She had said in an e-mail last week that they were "interested" and that the novel would probably come out "sometime late in 2007." But she made it official last night, and commented repeatedly on how "clean" the manuscript was (i.e. free of errors) and that would shave several months off the editing process. I wish I could take credit for that, but I have many people to thank for their help producing such a clean manuscript.

She also said she was sending one copy of the MS to one of her other editors for a final pass, and another copy to the artist who will be developing the cover art. She's also sending me a blank copy of their standard contract so I can review it and see I there are any points I want to negotiate on. Seems like a very writer-friendly operation; I guess that's one of the reasons why they are recomended by the web-site Preditors & Editors.

The official launch won't be until June (or so), but the book will go to the printers in January and the first round of proof copies will be available by February. They start by sending early copies out to book buyers and reviewers.

LBF has a nice bunch of folks. They also put out a few magazines, such as Writers Post Journal and Talisman.

They also have a nice submission site where you can keep track of activity on your submissions and even send notes to the editor in charge of your work.