This is like that proverbial question, how long is a piece of string? The cost to print a book depends on:

• how many pages,
• type of paper,
• whether it’s black and white or colour,
• the type of cover.

You may need to factor in the cost of freight, and other incidentals such as handling costs.

You can do it dirt cheap and get it photocopied, but the product will not look professional. You can go to a ‘bricks and mortar’ printer who will do a very good job but won’t be able to do it cheaply.

My preferred method is to use ‘Print on Demand’ whereby the whole process is done online.

Using an online service such as IngramSpark (my preferred printing service) will produce your order just when you want it. Which means that you don’t need to order a large number. You can order 1, 7, 20, 50 or hundreds. They can be ordered when you want.

If you wish you can have your book available for sale online at hundreds of booksellers worldwide. The overseas customer orders the book, IngramSpark prints it and sends it to the customer, you get some royalty from the sale. 

Here are some examples, these are not hard and fast prices, as there is a yearly adjustment to prices according to the rate of inflation.

200 page paperback novel all black and white with a gloss cover: $4.90 per book

150 page full colour paperback with gloss cover: $8.40

50 page family history, full colour, perfect bound, gloss cover: $3.60

Additional costs are freight – about $11 per carton and a handling cost of about $2.40 per order.

Still, taking all these costs into account, it is possible to have 50 copies of an ‘average’ book printed for under $600.

Yes, there are quite a few now, and probably more by the time you’re reading this. Some of the popular ones are KDP (an Amazon service), Lulu, Bookbaby and Blurb. While some of these cost less in production, all of them are overseas (not in Australia), and so the cost to freight the books to Australia can be truly astronomical.

As an aside, the very first book I produced was set up on Amazon’s system. The author decided to order 50 copies, however, the cost for freight to Australia would have added another $200 onto the cost.

That’s the reason I use IngramSpark – they have an Australian facility (in Melbourne), which is why the freight is only about $11 per carton.

Simple answer, not enough. For the amount of work and care I put into the production of each book, the return is purely pocket money.

However, I will work within your budget. You won’t find a cheaper professional proofreader and editor.