I’m working on self-publishing a short nonfiction book and would appreciate input from anyone here who has gone through the process.
The premise: I graduated U.S. Army Ranger School a few years ago and kept detailed notes every single day during the course. I tracked food, sleep, weight loss, and wrote a daily journal about what was happening and how I was processing it. Over 62 days I averaged about 2.5 meals and 3.9 hours of sleep per day and lost over 30 pounds. Most Ranger School books are written years later from memory. This one was written in the moment and is aimed at soldiers considering the course.
From initial research, a self-publish route via Amazon KDP looks like this:
- Final manuscript cleanup and OPSEC scrub (1–2 weeks)
- Professional copyedit ($150–400, 2–4 weeks)
- Copyright registration (~$45)
- Interior formatting ($150 DIY software or $300–600 to hire out)
- Professional cover design ($300–800)
- Upload, proof copy, and launch
Estimated timeline: about 5–8 weeks
Estimated cost: roughly $1,200–2,000 for a polished product.
I do intend to make money on it. I think there is a real niche audience for this. At the same time, we are financially stable and a couple thousand dollars will not hurt us if it underperforms. I just want to approach it responsibly and not throw money at it unnecessarily.
For those here who have self-published:
- Does this cost and timeline seem realistic?
- Were there hidden costs or lessons you learned the hard way?
- If you did it again, where would you spend more or less?
I’d appreciate any perspective from people who have actually gone through it.
