Ad Lumen Press was founded at American River College in Sacramento, California in 2013. The founder is author and professor Christian Kiefer. They are the only university-style press based out of a community college in the United States.
Because they are part of a college, the press is actually used in part as a tool to further students’ education. Unsolicited submissions are initially read by students in the Literary Publishing class, the final class for the school’s Literary Publishing Certificate. The students come up with four of the books to forward to the faculty-based editorial board. You can learn more about this process here.
I do not know if they have distribution but the books they publish have excellent covers. They only publish a few books a year.
They have an open reading period every year where they accept submissions of previously unpublished, full-length literary novels and memoirs from authors. No full length publication history required, but a track record of publication in literary journals does help.
They accept simultaneous submissions and try to respond within 3-8 months to all submissions. Because they don’t start reading submissions till August 15th, that’s when the 3-8 month wait time starts. Their goal this year is to respond to all submissions by December 20th. All submissions must be made through Submittable.
To learn more or to submit go here.
Bio: Emily Harstone is the pen name of an author whose work has been published internationally by a number of respected journals. She is a professional submissions adviser. She occasionally teaches a course on manuscript publishing. You can follow her on Facebook here.