True costs of publishing a book may be different than what the publishers advertise to the author. There are several categories of publishers that an author must choose between to attempt to have their medical information published.

First, the large and most well-known publishing houses usually will not publish medical or technological books that are unsolicited. It is necessary to have an agent and usually the only medical books or texts that they accept are those that are big name academicians as the authors or books that will make money for the publishers. Traditional pub​lish​ers are astute risk-takers. They buy author’s ideas or intellectual​ prop​erty the same as stockbrokers might buy and sell stocks. When dealing with fiction, they look at possible secondary preferences, already-popular authors, well known individuals, licens​ing agreements with media and they await a positive outcome to offset their loses.   So for the majority of our authors of medical or technical books, the chances are slim being chosen to have a traditional publishing house publish your book.

Second, self-publishing of books has revolutionized the industry.  Now, almost anyone who wishes is able to publish a book.  What is necessary is the time, patience and money.   Now, the print-on-demand technologies have made it possible to print only the number of books needed allowing the author to produce only what he or she wants to keep and allowing a single reader to buy one or more books “on demand.” These self-publishing books can appear to be simple and even low cost, but if you want quality in your book, then the process of publishing is typically not easy nor free. So, if the book is generated and published properly, what are the actual costs of self-publishing a book?  In order to assess this, the actual process of publishing a book must be understood. The process involves going through editors or individuals who have certain specific areas that they make sure are correct.  Once the first copy of the book is written, DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING, is performed. This involves evaluation and critiquing the manuscript, looking at the entire book to make sure that it has a good flow pattern and answers questions that the readers want to understand. This allows consistency in the book and in general, this developmental editor can perform this task and head you on the correct pathway.  This helps produce a document that is in a fairly good form from which to begin the major editing process.  The next phase of the publishing process involves COPYEDITING. A separate editor then does a very thorough investigation of the manuscript and corrects all grammar, spelling and punctuation problems; this allows the manuscript to strive towards a completed work with consistency throughout. A COVER DESIGN has to be developed, as the first impression of the book is the cover. An author may have ideas or a design team, after speaking with the author, can develop a cover design and theme which allows the cover to ‘speak’ to the readers.  At this point, we are close; however, the book has to be formatted for Print and Digital Conversion.  Then, it is necessary to obtain an ISBN number and COPYRIGHT the book.  MARKETING and DISTRIBUTION are necessary to secure a way for the book to reach its readership. The costs for the entire process can range from a very low expense if one does all the work themselves, but they may not have the ability to do it well – and everyone wants the book to be well done and published properly. According to Miral Sattar, an award winning author services marketplace, the high end using appropriate people can range over $20,000.  Developmental editors range from $45 – $65 per hour; for a 280 page book averaging 56 hours (five pages per hour) the low end might be $2500 and the high end over $18,000. Copyediting can range from $800 to over $7,000 if a lot of work is necessary.  Cover design can range from a low amount to over $3,000 for custom design work. Printing, marketing and PR can compound the costs much more. So one can see that the costs for a well finished product can be very expensive.

The third mode of publishing is called “vanity publishing” or “vanity press”. This describes publishing books by the publisher for a fee to the author.  The fee usually takes into account all the processes explained with a certain number of books printed for the author.  While there are similarities between vanity and self-publishing modes, “self-publishing” (“DIY publishing” , “indie publishing”) refers to the process by which an author publishes his or her own work into the trade book marketplace using usually either help or kits made for the consumer and they therefore, hope to sell it to a certain readership. Vanity publishing has been around a long time and it has allowed authors to publish what they desired.  They were originally hired to publish copies of books with a limited audience in mind.  However, times have changed and a medical author can, indeed, pay upfront a great deal of money to have his book published.  The service still exists and provides to the author a service which will provide editing through printing to those willing to pay for this service.

One does not have to choose between self-publishing and vanity publishing for your medical or technical book.  The best of both types of these services associated with a low cost in relationship to a professionally printed book is obtained when utilizing Medical Book Publishers. It will combine professionals to edit the book through the printing process while working closely with the author.  The added services of helping “ghost-write” the manuscript is available for those who have difficulty putting all the correct words down on paper. After the printing of the book, marketing can be provided for those who desire it.  The best of all worlds with a reasonable cost. We should make sure the content of your book is as creditable of your time, money and energy as it can be.