Patrick Brown was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated Magna cum Laude from Georgetown University, where he won the Morris Medal for best senior history honors thesis. He currently teaches high school social studies in the Mississippi Delta through Teach for America.
His latest book is Industrial Pioneers: Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Transformation of America, 1840-1902, a detailed history account of the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
You can visit his website at http://www.industrialpioneers.com.
Q: Welcome to Beyond the Books, Patrick. Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?
A: It’s great to be here. Industrial Pioneers is my first published book.
Q: For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?
A: I was fortunate that I did not go through any rejections. I published the book with Tribute Books, with help from the Lackawanna Historical Society in Scranton.
Q: When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?
A: The Lackawanna Historical Society suggested Tribute Books, and so far they are doing an excellent job!
Q: What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?
A: We promoted the book through a book signing at the Lackawanna Historical Society. The signing was very successful—I am fortunate that Scranton has a strong community of people interested in local history.
Q: If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?
A: No—I think we got it right the first time.
Q: What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?
A: I am currently teaching high school social studies in the Mississippi Delta through Teach for America. My greatest accomplishment has been working through the college application process with students and helping them get into selective colleges.
Q: If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?
A: I would love to have had an opportunity to be an inventor hundreds of years ago, when it was possible for one person to understand science, the arts, and academics, and to innovate simultaneously in many different areas. Today, even as technology gives us access to unprecedented amounts of information, innovation is compartmentalized. Increasingly, the only people who can innovate in a field are those with years of advanced training. I doubt whether there will ever be another Benjamin Franklin, or Leonardo Davinci.
Q: Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?
A: I think the great thing about being an author is that anyone can write in their spare time. When I have something to say, I find time to write.
Q: How do you see yourself in ten years?
A: I would like to be working on another book. Right now, I have no idea what it would be about.
Q: Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?
A: Sure—I would just tell them to remember that all roads lead to Scranton.
Beyond the Books 
It’s been great working with Patrick and the Lackawanna Historical Society on ‘Industrial Pioneers.’ Thanks for a great interview!
What a wonderful interview! This book sounds really interesting and I know I would love to read it! I love history and this book written by a teacher should make a wonderful story!
I wish you much luck!
Carolyn Wolfe