And Now, A Word from Our Editor...

In her last note, Michelle Latiolais mentions her editor, Erika Goldman. I (Lynn) have known Erika for years. In the early 90s, when I was a literary agent and Erika was an editor at Scribner, she acquired a book I represented, Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls, by two of the country's leading experts on sexism in the schools, Myra and David Sadker.
[for more on this great book, which is coming out next year in a second edition, see:
http://www.amazon.com/Failing-Fairness-Americas-Schools-Cheat/dp/0684195410/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209841600&sr=1-2]

Then Erika joined me one summer speaking at the Jackson Hole Writer's Conference. I remember being greatly impressed by her when we went on a hike (all uphill, of course). She was many months pregnant at the time, and that didn't slow her down at all!

Anyway, aside from being a good hiker, I know Erika to be a very smart editor, so I thought I'd get her perspective on how the manuscript for A Proper Knowledge came her way. Here's a brief Q&A with Erika Goldman:

How did the manuscript for A Proper Knowledge happen to come to you?
I first heard about the manuscript from Varley O’Connor, author of Bellevue Literary Press’s first published work of fiction, The Cure. I admire Varley’s work so much that I was excited by the prospect of having a chance at any manuscript that she would recommend to me. I sent the message back to Michelle via Varley that yes, I would love to see it. And shortly thereafter the manuscript arrived in the mail, courtesy of Michelle’s agent.

How/when did you know you wanted to publish it?
I knew it was “the real thing” by the end of the first page. Fine writing makes itself known right off the bat. Of course I read it to the end to see how Michelle would develop her characters and plot—and because I couldn’t put it down. I knew that I wanted to publish it when I realized I had fallen in love with it. We publish only two works of fiction a year, so I won’t take a novel on unless I’m passionate about it!