Goodreads asked Eric Jay Dolin:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Eric Jay Dolin My most recent book is Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse, which publishes in April 2016. The inspiration for it was quite different than that which motivated my other books, in that it wasn’t my idea. I was casting around for a book topic, and had submitted a few to my editor at Liveright (an imprint of W. W. Norton), but he wasn’t particularly enamored with any of them. While I was generating more ideas, my editor and the head of sales and marketing for Norton asked me if I would be interested in writing a book on the history of American lighthouses. I said I wasn’t sure, since I knew almost nothing about lighthouses. So, I went off for about a month, read a bunch of books on lighthouses, and fell in love with the history; then, I submitted a brief proposal, and the book was born. Although I prefer coming up with my own ideas, I am very thankful that my editor and the head of sales gave me this gift.

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