From Draft to Published - Part 2 (with cost breakdown)

This is a really fun post for me to write because it makes it feel official that I have two books out in the world! When I wrote the Part 1 to this, A Thief Among Liars was just a fledgling tale making it's first steps into the real world. Now, it has a cousin in Seiber.

So, let's break it down. What did I do differently? Where did the idea come from? What would I have changed?

From the First Draft

In my original timeline, I wrote Seiber immediately after the first draft of A Thief Among Liars (if memory serves that would have been between 2019-2020). It was published just this year in 2025. So once again, that story was about 5-6 years from first draft to published.

The idea for Seiber came to me very differently from my other books. I wanted to branch out in my fantasy writing and to explore more unique magic types and systems I hadn't seen as frequently. The idea of technomage hacker struck my interest, and everything sort of built out around it.

To be honest, I don't remember much of the actual writing process or story building of Seiber. I know that I didn't have a title until I planned to publish. I know that Nova's POV came in one of my final drafts. I know that I always wanted Aspen to be this overprotective little ball of angst. But I don't really remember how many other things changed along the way.

The one thing that stuck out to me: this one was really easy to write.

Even though the process took years, it only went through four drafts - that's half as many as I usually take! The story was just so formed on the page, and I only added to it to create more depth.

I absolutely love how it turned out, and I love how different it is from ATAL.

Publication

Seiber was supposed to be published next month (September 2025). But the story that was intended to precede it was A Traitor Among Tyrants (ATAL Book 2), and unlike Seiber, that story is still not good enough to be published. So I did some shuffling, sent Seiber off early, and here we are.

There were a few things I knew I wanted to do differently this time. For one, with all the drama surrounding U.S. exports, I knew I wanted to find a printer that wasn't Ingram Spark. I couldn't afford to pay the duties for the number of books I knew I wanted on-hand. So I went with BookVault instead, which is actually a UK company but they have a printer here in Canada.

This choice was a plus and a minus. It saved me a lot on shipping. The major downside is that BookVault distribution is, well, barely existent. You may have noticed that Seiber isn't listed on places like Indigo or Barnes & Noble, and the short of it is: BookVault doesn't have a great way to get those books listed there.

That being said, my sales weren't coming from those places, so it wasn't a huge loss for me. But it is a hit to exposure.

I did still list with Amazon. I originally had the eBook shared wide with Draft2Digital, but I found it more lucrative to opt into Amazon KDP for Kindle Unlimited instead.

That left me with:

Physical - personal copies sold from website or Amazon

Digital - Sold from website, Amazon, or KU

Cost Breakdown

A few of the biggest differences in cost factors for Seiber were 1) I designed my own cover because I couldn't find an artist that envisioned exactly what I wanted, 2) I paid more into marketing.

After various exchange rates (in CAD), this is what that looks like:

Developmental/Copy Editor: ~$2400 (paid over 4 months)

Cover: $0

Map: $0

Proofreader: Free (from a friend)

Interior Formatting: $0 (Atticus - formatted myself over ~7 hours)

Publish through BookVault: ~$25 (one time fee)

Publish through Amazon: Free uploads

Publish through Draft2Digital: Free to upload, small fee per sale

Print Proof Costs: BV - $21.88, $76.38; Amazon - $11.70

Giveaways and PR Kits: ~$350

Author copies: $482.53

Copyright: $63

ISBN: Free in Canada

(To compare costs with A Thief Among Liars, click here.)

Costs I didn't mention but still paid for include: website, Instagram Ads, monthly marketing contract (Your Enchanted Narrative), and all the time I put into edits and re-reads and networking and research, etc.

Things I may have missed notwithstanding, that totals approximately $3430.49.

Though the exposure and reach of Seiber's release was much wider, it's had a significantly smaller reader reception. I've sold about 20 copies after seven weeks of the book being out.

Am I disappointed with those numbers? Not really. I'm proud of myself and this book, and I know that it will find it's readership in time. I'm fortunate enough to be in a place where I don't need immediate financial return from these releases (although, it would be nice!).

You can find purchase links here through my website or online from Amazon.

Happy writing,

Erin