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My Trip To New York City & Book Expo America

Today I returned from Book Expo America in New York City, where our "Celebrity Black Book 2007" was on display...

I always love visiting New York, as I have a lot of friends there. The first night my friend Craig and I went to a bar to watch R.J. Helton from the first season of "American Idol" perform. We couldn't figure out why everyone looked like they were about to go on vacation to Miami, until R.J. said "see you on the ship!" and we realized everyone was... it was a bon-voyage party for a cruise set to leave the next morning!

But I had my own fun the next couple of days hanging out with friends and associates. I got to see my friend who's a producer on the "Today Show" and another who works at Comedy Central. I also managed to fit in time to meet with the editor of my upcoming book "Celebrity Leverage" and even meet actress Julianne Moore at Book Expo (she was signing her new children's book).

Robert Kiyosaki, the author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" spoke at the PMA Conference I was attending (they asked me to teach next year about How To Get Celebrity Book Endorsements, so that will be fun). Book marketing guru John Kremer was there, who invited me to run over to Javitz Center so he could introduce me to Mark Victor Hansen (the creator of all the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books. And I ran into Tsufit, who interviewed me a while back about "How To Contact Celebrities" you can listen to the two-part interview in the Contact Any Celebrity Member Lounge.

On Sunday, Rosie O'Donnell was the Master of Ceremonies and talked about her new book  "Celebrity Detox." She had just left "The View" a few days before. Exactly one year before, I was in New York having lunch with four of the producers from "The View" the same week she was hired, so it was like deja vu all over again!

How to Get Pro Football Player Autographs

When the New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (pictured) was eight years old, he found himself in the San Francisco Giants’ locker room where he asked Chili Davis, a star for the team at the time, for an autograph.

Davis refused, but said, "Maybe later kid, maybe if you come by after the game." So the young Brady stuck around, and after the game he re-approached his favorite player, only to be turned away again by Davis saying, "No, I’m not signing autographs after the game."

The effect stuck with Brady, both in terms of the disappointment it brought him and in Brady’s future outlook on autographs when he found himself in a similar situation.