by Giovanni Casali, editorial coordinator
Publishing a book can cost nothing or a few thousand euros, and the difference is not the book: it is who does the work. With a traditional publisher you pay nothing, but you have to be chosen. Doing everything yourself costs little and the result is whatever you are able to produce. With a studio you pay for a finished book: our publishing package starts at 1,500 euros.
A traditional publisher does not ask you for a penny: it asks you to pass a selection, to wait months, and it keeps the larger part of the rights. Doing it yourself costs little in money and a great deal in time, because everything you cannot do you end up learning on your own book. Professional self-publishing sits in between: you pay once for the work of people who know how to do it, and rights and revenues stay yours.
Uploading to the stores costs nothing, and neither does the ISBN: serious distribution platforms charge no entry fee and assign the code themselves. The point is knowing which ones to use, which codes stay tied to a single store and which follow you anywhere, and how the book data has to be filled in so that the title really reaches the catalogues instead of ending up in limbo. That is exactly the work we do: with the publishing package your book goes on the stores without you having to buy a code or any extra service. What you do pay for is a different list: cover, print layout, EPUB, editing of the text. There is no public price list here, there is what the person doing the work asks for. And that is where the bill stops being in euros, because every item done badly stays on the page, and it shows.
Some publishers take on a book asking the author to share the costs, and it is a legitimate formula: in certain cases it is the only way a niche book ever sees the light. The point is not the contribution, it is clarity. Before you sign, have three things put in writing: exactly what the figure covers, how many copies are printed and where they are distributed, who keeps the rights and for how long. If one of those answers stays vague, the problem is not the price: it is the contract. And that goes for anyone, ourselves included.
The publishing package starts at 1,500 euros and includes a professional cover, print layout, EPUB, upload to the stores and print on demand, ISBN included and no platform fees. No minimum print runs, no warehouse, the rights stay yours. If the book still has to be written, writing is a separate chapter: from 2,500 euros for a short project, from 3,500 for a biography. The exact quote comes after the first consultation, free and without obligation.
Uploading the file is. What you pay for is the work that turns a file into a book: cover, layout, editing. No platform does that for you.
Not with us: the platforms we publish on assign it free of charge and it is already included in the package. Buying one only makes sense if you want a code registered in your name and valid on any channel, and if that is your case we tell you at the consultation. If you publish with a publisher, the code is theirs to provide.
If the text is ready, weeks: the time for cover, layout and upload. If it needs editing, the calendar is built at the consultation.
Yes. But the printed book is the one you give as a present, the one you sign and the one you leave behind: think it over before giving it up.
If the book still has to be written: How much does it cost to have a book written?
If the manuscript is already finished: I have written a book: what now?
Tell us where you are with your book in a few lines: the consultation is free and without obligation.
info@dualpenbooks.com
Giovanni Casali, editorial coordinator, will reply.
Want to get a sense of how we write first? Read a few excerpts.