One of the things to do with any of them is to google for complaints against them. Some are scams, usually the ones that charge you money for book production and marketing.
Also, use Google's Gemini AI or ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot and ask those very same questions you did here. You can probably even ask them about complaints against specific companies, genres they publish, whether they accept submissions from authors or agents only, bestselling or successful books they've published, royalties they pay for first-time authors (if known), and so on.
Although it doesn't hurt to ask which publishers the AI thinks would be best for your book, treat the recommendations with a big grain of salt; I use Gemini for a lot of different things and it tends to give lousy recommendations at times depending on the subject matter.
You can also get help from the AI for writing what it considers effective query letters, although check every publisher's website for additional submission requirements and follow those in particular. You can also post potential query letters here for feedback.
One way to deal with the errors AIs can make, is to use more than one of them, but you have to use your best judgement too. You can usually identify useless information by asking more/deeper questions.
Also why are you limiting yourself to Houston publishers only? Many times a great book may require approaching dozens of publishers before someone bites, which was true of the first Harry Potter book and Dune, two of the biggest-selling books of all time.
Have you run your book through a workshop site like this one? Not only can the writers (including published authors!) give you feedback, but it would eventually allow you to state in the query letter that your book has gone through the ringer of a professional workshop site.
If you're not sure if a site like this can help you, post your first chapter here and begin to review the posted work of other active writers. While you may get a free review or two as a new member, the best/fastest way to get feedback here and on any workshop site is to review the work of others. They need feedback too and usually reciprocate. Active writers are the ones who have works currently scrolling by on your home page; if they're posting, they're almost always ready to reciprocate.
Regardless of where you post, be sure the posted work is hidden behind a password-protected wall like this site, otherwise your work may get exposed to internet search engines, which could effect your ability to find a publisher (they won't take anything that's already available for free on the net). FYI, the sister site to this one, known as Booksie, is open to search engines and the works there can be accessed without being a member, so don't use it if you hope to find a professional publisher or agent as they may balk.
If you decide to post here, be sure to have a look at an article I posted in this forum (pinned near the top) with tips on how to get the most reviews on this site. The biggest are to post to the Premium group using points, keep the chapter sizes reasonably small, and review, review, review, but there is other advice there as well gleaned from long-term members here.
