Self Publishing Input?
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.
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Comments
This sounds like a fulfilling project!
My experience was similar to 
bciocco 's - I put a self-published book together quickly and don't recall any real expenses other than ordering author copies. My goal was just to get something useful out there. It's "50 Ways to Say NO," a guidebook for people pleasers -
Probably not as polished as what you are describing, I just downloaded their template for the formatting and had it up in an afternoon.
I've been running a very basic ad through the kindle marketing and in the 4 years it's been up looks like 865 orders total. So, not a meaningful source of revenue, but a valuable source of meaning.
To answer your last question, given my goals I am glad I moved fast, spent little, and got it into the world. But for your goal of making it polished and professional, your estimate sounds both reasonable and economical.
Thanks for sharing that! Having it published for ~4 years now, would you consider going back and making it "polished and professional", or no regrets with not using the professional publishing input? Congrats on the success with your book.
Also, just FYI, your embedded link doesn't work as written; the period at the end of the sentence got tied in with it.
Hi Josh - congrats on your accomplishments! Hopefully I’m sharing info that you already know, but just in case, you still need to submit the manuscript to the Army for review prior to publishing. Your unit PAO should be able to assist, and if they’re willing to read and sign off on it, that will save you a lot of time in the review process. If you need info on the process, you can find me on global - LTC Kristin Porter - and I can go through my files and send you what I’ve done for my Soldiers when they wanted to publish.
Yes, thank you. I knew that an OPSEC scrub/Army review is necessary, but I wasn't sure which channel to go through (S2/G2, PAO, etc.). Thanks for the direction. I'll be reaching out shortly; if you have the time, I'd love to see what resources you've used.
Hi Josh - I self-published in 2023 and I didn't want to forget everything I learned, so I wrote a series of blog posts about it that might be helpful to you:
Self-Publishing - Amber R Field
https://amberrfield.com/self-publishing-series/.This timeline article talks about how long it actually took me:
A Book Self-Publishing Timeline - Amber R Field
https://amberrfield.com/a-book-self-publishing-timeline/.As for costs, I spent around $3k total. $1250 for a good developmental editor who was worth her weight in GOLD and another $1500 for professional copyediting. I saved a bunch of money by using GetCovers.com and that only cost me $25 (Creating a Book Cover for Your Self-Published Book - Amber R Field
). Other things I spent money on were ISBNs and a few other incidentals. I did the formatting myself and it was a pain in the butt, so the formatting software is probably worth it. I think your timeline is optimistic. One of the things that really held me up was waiting about six weeks for a professional copyeditor, so anyone you're hiring out for has other work and you'll have to fit into their schedule. Hope this is helpful!
amberrfield, thank you for all that content! Your blog series is an absolute gold mine- I'll be digging deeper through that over the next few days.
Some initial questions (if they're already in your blog, let me know and I'll keep digging):
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How did you 1) find a developmental editor and 2) ensure she was a good one?
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Same with a professional copyeditor?
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Did you expect to have an ROI with your $3k that you put into the project? As in, did you know you would earn money off your book, or were you in a similar boat as me (hopeful but ignorant)?
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I'll follow up on this thread with any extra questions I have as I dive into your blog.
Looking at one of your books, I got my PMP a couple years ago, so I had to dabble a bit in the Agile PM method. Being in the military, the Agile framework was quite a bit different than how we normally operate... (haha). Its awesome you were able to take your expertise and turn it into revenue stream while also helping others learn.
Hi Josh - For my developmental editor, I got a recommendation from another person in my writing group. I chatted with her quick about my project and just went with her. I thought she was good, but next time, I might get a few quotes. For my copyeditor, I found her on FIVRR and she was very highly rated there. She did a fantastic job, so if you don't have any leads for either of these from your network, I might suggest looking at FIVRR and only paying attention to the most highly-rated people. I didn't really expect to have an ROI, but I do teach a course and require my students to have my book so I knew I would have some revenue. For my next book, I will definitely spend the money again even without the ROI because they made my book SO MUCH BETTER! It's funny you mention your PMP. I have one too and people reading my book to help study for the PMP-ACP exam has been an unexpected revenue source for me. Thanks, PMI! :) Happy to answer more questions as you have them!
It is very cool! My friend wrote a book and years later it may become a movie so this kind of material you’ve got may end up going down that same path! You never know really.
I self-published a nonfiction book on Amazon in October 2025. It’s a relatively short book — about 65 pages — and I ultimately decided to offer both a paperback version on Amazon and a downloadable PDF on my own website.
The process of getting the book published on Amazon was actually quite straightforward. Anytime I didn’t understand something, I used ChatGPT to walk me through it step-by-step, which made the entire process much less intimidating. Because my book functions more as a practical workbook — it focuses on how to choose the right hospice and includes hundreds of questions families can use when interviewing hospice agencies — I chose not to have it professionally edited. I did, however, complete the copyright registration and obtain an ISBN number for the paperback/softcover edition.
I handled all of the formatting myself in Word and found it surprisingly easy to prepare and submit the manuscript through Amazon without any issues during approval. For the cover design, I hired a graphic designer overseas whom I’ve worked with before. The cover turned out beautifully and cost around $250, which felt like an excellent investment.
The only frustrating part of the process was waiting the initial 60 days for Amazon’s first royalty payment. After that, payments have been consistent, and I now receive royalties monthly from ongoing sales. Hope that information is helpful and good luck on your project!! 😊
I "Self Published" (You Can Tri, William Ciocco) with Amazon in 2015. It wasn't to make money, but to get the information out there. I did not opt for a paper book.
After I wrote the book and uploaded it, it was out on Amazon almost instantly. I didn't pay anything to put it out there. Amazon has the tools to format it yourself. I wrote it in Microsoft Word and formatted it with the tools on the Amazon Kindle website.
Check on Copyright Registration. FWIU, as soon as the work is written, it is covered under copyright law and registration is not necessary. As in anything else, I could be mistaken. As mentioned, it wasn't a big concern because I just wanted to encourage folks who were interested in doing their first triathlon.
I usually ran the book for free using Amazon's marketing tools. It is on there now for $4.69. I'll make it free from February 20-24, 2026 (Amazon limits how long you can do free promotions to five days) if anyone wants to check it out. It is definitely in need of some revisions and I may do a second edition this year. I initially had links to the workouts, which are hosted. I am going to put them in the book to avoid hosting them anymore.
That's awesome,
bciocco. Once the window opens up, I'd love to download the book to how the Kindle tools turned out, and see what you wrote.
I heard that the copyright automatically applies, but that it adds another level of protection if you formally register it. I think that will matter if I decide to really try to push the book out there. That's what I'm leaning towards now, but I have to do some other steps before I actually decide which path to pursue.
Hey Josh, I've traditionally published AND self published. Self is the way to go IF you can market yourself, think: social media, newsletters, podcasts, interviews, etc.
I started self publishing 6 years ago, have 6 books out (a new one coming out soon) and have NO intention of ever using a publisher again.
I have also not spent a DIME that I didn't MAKE to keep the business going (Minus $100 to start a bank account). My biggest advice- have a great cover and make sure it's well written. I am lucky enough to have a background in writing and editing and trade with friends for editing. Perhaps you have these people in your life? Great meals for editing swap? Please DO NOT pay for formatting. If you survived that harrowing experience (lack of sleep would kill me) then you can figure out formatting, uploading, etc. It's all on KDP's site. There are FREE classes for marketing everywhere. You've got this!
I don't know anyone with editing experience. BUT I'm having friends and coworkers (about 8 in total) read the manuscript right now for their feedback. I've had multiple ask if they can share it with a spouse or secondary friend who DOES have experience! I'm waiting to collect responses here in the next 2 weeks, which should definitely help the editing process. Then I bet AI can provide at least a baseline amount of editing help.
For marketing, I'll definitely be doing some free learning. What methods of self-promotion have you found to be successful, or that have led you to target your niche audience?
Watch out. AI is evil in the publishing world right now. People are yelling from the rooftops about not buying AI work AND it takes your work (I have 3 books in the giant publishing law suit that's going on.). That said, do newsletters, go to events, do talks, Stupid TT, insta, FB. All the things. Throw mud on the wall and see what sticks, but YES know your audience. THAT is everything!