PUBLISHING COST: AUTHOR PHOTO Another thing that if you go cheap, it will hurt you. Our breakdown on the importance of the author photo explains this in depth, but the point is simple and easy to understand: people judge you based on your appearance, so make sure to send the right signals. • Low Quality: $0–$99 • Acceptable: $100–$300 • High Quality: $350–$1,000 • Best Possible: $1,500+ PUBLISHING COST: BOOK COVER We’ve written extensively how to get a great book cover, and this is probably going to be the biggest cost center you have for pub- lishing. But again—people DO judge a book by its cover, and you must get this right. • Low Quality: $100–$150 • Acceptable: $200–$500 • High Quality: $750–$1,500 • Best Possible: $2,000+ PUBLISHING COST: BOOK INTERIOR Book interior really only matters when you get it wrong. No one notices when you get it right (unless it’s just an amazing design or something like that), so you don’t need to go super expensive here, you just need to get it “not wrong.” • Low Quality: $0–$500 (DIY software like Vellum is in the middle of this range) • Acceptable: $750–1000 • High Quality: $1,500 • Best Possible: $2,500+ 336 · ThE SCriBE METhOD