Each Path — Defined

Commitment90-day exclusive trial, then reassess.

Good whenYou write in a genre KU readers devour, and the next book is 6–9 months out.

Cost of being wrong90 days of no sales anywhere else. Recoverable.

Commitment6 months of platform building. Slower initial income.

Good whenYou are building a catalogue for the long run, or KU exclusivity is unacceptable to you.

Cost of being wrongMonths of thin sales while each retailer's algorithm learns you exist.

Commitment12 months of parallel execution.

PrimaryQuerying agents.

SecondaryBuilding the infrastructure: list capture, positioning, production readiness — so you can execute KU or Wide without restarting.

Good whenYou have the leverage Q3 of the router asks about. Without it, this is waiting dressed up as strategy.

CommitmentComplete the prerequisite, then return to Q1.

Good whenThe manuscript is unfinished, unrevised, or the baseline budget would hurt.

Not a failureIt is the only assignment that costs nothing to be wrong about.

CommitmentDirect sales as the primary channel, retail as secondary.

PrerequisiteA warm, repeatable channel you already control. A list you can email, not an audience you hope to build.

Why it is a layerDirect sales concentrate margin, not discovery. Nothing in it replaces a retailer's ability to put you in front of strangers.

CommitmentHigher investment, faster execution, less learning.

PrerequisiteMoney you can lose, and the discipline to vet every provider before paying any of them.

The riskThis is the path predatory services are built to catch. Check every name against the Scam Watch patterns first.