Audio is included in every published book.
Crossroads Publishing Group
crossroadspublishing.group/engagements/
§ Engagements · How we work
Pick your door. One press.
Crossroads is organized around four engagement tiers, from the short-form Crossings line to full Individual Publication, each with a defined scope, a transparent price, and a clear relationship to the others. Most writers begin with a short-form Crossing, the accessible lead, or come straight to Individual Publication. For books we choose to invest in, we offer a Publication Partnership by invitation. The Studio Retainer is for continuing relationships and for authors whose engagement has rolled past its window.
Unlike most hybrid presses, editorial work is included in our publishing tier. Most hybrid models charge separately for editing on top of a production fee. At Crossroads, polish-level editing is included in Tier III. You pay one transparent price for the engagement, not a base fee plus editorial extras.
And after publication, you keep 80% of net royalties. Crossroads collects sales revenue from every channel through the imprint's accounts and pays 80% of net royalties to the author, accounted quarterly. No tier upcharges, no per-format adjustments, no opaque deductions.
The pricing below is all-in and transparent: one fee, stated plainly, with audio included and no per-format adjustments. The pricing on the site is the pricing.
The same finished book as Individual Publication: same editorial scope, same production, same distribution. The lower fee covers our hard costs. Instead of charging you the rest now, we share the upside, a 50/50 split of net royalties rather than the 80% you keep on the full-pay path.
Offered by invitation, after we've read the manuscript and decided we want to invest in the book. It isn't a tier you select; it's an offer we make. When we believe in a book, we're glad to put our own money behind it.
The full path from manuscript to published book under the Crossroads imprint: editorial development and polish, layout, a cover from one of three Crossroads house families, an ISBN we own, metadata, and distribution through IngramSpark and Amazon. Audio is included, produced as part of the engagement, not sold as an extra.
You get everything required to publish as a real book: a real ISBN, real distribution, a press release at publication, submission to trade reviewers and eligible awards, a curated author launch event (we keep a standing Chattanooga venue for exactly this), and placement in our catalog. $5,000 is due at signing, the balance at the publication gate around the midpoint, with an off-ramp for either of us at that gate.
A continuing relationship for authors who need ongoing editorial presence. Defined scope per month: five hours of editorial work (manuscript review, line editing, sample chapter feedback, query letter or synopsis polish, jacket-copy iteration) plus one 60-minute coaching and strategy call. Three-month minimum; month-to-month thereafter. Pause-able with two weeks' notice.
Use cases: post-engagement continuation, pre-engagement development for manuscripts that need work before an Individual Publication engagement can begin, bridge for authors whose engagement window has passed but the manuscript isn't yet delivered.
Optional partner add-ons.
Crossroads coordinates a network of vetted partner specialists for clients who want a launch campaign that goes beyond the included infrastructure. Each partner service is transparently priced. Crossroads keeps a referral margin disclosed in the engagement contract; the rest goes to the partner. None of the services below are required.
Amazon bestseller campaign
Delivered by a specialist; outcome is a #1 in a defined Amazon category at launch.
from $5,000
Trade publicity
Delivered by a freelance book publicist; outcomes include podcast bookings, op-ed placements, review pitches, regional press.
$3,000 – $8,000
Audiobook narration
Audio is included whenever you or Crossroads narrates the book, produced and mastered for Audible, Findaway Voices, and Spotify. To hire a professional narrator instead, it's a flat add-on.
$2,500
Author website / launch landing page
Delivered by a designer-developer partner; outcome is a one-page or multi-page site themed to the book.
$2,500 – $5,000
Partner relationships are disclosed transparently in every engagement contract. We never promise sales results; the promise is the campaign infrastructure and the partner's process, not the outcome.
What we don't do (yet).
Some publishing services authors expect from a full-service press are not part of the current Crossroads offering. We say so plainly because over-promising is the disease of the hybrid publishing category.
Foreign rights & translation sales
Author-retained. We're happy to point you toward a vetted freelance rights-agent network if you want to pursue them, but we don't take a cut on rights we don't actively work.
Not handled in-house
Subsidiary rights (film/TV, dramatic, merchandising)
Author-retained. Not how Crossroads competes. If subsidiary-rights packaging is essential to your launch strategy, the right press is elsewhere.
Not handled in-house
In-house publicity at scale
Trade publicity is available as a partner add-on (above) where a freelance book publicist runs the campaign. We don't run a publicity department, and the partner you work with is named in your engagement contract.
Partner-only
Celebrity endorsement coordination
Not part of our offering. Endorsement-driven launches are a different model from editorial-relationship publishing.
Not handled
Guaranteed bestseller status
The Amazon bestseller campaign add-on above targets a defined category at launch, not a national list. We don't promise sales outcomes for any tier or any title.
No promises
What we add to this list shrinks as the press grows. For now: print, ebook, audiobook (partner-coordinated), and the editorial work that makes the book worth publishing.
How to begin.
Most authors begin with a free 20-minute discovery call. We talk about your book, what stage it's at, and which engagement (if any) is the right next move. There is no pressure to commit on the call.
