Margaret Mitchell came out of nowhere. Her very first published novel, Gone with the

Wind, went on to become the second most popular book in the history of the

United States with more than 30 million copies sold. How'd she do that? Hey this

is Emily in the Bronx and you're listening to a special archived episode of

a Kindle. In 1936 books were hot. They were the dominant form of expression in a

country that watched a lot of movies but hadn't discovered television yet. And

the heart of the book business was a small organization called The Book of the

Month Club. In July of 1936, the Book of the Month Club decided to feature a

new book by an unknown author. They brought it out around the same time that

McMillan its publisher brought out their edition. Within weeks it was the

fastest-selling book of its kind. Without the Book of the Month Club, without that

group of men who sat around a table once a month eating lunch and drinking

brandy, without them choosing her book, it's quite likely none of us would have

heard of God with the wind. Margaret Mitchell got picked. It's part of a long

tradition of getting picked. Years ago a friend of mine, a lawyer, fresh out of

law school, was biting his time at his job as a lawyer, hoping to make it as a

screenwriter. Well as you can imagine lots of people around him told him to get

back to work. It was never going to happen. And then one day the phone rang. And

the voice at the other end said, it's Steven Spielberg's office calling. Do you

think you and your writing partner could stop by and see Steven next week? He'd

like to talk to you about some movie ideas. All of a sudden his pipe dream

wasn't that much of a pipe dream. He was getting picked. Unfortunately for

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