They called themselves The Vicious Circle. Society dubbed them The Round Table. Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood began lunching at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City in 1919, and soon their daily exchange of ideas, opinions and savage wit drew others of similar talent. "By force of character," observed drama critic Brooks Atkinson, "they changed the nature of American comedy and established the tastes of a new period in the arts and theatre," enriching the world's literary life and influencing writers like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Today, it's hard to imagine a world where people have time to meet for lunch every day. And yet the literary salon, along with the creativity it engenders, is alive and well - and living on the Internet.

The Internet's capacity to transcend physical limitations makes it ideal for networking. Everything is interactive. Every writer has a website; the savvier ones include sound clips and video trailers. Writers blog, they go on virtual book tours, while their publishers experiment with online marketing and podcasting. Literary agents and editors have taken to the blogosphere as well, using the Internet's anonymity to deal out unprecedentedly honest, occasionally snarky advice.

"The world is changing," says best-selling author David Morrell, co-president of the International Thriller Writers Association, "and if writers want to survive, they had better change with it. One way to survive is to understand the power of the Internet."

Writers get it. They're using the Internet for research. They're also using it to connect with each other. All over the world, authors post to online bulletin boards, asking questions and answering them as their differing work schedules and time zones allow. A Yahoo Groups search on 'writing' returns 12,737 results. The groups range in size from a handful of members to hundreds, and offer critique, live chats, even writing classes. But the online writers organization that perhaps best embodies the spirit of the traditional literary salon is Backspace.

Backspace began in April 2004 when Christopher Graham and Karen Dionne envisioned a place where the published and soon-to-be could help one another and network. Eighteen months later, Backspace boasts over 400 members in a dozen countries. Of the 120 who answered a recent survey, 55 have agents representing their work. 22 are published with the major publishers and 13 are with smaller presses, totaling an astounding 210 books. This year, ten members saw the release of their debut novels, and thus far another ten have sold projects to publishers like Hyperion, Random House, and Berkley. Agent signings, short story publications, literary magazine editorships accepted, six-figure book deals, multiple book deals, lead titles, foreign rights sales, book club selections, film rights optioned not to small production companies, but to Fox 2000 and Disney - announcements like these happen every month at Backspace.

"I'm incredibly impressed with the level of discourse," Sarah Weinman, an award-winning crime fiction blogger says. "There are a lot of smart people hanging around here."

Backspace's mission statement is 'writers helping writers.' Every member is a mentor. A first-time author gets his copyedits from his publisher and posts 'What do I do with this?' Within hours, answers come from a half dozen more experienced members. A debut author wants tips for making her book launch a success; a young adult author scheduled to speak to a group of teenagers asks what she can do to keep their attention; a member agent explains how to make sense of a royalty statement.

"Backspace introduced me to many fellow writers at a time when I really needed them," says Melanie Lynne Hauser, whose first novel, CONFESSIONS OF SUPER MOM, came out with Dutton this fall. "It was so good to talk to authors who were ahead of me in the process." Jon Clinch, a Backspace member whose agent expects to begin shopping Clinch's dark literary novel in a few weeks adds, "The network at Backspace connected me with a terrific agent who's excited to be representing my work." "The guidance I received on my query letter and synopsis was invaluable," says Marcus Sakey, a Backspace member whose crime thriller sold recently to Minotaur at auction. "I was able to save months of shot-in-the-dark tweaking, resulting in query materials that were immediately effective."

"One of the reasons I so enjoy Backspace," says New York Times best-selling author Kay Hooper, "is the opportunity to share some of the old battle scars. They have to be good for something, right? Those of you starting out now have one huge - and I do mean HUGE - advantage over those of us who typed our first manuscripts on IBM Selectrics. You have Backspace. You have the Internet. You have access to information that would have boggled my mind back in 1980. Even more, you have a 'place' you can come to and ask questions, vent, laugh, bitch and moan - whatever is needed - knowing that you're with other people going through the same sort of things and facing the same problems."

The helpful spirit extends beyond Backspace's membership. Twice a month, publishing professionals conduct three-day question and answer sessions with the group in a virtually never-ending online writers conference. Adrienne Miller, C. Michael Curtis, Sara Nelson, Chris Bohjalian, Junot Diaz, Jennifer Weiner, Lee Child, Robert Crais, Tess Gerritsen, Neil Gaiman and Jeffery Deaver, along with top literary agents, editors, publicists, and books reviewers are some of the past and scheduled guests. The interaction yields tangible results: members have been invited to submit manuscripts to acquisitions editors; others have been offered blurbs.

It's no wonder literary agents recommend Backspace to their clients. "You've really created a unique, nurturing environment," says Erin Reel, of the Erin Reel Literary Agency. "Just like Publishers Marketplace is the definitive site for those in the publishing industry, Backspace is the best resource for writers," adds Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency.

Sakey sums it up: "Where else can you draw on the creativity, talent and experience of 400 authors without having to spring for beer?"

Eighty-six years after its founding, The Round Table remains one of the greatest examples of an American artists' community. In recognition of their collective talent, the Algonquin Hotel leaves their table in the lobby set with name cards of the famous who met there. If the members of The Vicious Circle were alive today, no doubt they'd also connect over the Internet. Conversely, next July, dozens of Backspacers will spend hundreds of dollars to travel thousands of miles to meet face-to-face at Backspace's second annual real-world event: a writers conference held at New York's Algonquin Hotel.

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Backspace co-founders Christopher Graham and Karen Dionne believe in the power of the Internet. For the first year of their partnership, they neither met in person nor spoke on the phone. Both are aspiring writers.