Arthur Byron Cover and Lydia Morano used to run Dangerous Visions bookstore in North Hollywood on Ventura Boulevard, and among other things used to throw great parties. I was at one of them, about three years into my career, and moved from group to group listening to the conversations.

Out on the patio there were a couple of guys, unpublished writers, complaining about how impossible it was to break into the business, or get anywhere.   My heart immediately went out to them: I remembered ve...