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volumes that goes to these young writers is how to prepare a manuscript, how to submit it, how to pick a publisher and find out which publishers specialize in which subjects. It describes all the mechanics of getting a book to the publisher after it is finished and all the business of editing and what goes on in the publisher's office. That was the contribution that I was able to make. Each man was personally picked on that original faculty for some special reason--Bruce Catton, for example, for historical writing, Mignon Eberhardt for mystery writing, Rod Sterling for television stuff, and Shulman for humorous writing.

It took a little time to get going, but, by golly, when it started to roll, how it's proliferated! All of us have been extremely well rewarded for this. Whenever I go around the country lecturing, I always meet people who are taking this course or who are about to take it. I tell them all very frankly that it's very expensive and, if they can't easily afford it and treat it as sort of a luxury, they are barking up the wrong tree. The course is certainly great fun to take and it's painstakingly laid out--but, if an applicant hasn't got real native talent, he should bow out. He's throwing his money away. “First,” I say, “make sure by having some newspaper editor in your local town or somebody who knows read your book and assure you that you've got a certain amount of natural talent. Otherwise, skip it.”

Of course, they're supposed to do that.