A publishing house built like a lighthouse: to be trusted in bad weather.
Lighthouse Publication began in a two-room office above a Delhi bookshop with one belief — that a book's worth is measured in decades, not launch weeks. Fifteen years later we publish across five imprints and six journals, and the belief hasn't moved an inch.
Editorial judgement is our only algorithm
Every manuscript that reaches us is read by a person whose name we'll happily tell you. We publish fewer than three percent of submissions — not to be exclusive, but because everything we take on gets the same unreasonable attention: a dedicated editor, a designed-from-scratch cover, and marketing that continues after the launch party ends.
We are equally proud of the other half of the house: a self-publishing platform with the same editors, the same presses and the same distribution — where the author keeps the rights, the royalties and the final word.
Craft first
Fourteen-month average from acquisition to shelf. Slow is a feature.
Global by default
Distribution to 38 countries; rights sold in 19 languages.
Radical transparency
Royalty dashboards that show every copy sold, updated weekly.
Authors for life
94% of our authors publish their next book with us too.
The imprints
Beacon Literary
Novels, stories and essays that will still be argued about in twenty years. Home of the JCB Prize winner The Cartographer of Silences.
Harbor Press
Narrative journalism, memoir, business and big ideas — rigorously fact-checked, beautifully told.
Lighthouse Academic
Monographs, edited volumes and six peer-reviewed journals with Crossref DOIs and global indexing.
First Light
First books only. Poetry, fiction and essays from writers no one has heard of yet — our favourite kind.
Little Keepers
Picture books and middle-grade stories in English and Hindi, printed on paper that survives bedtime.
Lighthouse Self-Publishing
The same craft, presses and shelves — with the author holding the rights and up to 100% of royalties.
Fifteen years, kept brief
Founded above Faqir Chand & Sons bookshop, Khan Market, with three staff and a borrowed Risograph. First list: four books of poetry.
Lighthouse Academic launches with the Lighthouse Journal of Interdisciplinary Research — now impact factor 2.84.
Self-publishing platform opens. First hundred authors publish within the year; the royalty dashboard ships the same summer.
London rights office opens. The Grammar of Grief becomes our first title translated into ten languages.
Singapore distribution hub brings Southeast Asian delivery under five days. The Last Lighthouse Keeper sells its 400,000th copy.
The Lighthouse Prize for Debut Writing launches, with a ₹5,00,000 advance and guaranteed publication on the First Light list.