What can we tell you?
At The Book Whisperer we value transparency, honesty, and straight talk. We only work on projects we believe in, and our relationships with our authors matter to us. We often have a waiting list, so please keep that in mind.
Pricing and Costs
Fees depend on scope. We don’t quote until we understand what a book and its author actually need.
We’re selective about who we work with. This is no insult to you or your work — we know the things we do well and the things we don’t. We do our best to take on authors we believe we can help, which means a book that’s ready, realistic expectations on the part of the author, and a clear understanding that this is collaboration, not a service transaction.
Rough ranges:
Production — proofing, formatting, metadata, sales copy, ARC campaign, and distribution — from €6,500. Marketing and advertising are not included. Coaching sessions are available for authors managing their own.
Full launch — all of the above, plus marketing and advertising covering the pre-launch and one month post-launch period — from €10,500. Ad spend is separate. Engagement is generally 3–4 months.
All-inclusive — developmental editing, copy editing, cover design, production, advertising, and editorial reviews — from €20,000.
Retainers for ongoing advertising, publishing, and marketing are structured around each author’s catalog and situation. No standard rate.
Every project is scoped and priced individually before work begins. Fees are split into scheduled payments; structure is agreed at the time of scoping. We work within authors’ budgets while keeping our team employed and the lights on.
One more thing: we do take on authors who can’t afford our standard rates. If a book is in the neighborhood of things we do well, if we read it and fall in love, if there is something about you that meets something about us — submit anyway. We are with authors for the long haul. If you think your book is the right fit, if WE are the right fit, let’s talk and figure something out.
Beyond our fee, the main variable is advertising. For a debut or new series, we’d recommend having $1,000–$5,000 in reserve. You’re unlikely to spend it all, but if a book starts moving you want the budget to keep it moving. It takes three months before your first royalty payment, so you’ll be covering ad costs in the meantime.
A typical Facebook budget for a new release is $5–$10 per day, scaled up or down based on results., AFTER the testing period. Amazon Ads average around $200–$300 per month for a new release. BookBub advertising in popular genres can be worth $100–$200 for a new release.
Ad spend is elastic and depends largely on your goals, means, and risk tolerance. Throwing money at a book will not make is sell better if nobody wants to read it; not spending enough in the earliest weeks of your release can mean a failure to launch. If a book takes off, it is better to have cash reserves to boost its success; if a book is appreciated by early reviewers but has slow sales, it’s best to spend modestly. If a book meets lackadaisical early reviews and low to no sales, it is best to stop spending on advertising and go to work on your next book.
Other costs that aren’t required but can be useful: paid editorial reviews (we recommend Publishers Weekly BookLife and Kirkus), and newsletter promotions through services like BookSweeps or BookFunnel. We’re cautious with these — each has it’s own purpose.
These are not fees we charge, and we take no referral fees from any services we recommend. Advertising cost is a separate budget, and these costs are paid directly by the author.
Cover design, depending on genre, typically runs $250–$550 for a custom cover. Editing rates are set by the market — for current rates, see the EFA rate card at the-efa.org. ISBNs: we recommend owning yours through Bowker — $125 for one, $295 for ten. Copyright registration with the US Copyright Office runs around $70 for a single work digitally.
BookWhisperer also has its own traditional imprint, Casa Croce Press. For a comparison for budgeting purposes, we spent around $20,000 – $25,000 per US title over the first six months including all labor and advertising expenses, and $10,000 – $15,000 on foreign editions in a single market. We did slightly better than break even (and even paid out royalties.)
We don’t take a percentage of your royalties. Your publishing accounts are entirely under your own control, and you receive 100% of the royalties.
Amazon KDP pays 70% of ebook royalties minus a small delivery fee. For paperbacks, Amazon takes 40% of retail price and you receive 60%, out of which printing costs are deducted. Other retailers operate similarly. If you distribute through an aggregator like Draft2Digital, they take around 10% in exchange for platform access.
No. And no ethical company can.
What we can tell you is that many of our clients are full-time authors who make a good living. What we do is minimise your risks — make sure your cover is competitive, your book is published properly, your advertising is tracked and not outspending your earnings. We’ll tell you the risks and benefits of every decision, backed by data and experience, and work hard to give your book the best possible chance.
Working with us
Go to our Work With Us page and tell us about your project. We read everything that comes in. If we think we’re a good fit, we’ll set up a call to talk through your goals, your timeline, and what working together would look like. From there we put together an offer.
Our standard engagement is ninety days, with approximately one month of follow-up as needed.
It depends on which tier you’re working to — the full breakdown is on our Services page. In general, everything we use on your behalf is included in our fee: our software licences, our platform accounts, our tools. The client covers advertising costs only.
Software and services we licence and use on behalf of clients:
Formatting / Editing
Vellum, InDesign, Calibre, Scrivener, ProWritingAid
Promotion / Distribution
BookFunnel (publisher account), LibraryThing (publisher account), NetGalley (publisher account), BookSweeps, MailerLite
Graphic Design
Adobe Suite, Bookbrush, Authorlab Pro, Shutterstock, MidJourney
Analysis and Keyword Development
K-lytics, Publisher Rocket, KDSpy
When we onboard you, we set you up on Basecamp — a project management platform where all communications, schedules, and files are stored. We use Calendly for scheduling calls, Dropbox for file management, and Google Sheets for passwords and private data.
The better our communication, the better the experience for everyone.
Do you have an AI policy?
Yes, we do have an AI policy. And yes, we DO use AI.
First, we do not accept books that have been written with AI. We do accept books that have used AI tools for editing purposes — and there is a difference.
We understand there is a lot of controversy around this topic — but sadly, there is very little nuance in the conversation. Let me explain: the horse has left the barn. Unless you are writing with a quill or an old Underwood typewriter, you are already using AI, every day, day in and day out. If you use spell check, grammar check, or Google, you have been initiated into the underworld. Facebook, Amazon Ads, KDP, and Amazon all run on AI models. There is no escape.
If I were a magic fairy or queen of the universe, I would wave my magic wand and return us to a future without the internet. I would have us all living in a world filled with libraries and card catalogs and microfiche readers and catalog stacks. My world would be filled with local newspapers in every town, landlines in every home, and town halls instead of social media.
Alas. That is not the world as it is, but as I wish it were.
In the world we have, there is ethical, sane, safe use of AI and unethical, dangerous, insane use of AI — just as with any tool.
Honestly, I am not nearly as worried about AI as an assistant in human creation as I am terrified about AI as an assistant to human destruction.
Why don’t you accept books written by AI?
Because our preferred clients are those with a love of writing. Furthermore, as miraculous as AI tools are, they lack something humans have: a body. Good writing is embodied. It comes from a lived experience of joy, pain, suffering, and a fear of mortality. A well-trained AI can imitate these things, certainly — but it is imitation.
How do you use AI?
We are a data-driven company. We make big decisions with other people’s money based on data, reports, and projections. We rely on AI to read and translate the data that informs our decisions.
We edit books and proofread copy. Our Microsoft Word, Pages, and Scrivener products have AI onboard to review the work. However, we NEVER take AI at its word — it’s frequently wrong. We use editing tools as an assist, not as a human replacement.
We use AI to research and fact-check. Perhaps an author made a typo in a manuscript claiming that the Battle of Britain was fought in 1904. A well-trained AI will pick that up and call it out.
We use AI for graphics, and we use it well (we try to avoid it for covers, unless we have a six-armed alien to render). Photography stock — especially historical stock — is limited and expensive, and what is cheap or free is overused. A typical client will require hundreds of different advertising graphics for an effective launch campaign. The changes in the Facebook advertising platform mean Meta now requires a far higher volume of graphic iterations than can be produced by hand. Every major software we use has AI onboard — Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Canva, and others. The use of AI for graphics has become inescapable, and allows us to work more quickly and efficiently on behalf of our clients.
We are fully conscious of the need for human direction, discernment, and judgment in all of this. We control our AI. We do not allow it to control us.
If the use of AI in any form is a hard line for you, we respect that. We genuinely do. But we would be doing you a disservice to pretend we can run a modern publishing operation without it. If that is a dealbreaker, we are probably not the right agency for you — and we would rather you know that now than discover it later.
Other questions
Technically, a hybrid press shares costs and shares royalties. Many hybrid presses actually only share royalties and not costs.
We don’t take royalties — we charge a fee for services, and you keep everything. Other companies doing what we do call themselves hybrid publishers, and we’re a member in good standing of the IBPA. But technically we’re a publishing services company.
However, we do provide pretty much all of the services any other digital first small or hybrid press does, often at a smaller fee and with a more robust advertising infrastructure. The difference between us and other hybrid publishers is ONLY that you keep 100% of the royalties and you keep complete control of your publishing platforms.
So, while technically we are not a ‘publisher’ in the sense that we do not take royalties, if you want to say “my publisher says…” over cocktails, we’re fine with that.
No.
The term gets thrown around, but there’s a distinction. A vanity press takes your money, outsources everything to the lowest bidder, and leaves you with a poor quality book and no way to sell it. Many of them misrepresent themselves as hybrid or traditional publishers.
How do you spot one? Look at their catalogue. Are the covers professional? Do their titles have reviews and meaningful Amazon rankings? Did they approach you on Facebook or claim to be contacting you from KDP? Check Writer’s Beware before working with anyone — including us. Ask to speak to current or former clients. We’ll give you references.
Yes, you can. Amazon KDP, Kobo, and other platforms have made it genuinely possible to publish your own book without help. If you’re technically confident, have more time than money, and want to learn the craft of publishing, nothing’s stopping you.
In fact, if you are a new author interested in indie publishing, I would encourage you to publish at least one piece of work on your own (even if you decide to keep the work in draft.) There are a lot of moving parts to taking a book from first draft to available to buy, and it is a good idea that you understand the process before committing to the costs of publishing with any hybrid or service provider.
The internet is filled with excellent information, tutorials, and guides.
What we bring is years of experience, and understanding of the market, and tons of tools and data. We have a pretty good success record and are very good at what we do. But we are not the only path; lots of authors run successful author businesses on their own. But, there is a big learning curve, you need technical skills, and many people are just not that interested in anything besides writing and have better things to do with their free time than learn marketing, advertising, databases, etc.
But – yes, you CAN do it on your own.
Yes, selectively. We have our own imprint and publish a small number of authors traditionally, currently limited to literary historical fiction. This is invite-only and not something we’re accepting submissions for at present. We’re expanding this side of the business and will announce when that changes.
If you’d like to talk about your book and whether we’re a good fit, we’d like to hear from you.
