C is for...

 Cost, what expense if any is involved?

Writing, self publishing and marketing a book all cost money. It's best if you are only starting out to keep track of what you have purchased to make your career as an author a success. There follows a list of things you might want to keep track off. 

Don't forget your home office if you have one (Desk, chair, bookcases)

Research Books (writing craft, subject research)

Printer (get a good one, with bottle ink, and that prints on both sides)

Computer (either get a desktop, tower or laptop)

Software (Scrivener or Word for writing, Canva for creating book covers, images for websites/blogs)

ISBN's

Courses and workshops 

Agent

Editors / Proof-readers

Website Creators and maintaince

Advertising / Marketing

Audio Book / Print Book

Society / Guild membership

Accountant 

Repairs / maintaince

Stationary (paper, pencils, pen, postage, journals, folders, paperclips)

Telephone / Mobile Phone / Internet

Travel / Accommodation / Food

Electricity

I have two websites / blogs for you to have a look through for more information on the costs of being a writer and publishing a book. 

Become a writer today

Author Learning Centre

I'm not a fan of sites with loads of adds, but if you are patient and ignore them, these two sites offer a lot of very good and handy information. 

Cover Design:

If you can afford it, and you are not good at creating your own, then save for a professional, covers are what sell books (well they do get them noticed). If you do manage to afford a cover designer, and they send more than one version of the cover, you can ask advice as to which one to use (if you can't decide), from anyone that doesn't have a say in your business. 

If you are decent at doing your own covers, I recommend Canva, there is a free version which will help not only with cover design, but also with webpages, blogs, and business cards.

Canva