[Publisher] Lantern Books / Booklight Inc. / LanternMedia

On the bright side: the website looks like it's definitely focused toward readers, with a front page that showcases books they've produced. They've been around for a while and their "about us" page clearly lists who works there and what their background is.

On the not-as-bright-side: they also offer a variety of editing services, for which they charge fees. At best that's a potential conflict of interest; at worst it means they could be funneling authors toward their editing services as a way for them to make money.

If you're interested in sending material to them, I would suggest asking them some questions about their editing service first -- do they require or recommend that potential authors use the service? If you get a publishing contract with them, will they expect you to pay for editing before they release your book?

Lantern Books

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was co-founded by Gene Gollogly and Martin Rowe in 1999 and publishes general, non-fiction trade books on vegetarianism, animal advocacy, environmentalism, religion, and social justice. Lantern Books is a division of Booklight Incorporated, and has an editorial services and ebook creation division, LanternMedia. Lantern distributes a number of publishers, including Chiron Publications and the American Mental Health Foundation. Lantern is itself distributed by Steiner Books.

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Yes, the editorial service is a bit worrying.

If it's possible to keep a Chinese Wall between the part of your business that is an editorial services company and the part that is a publishing company, well, fine. I just think that if it were my business I'd guarantee that any book that we edit for a fee can't be considered for publication by us or any company we are associated with. It just feels like the potential for mischief is too great otherwise.