Pricing
What book publishing costs in Australia
Three packages, priced in Australian dollars and including GST. The figures below are starting points; the quote you get is confirmed after an editor reads the manuscript.
Before you compare prices
A useful quote starts with the details
These three things help us understand the work and give you a scope you can compare.
Your manuscript and word count
The length and condition of the draft help determine the level of editorial work.
Understand editingThe formats you want
An ebook, paperback and illustrated hardback each need different design and production work.
Explore print optionsYour priorities and timing
Tell us what matters most, your intended readers and any dates you are working towards.
Talk through your brief
Packages
Three packages, priced in Australian dollars
Quoted for a 60,000-word manuscript in reasonable condition. Longer books, illustrated books and manuscripts needing heavy structural work cost more, and we say so before you commit.
Manuscript
Get the writing right before you spend anything on design.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Written manuscript assessment
- One round of structural editing
- Line edit and final proofread
- Australian spelling and style sheet
- A call with your editor at each stage
Publish
Everything needed to turn a finished manuscript into a book on sale.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Everything in Manuscript
- Original cover design, print and ebook
- Typeset interior for paperback and ebook
- ISBN registration and legal deposit
- Retailer and print-on-demand setup
- A printed proof copy before you sign off
- You keep the rights and the royalties
Publish and launch
For authors who want readers to find the book in its first month.
for a 60,000-word manuscript
- Everything in Publish
- A launch plan with dates and owners
- Author website with an email sign-up
- Retailer advertising for the first 90 days
- Review and bookshop outreach
- Monthly sales reporting for six months
Every quote is confirmed after we read your manuscript. Prices in Australian dollars and include GST. Longer books and illustrated books cost more, and we will say so before you commit.
In every package
What every package includes
Four things that are never an upsell.
Your rights, kept
Copyright, ISBN and retailer accounts in your name. We take no royalty share.
A named team
One point of contact, with your editor and designer named before work starts.
Every source file
Working files as well as exports, so you are never locked in by what we hold.
A fixed written quote
The figure you accept is the figure you pay, unless you change the scope.
Compare
What you are paying for, and what you could do yourself
Every stage here can be bought separately or done yourself. This is an honest view of which is worth paying for.
Structural editing
Paying us
An editor who has read hundreds of manuscripts in your genre.
Doing it yourself
Very hard to self-diagnose. Beta readers help but rarely diagnose.
Proofreading
Paying us
Two passes, on the typeset pages, against a style sheet.
Doing it yourself
Possible with a careful friend, though the layout pass needs the proofs.
Cover design
Paying us
Designed from the manuscript and tested at thumbnail size.
Doing it yourself
A good premade cover is cheap and often perfectly adequate.
Typesetting
Paying us
Print PDF and validated EPUB, built to specification.
Doing it yourself
Word can produce a readable interior; it rarely produces a good one.
ISBN and legal deposit
Paying us
Registered to you and lodged, with no mark-up on the ISBNs.
Doing it yourself
Entirely doable yourself in an afternoon, and we will tell you how.
Retailer setup
Paying us
Metadata, categories and keywords researched, files that pass review.
Doing it yourself
Free to do, and the learning is useful if you plan to publish again.
How we quote
Why we quote after reading, not before
A price list cannot tell the difference between a manuscript that needs a proofread and one that needs restructuring.
Two 80,000-word novels can be completely different jobs. One has been through four drafts and a writing group and needs a line edit. The other is a first draft with the real book starting at chapter four. Charging both the same per-word rate means overcharging the first author and underserving the second.
So an editor reads the manuscript, or a substantial sample, and the quote follows. It is free, it carries no obligation, and it is also when we tell you if the honest answer is a manuscript assessment first — the cheapest thing we sell. If you want the detail behind these figures, our guide to what it costs to publish a book in Australia breaks each stage down.
- The read is free and carries no obligation
- Quotes are itemised, so you can drop or defer a stage
- The figure you accept is the figure you pay
- We will recommend spending less when that is the right answer
The quote I was given at the start was the amount I paid at the end. After two years of getting vague ranges from other companies, that was the thing that made me sign. The itemised breakdown also meant I could drop the audiobook to the following year instead of being sold a bundle.
Anna Reith
Author of Small Repairs · Editing and formatting
Questions authors ask
Questions about cost
There is — the three packages above — but they are starting figures rather than final ones, because the work genuinely varies. A manuscript in good shape costs less than one needing structural work, and we would rather quote accurately after reading than publish a single number that is wrong for most books.
A manuscript assessment, your own rewrite, a proofread, a good premade cover, and doing the ISBN and retailer setup yourself. That is a genuinely respectable book for a fraction of the Publish package, and we will tell you how. The stage we would never skip is the editorial read.
Work is invoiced by stage rather than up front, which spreads the cost over four to six months and means you are never paying for work that has not started. If you need a longer arrangement, ask — we would rather set something workable than lose a book over timing.
Yes, and they include GST. Printing costs and retailer fees are separate and go to the printer or retailer directly, not to us. Advertising spend, if you buy marketing, is also paid to the platform rather than to us, and we will recommend a starting budget and a ceiling.
Only if you change the scope — adding an audiobook, commissioning illustration, or asking for a third round of revisions. We do not re-quote because the work turned out harder than we expected; that risk is ours, which is the point of reading the manuscript first.
Usually it looks cheaper and costs more. The common model is a low headline fee, a share of your royalties for the life of copyright, the rights licensed to them and a print run you store and sell yourself. Compare the total over five years, not the invoice today.
Still have a question? A real publisher will answer it.
Start your publishing journeyFree, no obligation
Get an exact quote for your book
Send the manuscript. An editor reads it and you get one itemised figure, with the stages you can cut listed separately.
- A free read before any price is quoted
- One itemised figure, fixed unless you change the scope
- Invoiced by stage, not up front
- Prices in AUD, including GST
- 1. You send it
- 2. An editor reads it
- 3. You get a written price