Does anyone [except a few] truly makes enough on their ROI to justify the high cost of preparing a book for publication?

I hadn’t thought about this vital topic until I read about it on a blog where the authors were complaining they feel they’re merely working for others although, they are Independents.

Indie authors see it all over the web. Some swear by the Blarney Stone they can’t, won’t touch or read anything if it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. Well, those are the same people would have never bought Tamerlane ,Edgar Allan Poe’s first published novel that’s now worth 665,000. It was certainly nothing grand to look at and contained a lot of printing press errors and some considered errors due to his writing style.

But like in The Prudential commercial when they slap down the Rock of Gibraltar  stating in the real world things don’t work out as they do in movies.

Pulling off the literature hype mask and star struck blind folders and looking at reality— does it make logical sense to spend nearly $5,000 for something that may or may not bear fruits?

Writing and selling books is a gamble. Realistically, from a ROI [Return On Investment] stand point does it truly makes good business sense to justify the high cost of preparing a book for publication unless you are well-to-do and doing it as a hobby? With the average full editorial service costing between $500.00 to $2,500 and much higher if it’s a big book; the average book cover costing between $50.00 to and can go as high as $3,000.00. Don’t forget the internal formatting which can tack on another $50.00-1,500.00 depending on the size of the book.

At these astronomical rates, right off the bat, one has to sell at least 250 books to remotely break even, rather Indie or traditional published.  So, in  short the vast majority of the first monies made goes to editors, cover designer, formatters and book promoters not the author. Simple math dictates that you have to sell 25 copies of your story to pay for the $50 cover design fee. Selling twenty-five copies mean that you’re working for the cover designer instead of yourself. For new authors, having to sell twenty-five copies may mean that you will never make a penny on a story, much less be able to buy anything you’ve had your eye on or pay a bill.

So when will you make any money following the ridiculous format outlined by those who do not have your best interest at heart? The answer is never. All of your earnings will go toward production.

If you have a small press you are still responsible for marketing and that alone can be very expensive.

My point being, nowadays, with the options of cheaper alternatives don’t break your bank to publish because those who are going to read your work will read it regardless of whether it’s written on a brown paper bag and those who aren’t going to read it won’t; even if it has all the things that some in the literary agenda avows that’s absolutely  deemable and written on expensive  Midori Paper; they still aren’t going to read it.

It’s very important to dream up interesting and exciting contents to your story. I know I’m often disappointed when I come across something saturated with all the bells and whistles and then the plot doesn’t keep my interest.  It’s like being really hungry and buying a big beautiful bag of potatoes only to open it and discover the few chips at the bottom of the bag but the rest of it is mostly air.