their own business can benefit from this. We share our stories about what we actually pay for in a year to keep our business running.
The Cost of an LLC
We own Tal & Ru Travels LLC, which protects all our books, website, and associated content. This is important to do in case anyone tries to steal your creations, and if anyone attempts to accuse you of stealing from them. It’s an extra layer of protection.
The cost of an LLC varies by state. Typically, you can very easily apply online. Our initial application cost us $100. We pay a $25 fee to continue it every year.
The Cost of a Website & Social Presence
To run a website, you have to pay for the domain, and any upgraded features you use. We use a pro version of WordPress to get the content we need for our site.
We pay $19 every year for the domain name.
We also pay $180 each year for WordPress Pro.
Currently, we don’t use any plugins that cost money. But that is an extra cost depending on what you need.
We also don’t have social media accounts anymore. These accounts, including business ones, are free. However, if you choose to run ads you will pay for the cost of the ad. Each platform has their own breakdown on costs.
The Cost of Book Creation
We keep our book creation costs very low. The only thing we pay for is about $250 (including a tip) for our book cover designer through Fiverr. With four books out so far, that has added up to $1,000.
You may choose to put other money into the cost of your books, such as hiring editors, beta readers, formatters, etc. It all depends on how much work you want to learn and do yourself, and how much you see value in hiring an expert for.
Supplemental Costs
There are other costs associated with running an author business.
- Canva: We use Canva for our graphic design elements on our website and other platforms. We pay for Canva Pro, which costs $15 a month.
- Inkarnate: We pay for the commercial use of Inkarnate, since we put maps made on their platform in our book. It is only $25 a year.
- Advertising: Sometimes we pay for advertising, often through Amazon ads. The goal, of course, is to make more revenue than you spend on the ads. Whenever we do use it, we spend about $20 a month, but you can do however much you want to.
Cost Summary
Here is yearly breakdown of our costs:
- LLC renewal: $25
- Domain name: $19
- WordPress Pro: $180
- Book Cover: $250
- Canva: $180
- Inkarnate: $25
- Ads (not included since we don’t use them consistently)
Total Yearly Cost to run Thread of Souls: $679
We hope this is helpful in you planning your own indie author business!