Whenever I do a writing/publishing workshop, there is always one question that I end up thinking of a better answer to long after the workshop is over. Last night, that question was about the $$$ to get started in self-publishing.

The short answer I gave was that there’s a way to do it at every price point. There is a way to budget your way into SPing, and a way to do it at moderate expense, and a way to splash out with a big debut.

That's true, and I tend to lean towards "don't spend too much."

What I didn’t say was that there’s no way to know which is the right answer for you. There are people who spend too much for their debut, and that big financial investment sees a negative ROI.

There are people who are too conservative, who have a debut book that could make a splash, but they don’t spend enough on book marketing.

(And there are many who CANNOT invest much; that was me, and it's why I lean to "it's very doable on a lean budget.")

The really long answer is: it will take both time and money, and there will be different points in your career where these are effective and efficient, and there will be times when both feel like spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.

Courtney Milan once did a thread on kboards about the regions of discoverability; it was specifically about the impact of a free book, but the theory holds for pretty much everything in publishing.

Any investment (of time, money, or a clever marketing idea) will have variable traction. This is sometimes about the product, and sometimes about the author's position in the marketplace.

I had a new release last week. I'm spending a chunk of money on cost-per-click advertising (FB, AMS ads) because I've (very slowly) learned about writing copy and picking targets...but that knowledge is only one factor.

There's a name recognition factor (and LOL, I don't think I have huge name recognition or anything like that), there's a SERIES recognition factor (I've distributed a good number of things that say Pine Harbour on them over the years!), and there's the luck of a good cover.

Someone who has used CPC advertising in another career could launch into self-publishing with that knowledge, absolutely. So it's super complicated and individual, but at the end of the day, the main advice I should give is this: don't spend any $$$ that makes you feel unsure.

Everyone's finances are going to be different, but decide in advance what this new business venture can afford to lose before it starts making money, and sit with that sum for a bit. Don't let anyone else tell you what that figure should be, especially if their # is scary big.

When I started publishing, I spent a small amount of money on a self-editing course, traded crits with other writers, paid a copy-editor, and my MIL did my proofreading. I did my own cover (and then changed it like six times over the next two years).

I didn't spend $ on ads until after I made that money from cross-promo efforts (anthologies with other authors). I funnelled my first significant royalty check directly back into my first BookBub featured deal (and only because I was confident it would have a positive ROI).