Free tool
How long a full query round takes when you have a day job
Set your list size, your batch size and the hours you can give submissions each week, and see how long the round really runs and how much silence to expect.
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How many copies before an independently published novel pays for itself
Enter your production spend, your list price and your print cost, and see the blended margin per sale and the number of copies that clears the bill.
The number that matters is not royalty rate and it is not list price. It is what one sale leaves in your account after the printer, the store and the distributor have taken their cuts, multiplied by how many sales it takes to cover what you already spent on the edit, the cover and the interior design.
Print and ebook behave very differently on that math, and the mix between them changes the answer more than most authors expect. Set the share of your sales that arrive as ebooks honestly, because a print heavy assumption will flatter the result and a novel that never gets into stores will not sell the way the spreadsheet promised.
Your result
Margin per print copy
$5.34
What one paperback leaves you after the store, the distributor and the printer.
Margin per ebook
$4.19
Assumes the seventy percent royalty band most US stores pay in that price range.
Blended margin per sale
$4.71
Your average take across the print and ebook mix you actually sell.
Sales to break even
892
How many copies it takes before the production spend is paid back.
These are production economics only, so any marketing, review copies or conference travel sit on top of the break even number.
Where the production spend usually lands
For a full length novel in the US, the biggest single line is almost always the edit, and it splits into three jobs that are often bought separately: developmental, copyedit and proofread. A cover from a designer who works in your genre is the next line, then interior design or typesetting, then ISBNs if you are buying your own imprint rather than using a free assigned one.
Writers who come in far under the default here have usually skipped a stage or traded it, which is a legitimate choice as long as it is a choice. Writers who come in far over have often paid for a developmental edit on a draft that was not ready for one. Put your real quotes in and the break even number will tell you which risk you are taking.
Reading the break even number honestly
A break even figure in the high hundreds is normal for a first independently published novel and is not a reason to stop. It is a reason to know what you are buying. If the number is well past two thousand copies, either the list price is too low for the page count or the print cost is eating the margin, and both are fixable before you print.
The other honest use of this number is comparison. Run it, then look at what a small press advance and its royalty terms would put in your account for the same book. Sometimes the independent route wins clearly. Sometimes it does not, and knowing the crossover point makes the contract conversation much shorter.
Questions about this calculator
Should I include my own time in the production spend?
This calculator deliberately leaves your writing hours out, because the break even question is about cash you have already handed to other people. If you want a fuller picture, run it once as it stands and once with a figure for your time added. The gap between the two answers is worth seeing.
Why does the ebook margin use a fixed royalty band?
Because the main US stores pay a higher band inside a common price range and a lower one outside it, and the price you enter usually decides which applies. Keeping it fixed avoids implying precision that varies by store and by month. If your pricing sits outside the usual range, treat the ebook figure as indicative.
Does this work for hardcover or a boxed set?
Yes, as long as you enter the print cost and list price for that format. Hardcover print costs run much higher per unit, so the margin narrows unless the list price moves with it. Run each format separately rather than averaging them into one calculation.
More free tools and working documents
Working document
The submission packet checklist for agents, presses and contests
Everything that has to be true before a batch goes out, and the record that has to exist the moment it does.
From the estimate to the round itself
The figure above is a planning number, and it stops doing much work the day the first query goes out. From then on the questions all carry dates: which draft is with which agent, what materials she was sent, and whether the stated window has run out yet. Ask for a demo and bring the manuscript you are about to send.