Crossroads Publishing Group
crossroadspublishing.group/start/
§ Founding season · Start here
Two engagements open now.
Crossroads is a small hybrid press for serious nonfiction. We don't sell book packages. We work with writers across the months it takes to find the message, shape the manuscript, and put a real book into the world.
Two engagements are open right now — both are first-season offerings, priced for the writers willing to start with us before the catalog is built. Choose the one that fits where you actually are.
Crossroads is small by design. We work with a limited number of authors per year — typically eight to twelve across our three editorial lanes — to keep editorial relationships deep. The Author Engagement and First Draft Cohort are the first conversation we have about whether your project is a fit for the press, the lane, and the kind of working relationship we mean to build. Some lead to publication with Crossroads. Some lead to a clearer next step somewhere else. Both are good outcomes.
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 · Starts immediately
3 months · June–August window
The Author Engagement
A working publisher in your corner for three months — voice, structure, positioning, and a manuscript section you own.
$4,500
$2,250 on signing · $2,250 at month 2. Or $4,000 paid in full upfront ($500 savings).
For writers with parts of a book, a strong idea, or a draft that needs shaping. You want to start now, not in September.
What you get
- Twelve weekly 60-minute working sessions with Chad — a drafting-and-feedback rhythm, not biweekly check-ins
- Up to 30,000 words of written editorial feedback across the engagement
- Voice, positioning, and structural work as the spine of the relationship
- A finished positioning package at the end: back cover copy, market positioning, comparable titles, recommended price point, and a written next-step recommendation
- A working publisher in your corner — not a coach, not an editor-for-hire
What it produces: a working manuscript section plus a positioning package you can take anywhere — shop to an agent, self-publish, hold, or continue with Crossroads.
What it does not include: cover design, ISBN, distribution, or publication services. Those exist as separate engagements if you decide to extend.
Founding-author publication path
Add $3,500 to take your manuscript all the way to a published book. $8,000 total, idea-to-book.
Cover design, interior layout, ISBN, IngramSpark distribution, press release, awards submission, Crossroads catalog placement, 80% net royalties. Triggered at the end of the development engagement; you decide when you're ready. Founding-author pricing through summer 2026 — six spots only, then standard rates apply.
Or extend development: a second 3-month engagement (no publication) is $4,500 — six months of development at $9,000 total.
Capacity: six spots open through mid-August (founding pilot). Chad takes no new clients between mid-August and the start of the school year, then returns full-time to current clients and the September cohort.
For small groups · Starts September 14
6 months · September–March
The First Draft Cohort
Six months inside a small community of serious thinkers working toward a complete first draft — without the obligation to read each other's manuscripts.
$3,500
Founding-cohort rate through July 31, 2026. Standard pricing $4,500 thereafter. $1,750 on signing + $1,750 at day 30 — or pay $3,150 in full upfront (10% savings).
For writers who want six months of relationship infrastructure — a publisher reading your work, a small community of peers, and a complete first draft at the end. Not a workshop.
What you get
- Biweekly 1:1 editorial calls with Chad — twelve total over six months
- Monthly 90-minute group call — curriculum and open discussion, no mandatory manuscript critique
- Written editorial feedback on a 5,000-word chunk each month
- Private group channel for community when you want it, ignorable when you don't
- Optional peer pairing if you want a writing partner inside the cohort
What it produces: a complete first draft of your book in six months, plus a positioning package and a written candidacy memo from Chad on what to do next — publish with Crossroads, query trade, self-publish, or hold.
The cohort is the relationship infrastructure. Eight people, one publisher, six months. The 1:1 is where the editorial work happens. The group is the container.
Capacity: eight seats only. Founding rate of $3,500 locks for any seat held by July 31. Applications open publicly July 13; warm-list applicants welcome any time before then.
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 80% of net royalties — roughly double the hybrid industry standard. 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.
What these engagements actually are — and aren't.
The Author Engagement and the First Draft Cohort are editorial and book-creation engagements. They are not contracts to publish your book through Crossroads, and that's deliberate. The publishing decision is yours to make at the end of the work, with a finished manuscript and clear positioning in hand. You walk away with everything you need to choose from three legitimate paths:
- Self-publish. Full control over your accounts, your release schedule, your edition. If you have or want the production skills, you now have everything you need.
- Query a traditional small or independent press. Your proposal, your outline, your sample chapters are ready. The work that usually scares writers away from querying is already done.
- Continue with Crossroads. If publishing under our imprint is the right next move, the editorial work credits forward and we scope the publishing fee to what's still left to do.
These are the three honest paths. Crossroads is one of them — not a default assumed by signing up.
What founding-author publication includes.
Both founding paths arrive at the same place: $8,000 idea-to-book, with the same press treatment as any other Crossroads title.
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
- 80% 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 founding author |
$8,000 |
All the above + a publisher who reads every page |
Why founding-season pricing.
We are building the first season of Crossroads books and the first cohort of Crossroads authors. The writers who say yes now help prove the press model — and we compensate that with reduced pricing, founding-author billing in the catalog and on the books themselves, and a deeper editorial partnership than later cohorts will receive.
Both engagements will be priced higher once the catalog is built. This is the only window.
Already have a finished manuscript?
The two engagements above are for writers who are still finding the manuscript. If your book is already structurally sound and you want to move directly into publication — cover design, ISBN, distribution, the full press infrastructure — that lives in our publishing tiers.
See all five engagement tiers →
About Crossroads. A boutique hybrid press for serious nonfiction based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three editorial lanes: argument, reflection, witness. Authors retain copyright. 80% of net royalties to authors — the highest in hybrid publishing. IBPA Hybrid Publisher pledge-compliant. No rights grab.
For founding-season writers, both paths arrive at the same place: $8,000 idea-to-book. Author Engagement is $4,500 + $3,500 publication; First Draft Cohort is $3,500 + $4,500 publication. Summer 2026 only; standard pricing applies thereafter. Standalone publishing tiers for writers who arrive with a finished manuscript are on the Engagements page.
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.
