I would like to give money to a Crossbooks Christian publisher without finishing my book to get the ball rolling. Is Crossbooks scam-free? Is it a bad idea to give money up-front without finishing a book? It cost 2,000 but it includes, editing, marketing, e-books, soft copies, and books available online on Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles. Thoughts?

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Book publishers give money. They don't get money from the author. And, frankly (and I say this as an Evangelical Christian who had my own business at one time, so promoted to other Christians), I don't trust most Christian companies. They tend to be cheap, don't pay their employees well, and have a tendency to nickel-and-dime their customers for every little thing. A sad statement, however you're actually planning PAYING a publisher to do what any good publisher does as part of the package deal for publishing someone's book. Truth is make it good enough to be published and find the right publisher, and all that stuff is part of their cut for the profits.

Personally, I wouldn't do it. But it really depends on what your goals are for the book--if you just want a hard copy in your hands and you have the money, go for it. But if you want to sell the book and make money, you have better options. Getting hard copies of your book into stores is really, really hard, especially for indie authors and print on demand. Digital publishing is easy and inexpensive...maybe too easy! First and foremost, finish your book. You can't sell a book that is half done. I looked on that website and there is no mention of editing or marketing at the $2000 level. Distribution is not marketing. You will need to do the marketing. And that is a crazy amount of money given that Smashwords will distribute your book for you for free to multiple outlets--they'll even get you an isbn. They have a list of people that will format it for about $25 an hour. You will need to find someone to do the cover art for you and edit the book. There are a lot of freelancers out there that will do a good job, for much less than $2000. I would recommend looking on Amazon for Christian books like yours, whose editing and artwork you admire and find out who those authors are using. Most writers are happy to refer their freelancers. I really recommend that you read Smart Self Publishing by Zoe Winters or a book like it. John Locke has a book that tells you how he sold 1,000,000 ebooks on Amazon--he spells the plan out for you. So before you hand over your hard earned money, check around and do some leg work, I think there are a lot better options for you out there.