Link:
Lillicat Publishers
Small, California-based publisher specializing in SF, although they also take fantasy, horror and mainstream (no erotica).
A couple red flags: the website is geared toward authors, not readers. No staff is listed on the website, so there's no way of knowing if anyone at Lillicat has any real publishing experience. LinkedIn shows the owner as Carrol Fix. Ms. Fix has only one previous job listed on LinkedIn (Computer Analyst for a health co-op); she lists School of Business at Pacific Lutheran University under Education (although she does not list a degree).
Lillicat's catalog is mostly anthologies edited by Ms. Fix, although they've also published a memoir written by Harold L. Fix. W.A. Fix is one of their anthology authors. (My guess is that Harold is W.A.'s father and Carrol is W.A.'s wife, so this appears to be a family venture.) Their covers are so-so. Their home page states:
Our payment to you for a novel will be a percentage of royalties only, with no advance payments. Short stories for anthologies receive a token payment and no royalties.
As always, when a publisher pays based on a percentage, you should find out exactly how that percentage is calculated before signing any contract.
Their "terms and conditions" section is mostly about the website content, but contains this at the very bottom:
For published pieces we take Worldwide First Print and Electronic Publishing Rights. Bear in mind that most publishers will not publish pieces that have been published in print, eBook, or on the web, so for all intents and purposes after your work is published by us it can only be marketed as a reprint, which severely limits the number of markets that will accept it, and drastically reduces the pay rate it can receive. It is up to you, the author, to decide if publishing your work in print and/or eBook formats and/or on the web, giving up your First Publishing Right for no and/or a token payment, is really what you want to do.
At least they're forthright about that.
