The 4-Hour Wo r kweek was turned down by 26 out of 27 publishers.After it was sold, the president of one potential marketing partner, a largebookseller, emailed me histo r ical bestseller statistics to make it clear—thiswouldn’t be a mainstream success.So I did all I knew how to do. I wrote it with two of my closest friends inmind, speaking directly to them a nd their problems—problems I long had—a nd I focused on the unusual options that had wo r ked fo r me around thewo r ld.I certainly tried to set conditions fo r making a sleeper hit possible, but Iknew it wasn’t likely. I hoped fo r the best a nd planned fo r the wo r st.May 2, 2007, I receive a call on my cell phone fr om my edito r .“Tim, you hit the list.”It was just past 5 P.M. in New Yo r k City, a nd I was exhausted. The bookhad launched five days befo r e, a nd I had just finished a series of mo r e thantwenty radio interviews in succession, beginning at 6 A.M. that mo r ning. Inever planned a book tour, preferring instead to “batch” radio satellite toursinto 48 hours.“Heather, I love you, but please don’t $#%* with me.”“No, you really hit the list. Congratulations, Mr. New Yo r k Timesbestselling autho r !”I leaned against the wall a nd slid down until I was sitting on the floo r . Iclosed my eyes, smiled, a nd took a deep breath. Things were about tochange.Everything was about to change