You're Hired

With candid stories and mostly obvious conclusions, the winner of the first "Apprentice" explains his run on the TV show, his formative years as a child entrepreneur, and the method behind his seat-of-the-pants success. His humility and interest in helping others are beguiling. Though he survived a tough competition, he doesn't brag; instead he offers an uncomplicated "here's the deal" report without hidden agendas. His style and attitude ask nothing of his listeners, other than to ignore that he reads with some stiffness. His charming stories illustrate his points well enough to give the audio a coffee table kind of familiarity, if not the substance of fellow "Apprentice" star Amy Henry's WHAT IT TAKES. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

September 27, 2004
The author won on the reality TV show The Apprentice
, in which Donald Trump (who provides a foreword) slowly eliminates potential personal assistants until one is left standing. Rancic puts down, in tumbling first-person prose, the strategy he used to win, as well as how, back in 1995, he co-founded and ran a small mail-order company, Cigars Around the World. Rancic never went to business school, and his book might be boiled down to "rely on your observations and common sense, and on your close relationships." Nearly every chapter is loaded with advice gleaned from family members or friends with whom he has collaborated, salted with a smattering of approaches Rancic picked up from his own reading of how-tos and from his work life. The result sets the book apart: Rancic takes work seriously, and everything in the book is something he personally has tried out; his successes and travails (including a fire at his company) come through clearly and conversationally, as from a big brother. The last two of seven chapters cover his time on the show with "Mr. Trump" and offer candid takes on the other contestants and the show's productions. For a loquacious "how-I-did-it," Rancic's book debut is surprisingly satisfying. (Sept.)

Forecast:
A nine-city author tour and 25-city radio tour should build on name recognition from
The Apprentice and put up numbers more than befitting a tyro.