Crossroads Publishing Group
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§ Publish with Crossroads
Publish with Crossroads.
Crossroads is a small hybrid press for serious nonfiction. We take a book from manuscript to a finished title in print, ebook, and audio, with a working publisher reading every page. Audio is included in every book we publish.
There are a few ways to publish with us: a full book on your own, a short-form Crossing, or a partnership we offer by invitation. Choose the path that fits where you actually are.
Most poorly-positioned books sell fewer than 200 copies.
Their writers spent two years on them. The manuscript was ready in the sense that the words were on the page. It wasn't ready in the sense that the message was clear, the positioning was informed, or the voice was the author's own.
The difference isn't usually talent. It's the editorial judgment to find the message that actually lives in the book, the positioning research to fit a real reader, and the discipline to ship a book that's finished, not just ended. That's what a real press does. It's what most small and niche presses don't.
You have something to say. The question isn't whether your book deserves to exist. It's whether the version that gets published will do what you want it to do.
For individuals · Publication included
Print, ebook & audio
The Full Book
A working publisher takes your full-length book, 160 to 210 pages, from manuscript to a finished Crossroads title, in print, ebook, and audio.
$7,000
All-in. Audio edition included.
For writers ready to publish. Dedicated one-to-one editorial work, on your own clock, with the full press behind the book.
What's included
- Developmental and line editing, copy edit, and proofread
- Cover and interior design in your lane's house style
- Print, ebook, and a narrated audio edition, all included
- ISBN, metadata, and global distribution through IngramSpark, Amazon, and the library channels
- Catalog placement, a curated author launch event (we keep a standing Chattanooga venue for it), and a feature on The Difficulty
- 70% of net royalties, paid quarterly. You keep your copyright.
The commitment, both ways. You sign with the intent to publish, but there's an off-ramp. The first installment is due at signing, the second at 30 to 60 days in, or pay in full at signing and save 10%. If the book isn't ready, or life intervenes, either of us can step out before that second installment, with no further obligation and the work done so far in your hands.
Mid-length · The middle path
Print, ebook & audio
The Focused Book
One argument or one story, held all the way through. The tier most of our authors choose.
$6,000
A 120 to 160 page book in print, ebook, and audio, with the same full editorial, design, and distribution treatment as the Full Book. First installment at signing, the second at 30 to 60 days in, or pay in full and save 10%.
For the book that's bigger than a Crossing and tighter than a tome. Enough room to build the whole case; short enough that people finish it and hand it to someone.
Short-form · The accessible way in
About 8 to 12 weeks
Crossings
Our short-form line: one beautiful book on a single threshold. For the turn you're in, from someone who's crossed it.
$5,000
A 64 to 96 page book in print, plus ebook and audio, published under the imprint. The lightest, lowest-cost way to become a Crossroads author, and the kind of book people actually finish.
For a single idea you keep returning to. One threshold, said all the way down, short on purpose. Not a manual that gets you across, a companion that keeps you company while you cross.
By invitation
Lower upfront · shared royalties
The Publication Partnership
A lower fee up front, and we share the upside. For books we choose to invest in.
By invitation
A lower fee up front, plus a 50/50 split of net royalties. The full-pay path keeps 70% with you.
The same finished book as any tier on the ladder, same editorial scope, same production and distribution. The lower fee covers our hard costs; we earn the rest by sharing your royalties rather than charging you for them now.
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.
How we sit in the hybrid publishing landscape.
Premium hybrid presses like Greenleaf start around $40,000 and run higher. We deliver the same distribution channels and a higher author royalty at less than half the cost, plus a founder who reads every page.
Process-driven hybrid services like Scribe run roughly $25,000–$50,000. We work at a smaller scale where the publisher is your editor, not a project manager.
Most regional or niche hybrid presses ($5,000–$15,000) handle production but skip the editorial work. We don't.
At every tier, authors retain 70% of net royalties, well above the hybrid industry norm, and the 30% the press retains is our incentive to keep selling your book. That's a structural statement about whose work earned the revenue.
What you're actually buying.
Most of this comes down to relationship. You're not buying a package or a process. You're buying access to a working publisher's full attention across the months it takes to do this well.
- Editorial judgment from a publisher, not a freelancer. A publisher reads with the catalog in mind. A freelancer reads the sentence in front of them.
- Positioning informed by the market, not by guesswork. We do the comparable-titles research, the price-point analysis, the audience identification. You don't have to invent that work from scratch.
You always have an out.
Every publication path commits to your book, but never blindly. There's an installment at signing and the balance at 30 to 60 days in. Before that second installment either of us can step out with no further obligation, and you keep every bit of editorial work done to that point. Whatever happens, you leave with options:
- Self-publish. Full control over your accounts, your release schedule, your edition. The editorial work is done; you carry it wherever you like.
- Query a traditional small or independent press. A cleaner, better-positioned manuscript is a far stronger submission than most writers ever send.
- Continue with Crossroads. If publishing under our imprint is the right next move, we carry straight through to launch.
Crossroads is a choice you re-make at the gate, not a default you're locked into.
What founding-author publication includes.
Every Crossroads book ships with the same treatment, in print, ebook, and audio, whatever path you take to it.
Editorial
- Outside copy edit (professional, not in-house)
- Outside proofread
- Final structural and stylistic review
Design & production
- Cover design (Crossroads house style)
- Interior layout, print and ebook
- ISBN owned by Crossroads
Distribution & visibility
- IngramSpark distribution to all major channels
- Bookshop.org, Amazon, B&N, library availability
- Press release at publication
- Trade reviewer pitches and awards submissions
- Crossroads catalog placement, ongoing
Author terms
- 70% net royalty, paid quarterly
- You retain copyright
- IBPA Hybrid Publisher pledge-compliant
- No rights grab. You can move the book.
What this costs elsewhere.
| Bookbaby |
$2,500–5,000 |
No editorial work. Glossy covers only, one layout template, no publisher brand on your book. |
| Scribe Media |
$25,000–50,000 |
Process-driven, no editor relationship |
| Greenleaf |
$40,000+ |
Premium, large-team production |
| Trade publishing |
Free upfront |
10–15% royalty, 1–3 years to print, rigid gatekeepers. Manuscript still needs strong positioning, editing, and curation before they'll look. |
| Crossroads |
$5,000–$7,000 |
All the above, audio included, plus a publisher who reads every page |
Pricing, plainly.
A Crossroads engagement is priced like what it is: a working publisher’s full attention on one book at a time, from editorial development through design, production, distribution, and launch, with audio included and 70% of net royalties to the author.
The pricing on the site is the pricing. Six openings remain for fall authors, and founding-author rates hold through September 30.
Not sure which path is yours?
Start with a free 20-minute discovery call. Describe the book in a few sentences and we'll tell you which lane we hear it in, and which path fits where you actually are.
Book a discovery call →
About Crossroads. A boutique hybrid press for serious nonfiction based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three editorial lanes: Conviction, Soundings, Witness. Authors retain copyright. 70% of net royalties to authors, well above the hybrid norm. IBPA Hybrid Publisher pledge-compliant. No rights grab.
Rates: a short-form Crossing is $5,000; the Focused Book is $6,000; the Full Book is $7,000. Audio is included in every published book. For books we believe in, we also offer a by-invitation Publication Partnership: a lower fee up front and a 50/50 royalty split. Founding-author rates hold through September 30.
In an emerging era of navigating increasing complexity (not the least of which is the loaded question of AI ethics), relationship is becoming more important than ever. Reach out to see if the founder and editor of Crossroads is the right fit for you. Chad is looking for thinkers with a message. Could this be your opportunity?
How to begin.
Most writers begin with a 20-minute discovery call. We talk about your book, where you are with it, and which engagement (if any) is the right next move. No pressure to commit on the call.
