Want to Get Published? MSU Book Expert
Offers Insights to Publishing Business

by Carol Schmidt

7/97 BOZEMAN -- The sweeping landscapes and storied beauty of Montana have inspired many contemporary books written by smitten visitors or new settlers. One publishing expert finds it interesting that the Last Best Place is not the focal point of many of its native writers.

"Many local writers I come into contact with want to write about something other than their lives in Montana -- stories, poems or pieces set in other places," says publishing veteran Kathy Anderson, trade book manager at the Montana State University Bookstore and a nationally recognized expert on current book trends.

"On the other hand, writers from other places come to Montana and are captivated by it and try to capture it on the page," Anderson said. Just a few examples include bestsellers The Horse Whisperer (Evans), Montana Sky, (Roberts), Bad Land (Raban) and the forthcoming Englishman's Boy (Vanderhaeghe).

Anderson recently moderated a panel on publishing trends at the BookExpo America held in Chicago. The panel was taped and aired on the cable show "About Books" appearing on CSPAN in June, resulting in the show asking Anderson for a list of MSU Bookstore's top ten bestsellers. Anderson has also been invited to participate on a national committee to judge children's books this year for the Children's Book Council of America.

Anderson's insights come from more than 25 years of experience and networking in the bookselling business. A native of suburban San Diego, she started as a student clerking at B. Dalton, and spent eight years in the administration of a major publishing house (Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich in San Diego).

"It was the pinnacle for a bookseller," Anderson said. "I learned how a book was made, the politics of publishing, marketing advice and procedures of a major house."

She was also trade manager at the large University of California San Diego bookstore. Anderson was lured to the MSU Bookstore three years ago when she and her biologist husband decided that Montana would be a better place to raise their young daughters. Anderson retains her national publishing contacts and is an oral encyclopedia about current books as well as the ins and outs of the competitive publishing business.

One of her first bits of advice for aspiring Montana writers is that a good agent is now a necessity.

"I don't know how any writer could (publish) without one," she said.

"Publishers gets thousands of unsolicited manuscripts. The chances of getting published on your own are next to none."

Current trends seem to support the adage "write what you know."

"The memoir is what's selling right now," Anderson said. "Also, books on spirituality, books with a message, memoirs, novels with themes of recovery from loss and pain.

"And women fiction writers are HOT right now."

Anderson encourages new writers, but cautions that this is a turbulent time to enter the book business. On one hand there are, "too many books and not enough readers." The large chains (such as Barnes & Noble) have a monumental impact on what is being published in the United States. However, independent booksellers (nearly all bookstores in Montana are independent, Anderson said) are attempting to be more "proactive" in determining what books are bought and distributed throughout the country.

A promising trend on the bookselling horizon, is the rise in book clubs, Anderson said. The book club concept, or people meeting in groups to discuss a common book, has been championed by TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey who conducts her own televised book club. Books chosen by Oprah assure their authors of a best-seller, the literary equivalent of winning Power Ball.

"Oprah has done a lot for literacy," Anderson said. "A lot of people don't agree with her tactics, but great numbers of people are buying and reading her books."

A voracious reader with a particular yen for good novels, Anderson said she's been impressed with the quality of both Montana writers and readers.

"People literally come in and buy stacks of books," Anderson said.

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