Tell it how long your book is and what you plan to charge. It works out what the project costs, what you keep on every copy, and the exact number of copies that clears your money back — before you spend a naira.
Nothing here is sent anywhere. Your figures stay in this browser.
Break-even counts every naira you put in, printing included.
The cheapest price is rarely the kindest one. It just means more copies to sell for the same money.
| If you sell at | You keep per copy | Copies to break even | If the run sells out |
|---|
Not included: delivery, if you are paying the rider rather than the buyer; and online sales, where there is no printing cost per digital copy but the platform takes a cut. Run those as their own sum with printing set to zero.
These are estimates built from our published rates. The real figure depends on your final page count, your paper, your binding and the finish on the cover — which is why the form asks what it asks. Pick whichever route suits you; your figures travel with you either way, and we usually come back within a day.
Your numbers are written into the message for you. Tap, send, and we reply with what it would really cost.
Send my figuresOpens with your word count, pages, print run, size, paper, binding and price already filled in. You add the rest — title, deadline, how you want it delivered — and we quote from the real spec.
Open the form →The checklist, budget template and launch plan we give our authors. No noise, and you can leave whenever you like.
Download the kit ↓Most people work out the printing cost, divide it by their price, and stop there. That number only tells you when the printer is paid for. It ignores the editing, the cover, the layout, the ISBN and the launch — which together usually cost more than the printing does.
This calculator counts everything you put in. That is why the big number is bigger, and why it is the one worth knowing before you set a price.
Page count is estimated from your word count at roughly 260 words to a page, which is typical for a 5.5 × 8.5 inch paperback with comfortable type. A heavily illustrated or large-format book will differ.
The per-copy printing figure is built from page count and run size, and it is the number most likely to move when a real printer quotes you. Replace it the moment you have a quote — everything else recalculates.
With the rates switch on, editing is charged per word and layout falls into a band set by your word count. Cover design, ISBN and online publishing setup are fixed.
Type over any of those figures and it becomes yours — it will not be overwritten when you change the word count or anything else. Each one you change gets a Use our rate link underneath so you can put it back. If a service is already done, or you were given it, press Not needed and it drops to zero and stays there.
Unticking the switch simply stops all of them updating, keeping whatever is in the boxes as your starting point. Nothing clears, so you are never left filling in an empty form.
When you choose editing, proofreading is included. Proofreading on its own is for manuscripts that have already been edited.
Run the sum at three prices before you decide. A lower price is not automatically kinder to your reader — it just means more copies to sell for the same money, and more risk that the run never clears.
Watch the share of your print run in the first box. If break-even needs almost the whole run, there is no room for review copies, gifts, endorsements or the copies that simply go missing. Somewhere around two-thirds of the run is a comfortable place to be.
Delivery, if you are paying for it rather than the buyer. Bank charges. Copies given away. Bulk discounts to churches and organisations, which lower your margin but often sell in one order what months of individual sales cannot.
It also cannot know what the book will do beyond copy sales — talks, workshops, training and bulk orders. For most working authors that is where the money eventually comes from, and none of it shows up here.