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.
Publishers gets thousands of unsolicited manuscripts.
The chances of getting published on your own are next to none. 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. A promising trend on the bookselling horizon, is the rise in book clubs, Anderson said.