What will it cost?

Naturally, there is no one-size-fits-all price.  The cost depends on the amount of work your book needs. For example, does it require heavy editing?  If so the cost will be more than for a book that requires little or none. Editing is a time/labor-intensive process, and may be the biggest component of the total cost.

Here are some guidelines and things to consider.

There is a $100 non-refundable charge for the ISBN number. This must be provided before work commences. Once a book is published, you will receive royalty payments of 75% of your book's monthly sales royalties, and Arjuna's Arrow will take a 25% cut of all royalties from sales of the book, in perpetuity. Amazon pays a 60% royalty (of the profit) for paperback books purchased on Amazon. Your share will therefore be 45% of the book's profit (75% of 60%). For purchases made on "extended distribution," such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon pays 40% of your book's profit; so your share would be 30% of the book's profit (75% of 40%).

A single (total) book royalty will typically be in the $2.50 to $4.00 range (for a book with a selling price of $10 - $15). You will receive royalty payments of your book's monthly sales royalties, one month after the month's sales are paid to Arjuna's Arrow. If sales are minimal, you will paid royalties on a quarterly basis.

(Be advised that distributors other than Amazon, particularly overseas, often pay significantly smaller royalties--typically half of the figures above from Amazon which typically constitute the bulk of all the sales.)

Once a project is submitted and we are able to estimate the amount of work that will be involved, we will send you a contract stating the terms and an estimated cost as well as a timetable of payments. (We will also send you a W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification form, which you must fill out and return to us.) Besides the initial $100 for the ISBN, a small down payment will be required. This might be in the range of (an additional) $100-$200.

If artwork and/or image processing work has to be contracted, you may be charged for those as they occur. We are usually able to get such work done cheaply, if necessary. Typical costs don't exceed $100.  However, if your book requires some specialist artwork, such as an original piece of artwork for your book cover, that will be expensive and we suggest that you have that done on your end. If you provide the artwork for the cover, there will be no additional charge from us.

To give a ballpark figure for a typical book, 150-250 pages, standard size (such as 5" x 8", 6" x 9" or 8.5" x 11"), with minor editing, with no interior graphics, you can expect to be charged somewhere around $500 (not including the $100 for the ISBN).  For such a project, your initial charge might be $250 (including the ISBN $100), and you would be expected to pay the balance of $350 when the first proof is finished.

Typically, a book will require at least two proofs. Each proof will be sent to you for edits and approval. We will work together on incorporating fixes/edits to the proofs, communicating by email (typically).  Once we are both satisfied with a proof, the book will be published.

To repeat, editing is the most labor intensive and time consuming of all the tasks, and if a lot of editing is needed, requiring many hours of work, you can expect to be charged accordingly. Extensive editing may add several hundred dollars to the cost. Also note we will not know the extent of the editing needed until we actually have the manuscript. We cannot give a good estimate without seeing the manuscript. This should not concern you. We have no interest whatsoever in pilfering any author's work. Until a contract is agreed upon, you do not need to send us an editable file. A non-editable PDF is fine. Our object is to produce the best finished product possible that will give credit to our imprint as well as be lucrative for both you and Arjuna's Arrow.

Another huge advantage to POD publishing is that once the book is published, it can still be updated if errors are found that weren't caught in the proofs--or for any reason at all, such as you decided that something just has to be changed or added. The cover can also be updated after publishing. Obviously, updating after publication is not something we encourage, but it can be done. When an update is in process the book will be still be available for sale in its present incarnation until the update is approved by us and then submitted to and approved by Amazon. In such instances, a new proof may be ordered. If the change is extremely minor, we can skip the proof.  An update to an already published book will cost no less than $50. The cost depends on the amount of time needed to implement the update. If the changes are extensive, you might want to consider publishing a new edition of the book. A new edition is a new book: new ISBN, etc.  Total costs would likely be less than for the first edition, as less work should be required.

Choosing to publish a Kindle ebook version requires little work under normal circumstances. You can expect an additional charge of around $50.