CAROL ALT LAUNCHES NEW PRODUCT ON HOME SHOPPING NETWORK

Carol’s new skin care product Line is called Raw Essentials. Her skin care line ingredients include things you don’t recognize. Don’t worry, all ingredients are from nature and nothing is cooked or heated, just like the food Carol eats. Carol believes raw is the future.

She’ll have 11 products out by the end of January which will be selling on Home Shopping Network, and at Organic Avenue.

Relevant Home Shopping Network links where you can learn more about the products:

» The road to raw
» Beauty’s newest essential from Carol Alt

The Authors On Air interview on 8/26

Carol Alt was on AuthorsOnAir.com on August 26, talking with bestselling author Michael Tonello (”Bringing Home the Birkin”).

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO VOTE! DEADLINE IS 12/11/08

We have chosen 4 terrific finalists in our search for the new cover model for the jacket of my new novel and we need your help!

Please go to http://www.harpercollins.com/Imprints/Avon/CommunityFeatures.aspx and vote for the young lady you feel has what it takes to become our next cover girl.

I want to thank everyone who was kind enough to send me suggestions for the title of this upcoming sequel to “This Year’s Model”. We have settled on “Model Incorporated”. It’s very apropos.

I love having your help and participation in this project. It’s a great way for us to be both proactive and interactive!

- Carol

HELP CAROL NAME HER NEXT NOVEL

“This Year’s Model“, Carol Alt’s first novel, has garnered much praise since its publication this summer. In fact, one of the nation’s largest retail chains has chosen it as one of their 2009 important books-of-the-year, which is quite an honor. (We’ll let you know which store once the book hits their shelves. They don’t want us to spoil the surprise!)

“I try to invest any project with which I’m associated with a certain amount of social responsibility. In the case of “This Year’s Model”, my goal was to give young girls (and their families) a more realistic picture of what really goes on behind the scenes in a model’s life.

“It seems as if the image that’s being promoted by certain TV shows nowadays is that fashion models are constantly at each other’s throats. Some new girls who are just starting out may end up sharing apartments or hotel rooms, to save money. But seriously, can you imagine if a half dozen girls were thrown together and spent their entire day fighting with their roommates, or thinking and talking about nothing but sabotaging each other’s careers?! That may make for entertaining television, but it surely isn’t real life.

“In reality, if a modeling agency represents several girls who have arrived from out of town and have no place to stay, the agency will arrange for them to share a place. Knowing full well that these girls are in close proximity, the agency certainly isn’t going to send two or three of them to the same “go-see” (audition, in modeling jargon) at or near the same time. That really would be a recipe for disaster. Most of the time, the girls have no idea what the others are going up for. But if you believe what you see on TV, they’re all watching each others’ moves, just waiting to pounce and thriving on jealous rages. It’s ridiculous!

“Now, what probably will surprise most people is how things work for girls who have been scouted by an agency. Let’s say a potential model is discovered in Russia, for example. The agency will front the money to fly her to New York, put her up in a hotel, and also give her an advance so she can get set up - phone, food, clothes, etc. Well, guess what: The agency isn’t doing that out of the goodness of its heart. Not only will they expect to be repaid for the “loan” (which is what it is), but they’ll find very clever ways to add fees on top of the actual costs. If and when the Russian girl books her first jobs, the agency will pay itself back out of her earnings. It can amount to several thousand dollars, especially in the beginning of a career. That can come as quite a shock sometimes. What is an even bigger shock is if a girl does not book any jobs, she will still owe that money to the agency…!

“Then there are the photos for the model’s portfolio. Let’s just say, I find them useless. A professional modeling agent can size up a girl’s potential in the blink of an eye. That’s what he or she is trained to do,” says Carol. But, let’s say he sees a girl who he thinks is on the cusp – not quite perfect, but a ‘possibility’. The agent will set up a shoot to get some photos for the girl’s portfolio. He will send her to a studio with a photographer, hair and makeup. The session may cost $2-3000 but in reality, the photographer might only be charging a couple of hundred dollars and let’s say the makeup artist and hair stylist total up to another couple of hundred—but the girl is paying $2-3000! Where does the rest of the money go? Kickbacks!!! If the agency hired them on your behalf, they will get half of this upfront money for their “trouble” - and in the end, they may not even take this girl!! That kind of thing has always existed in the modeling industry. And yes, it’s underhanded and sneaky. Of course, as in any industry, there are the ethical professionals and these other types.

“Now, this naive girl thinks she has a professional portfolio - one everybody will respect - so she starts shopping herself around (armed with those very expensive photos) to other agencies. Another agency may decide to give her a try, but they will want to use their own photographer who shoots all of their girls. So now this poor kid has to decide whether or not to take the risk and spend another couple of thousand dollars just to please this new agency!

“This brings up another point I’d like to make: Modeling success or failure does not rest on a woman’s beauty. There are so many other factors that go into creating a successful model – height, bone structure, a certain look, an attitude – and all are necessary commodities, yes. But there are loads of absolutely beautiful women who never made it as models, while lots of offbeat looks have soared to the top of the heap. That’s why a modeling agent with a good eye for talent can look past perceived faults and find the gem that lies beneath - again, even without photos.”

But we digress. Or…do we?

“In my book”, Carol continues, “Melody Ann Croft (the heroine) works in Manhattan, but commutes to her home in the suburbs every night. She works, she goes home. This is closer to a normal scenario for a working model.

“I tried to show a more realistic picture of what really goes on, so that young girls and their families can understand what they’re up against. I really feel that any girl who thinks that she may want to model (and her parents, too) should read this book and not rely on the modeling shows on TV for their information.”

Carol is already well on her way to completing the second book in what is intended to be a trilogy, featuring the main character she created as the “star” of “This Year’s Model”, Melody Ann Croft.

“I need a title for this next novel. If anyone out there has a good idea, by all means I’d love to see it. You can send it to me via the comment box below this article. Obviously”, Carol laughs, “I can’t give you much help in terms of inspiration, since I don’t want to give any plot points away, so use your imaginations.”

ALSO…..

Another exciting event is taking place right now in conjunction with the publishing of this book. Carol says, “We are searching for the model who will appear on the cover jacket of my new book – even someone who might not have the opportunity to come to New York or L.A. can try out. Backed by Lord & Taylor and Avon Books, a search is being initiated in an effort to help out a novice model. It’s all being done via the internet.

“Send in your photos (make sure your face is clearly seen and that they are not too ‘model-y’. We need a clear shot of the face!) It doesn’t matter where you live. We expect to have our cover girl by mid-November.”

GO TO WWW.HARPERCOLLINS.COM, ‘SEARCH’ DETAILS ARE THERE…..

Carol Alt Seeks America’s Next “Cover Girl”

NEXT YEAR’S MODEL SEARCH SWEEPSTAKES

Supermodel Pairs with Publisher and Lord & Taylor

To Seek Fresh New Face to Launch Cover of 2009 Novel

NEW YORK, NY; August 4, 2008 — Avon A/an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers is launching a interactive online contest, along with supermodel Carol Alt (author of This Year’s Model) and Lord & Taylor, to help discover the fresh new face who will grace the cover of Alt’s 2009 novel in the NEXT YEAR’S MODEL Search Online Sweepstakes.   The contest will launch on August 26, 2008, the date This Year’s Model goes on-sale.  From August 26 to November 20, potential cover girls from 16 to 25 years of age can submit photos to the contest feature page at www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel.  (Meanwhile, a distinguished panel of judges will select finalists, with new finalist pictures posting weekly at http://www.flickr.com/groups/nextyearsmodel/.)  On November 21, the judges, led by Alt, will announce the 4 top Next Year’s Model entrants, launching all participants into an exciting fan-based voting contest at www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel.  On December 11, 2008, NEXT YEAR’S MODEL will be announced, and arrangements will be made for the winner and a guest to be flown to New York City.  The grand prize winner will be awarded a professional photo shoot, a meet-and-greet with a top modeling agency, and a wardrobe prize from Lord & Taylor!  Avon A intends to feature the winner on the cover of Alt’s upcoming book, Next Year’s Model, in stores in 2009.

Alt, a savvy and innovative marketer whose creative skills were recently featured when she became a top-2 runner up on Celebrity Apprentice, concepted this contest as a way to help a young woman break into the competitive world of professional modeling.  In her debut novel, This Year’s Model (in-stores August 26), Alt  introduces readers to the high-stakes world of modeling – and gives valuable life lessons to all young women looking to break into the field.

“(Modeling) is one of the only businesses where a woman makes more money than a man,” says Alt, “and in which a young girl can achieve financial stability, meet great people, and travel the world – all while becoming famous and securing her future.”  Widely regarded as one of the world’s most recognizable faces after launching the supermodel industry, Alt believes that modeling can be a healthy and empowering career for a young woman — and wanted to offer a hand in helping a new talent into the industry with the NEXT YEAR’S MODEL online search.

Contest Description:

August 26 - November 20, 2008: Contestants, aged 16-25, can enter the contest at www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel and send a photo for consideration.  New finalists will be posted daily at Avon’s contest feature page at http://www.flickr.com/groups/nextyearsmodel/. (Please note: entrants can also send a photograph of themselvesf together with a 5X8 index card with their name, address, telephone number and date of birth to Next Year’s Model Contest, c/o Avon Books/HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53^rd Street, NY, NY  10022.  Photographs must depict the entrant only, and photographs including other people will be disqualified.) About the photo submissions, Alt recommends contestants “do not waste money and valuable time, on a portfolio,” when selecting photos to showcase their looks on the NEXT YEAR’S MODEL contest website.  Alt continues, “My agents took one look at me, at my face, and made the decision right there that I had ‘it.’”  She recommends unposed, natural snapshots, pictures from family vacations and other settings where a young woman’s natural beauty and spirit shine through.

November 21: Carol Alt, with a panel of distinguished judges, will review all photo submissions, and select the Top 4 NEXT YEAR’S MODEL contest entrants, which will be posted online at www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel!

November 21 - December 10, 2008: www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel will host an interactive voting platform, where fans, friends and anyone interested in the glamorous world of modeling can enter into an interactive voting platform, selecting their favorite photos of contest contestants.  Poll results will be viewable!

December 10, 2008: Voting closes. A grand prize winner is determined by popular vote (in case of a tie-breaker, Carol Alt and the panel of judges will select a grand prize winner).

December 11, 2008: Grand prize winner announcement on www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel!

Prize Package:

Avon A/an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers will fly the NEXT YEAR’S MODEL grand prize contest winner and a guest or chaperone to New York City, where they will receive two nights hotel stay in a four-star establishment.  The grand prize winner will also receive a professional photo shoot; HarperCollins will consider the image for the cover of Carol Alt’s next book.  The prize also includes a Lord & Taylor wardrobe gift valued at $500.  (Total prize package valued at $6000.)

25 Runners-up will receive a signed copy of Carol Alt’s This Year’s Model.  (Runner-up prize valued at $13.95.)

Panel of Judges:

Carol Alt - Carol Alt’s face has appeared on the cover of more than seven hundred magazines. Her calendars, posters, and exercise videos have all sold millions of copies.

LaVelle Olexa, Lord & Taylor - LaVelle Olexa is Lord & Taylor’s Senior Vice President of Public. As such, she is responsible for Publicity, Special Events, and the creative direction for the flagship’s Fifth Avenue windows. A consummate professional, LaVelle started her career modeling and has held a variety of positions in the fashion industry, including the marketing and fashion direction of Lord & Taylor.

Mumtaz Mustafa, Art Director, Avon A/an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers - Mumtaz started at HarperCollins as an assistant designer 6 years ago and is now the art director for Avon and Rayo.

About Carol Alt:

Carol Alt’s face has appeared on the cover of more than 700 magazines. Her calendars, posters, and exercise videos have all sold millions of copies. She was a recent contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice, is the bestselling author of Eating in the Raw and The Raw 50, is a frequent guest on talk shows, and has acted on stage, television, and in more than 65 movies. This Year’s Model is her first novel.

About This Year’s Model (on-sale 8/26/08):

Supermodel Carol Alt takes on the world of up and coming models in This Year’s Model, her biting, witty, and insightful debut novel.  Melody Ann Croft had a lot of plans for her life. Being a model was not one of them. Discovered while working in restaurant, whisked off to New York, and christened “Mac,” she soon learns that plans have a way of…changing. Stepping into her new life is easier than Mac expected. But once you’re on top of the world, all it takes is one wrong step to bring it all tumbling down. In the cutthroat world of fashion, it all comes down to who you can trust. And it won’t be long before Max learns that hanging on to her self will be the toughest battle she’s ever fought.

More information about the NEXT YEARS MODEL contest available at: www.harpercollins.com/nextyearsmodel.

About HarperCollins Publishers

HarperCollins, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV). Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world including the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children’s Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial fiction, business books, children’s books, cookbooks, mystery, romance, reference, religious and spiritual books. With nearly 200 years of history HarperCollins has published some of the world’s foremost authors and has won numerous awards including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott. Consistently at the forefront of innovation and technological advancement HarperCollins is the first publisher to digitize its content and create a global digital warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, meet consumer demand and generate additional business opportunities. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on the Internet at http://www.harpercollins.com.

THE PLAYBOY SPREAD GETS THE CONVERSATION GOING

Hundreds of readers have responded to the news about Carol Alt doing a nude layout in Playboy by applauding her willingness to do something so adventurous “at this age”and in particular, her underlying reasons for even considering it in the first place:  To get the message across that healthy living and eating “raw” can help anyone and everyone.

Of course, as with any slightly new or controversial idea, a tiny handful of writers simply didn’t get it and in fact strongly opposed it, which elicited a few very interesting thoughts and comments from Carol.

“I’ve never been comfortable with my body,” Carol says.  “When I had to pose for Sports Illustrated in a bathing suit at the age of 20, it was some of the most difficult work I ever did.  I was always a heavy kid; my sister is a plus-size model; and it’s not like I come from a long line of stick figures!  I continuously battled with my weight!  I always felt uncomfortable with my body - was very shy and really, rather conservative.

“Just to be thinking of doing something that is this radical, in a sense, but in such celebration of the female form, is really because I believe that this is the best way to reach people and get conversation going.  I need to put my fears and nervousness aside, and get this message out there.  This certainly wasn’t the last alternative, nor was it the first alternative.  It is just “an” alternative way to get people talking.”

Carol reiterated that she believes that Playboy is without question the finest, most artistic magazine she could have chosen for her leap of faith.  “The celebrity photos are not at all like the centerfold layouts, but no matter what, all of the photos I see in Playboy are beautiful and very tastefully shot.

“In reality, at my age, to know that I have come to such a point, where I am comfortable enough with my own body after 12 years of eating raw - that I actually feel better about my body at 47 than I did at 20 - is an amazing miracle in itself.  I want to enlighten other people to the fact that as they age, they don’t have to start feeling worse about themselves - getting tired, getting moody, getting fat and becoming ill.  There is an alternative, but the only way for people to find it is to educate themselves.  One way to get them to do that is to start them talking about it.  The only way I know of to encourage that kind of discussion is to do something a little…controversial.  And yes - this is somewhat controversial.

“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching about this and have spoken extensively with Playboy about it.  They have been amazing to work with and are embracing this message that I want to get across, which is eat healthy, look healthy and be healthy.  It doesn’t matter what age you are.  You can look sexy and feel great, and that doesn’t have to be a gift only for the young.  It can be a gift for any age, even the old (whatever that is nowadays).”

Carol is well aware that whenever she talks to people about the raw life, they tend to become nervous and even a little defensive, because they worry that it will be too difficult, or that they won’t be able to give it 100% - any excuse at all for not even trying it.  They defend their own way of eating, despite the fact that for most, that’s becoming an obsolete way of doing things.  “It’s very hard to get people to embrace something ‘new’ or ‘different’, Carol reminds us.  “But in this case, raw is not ‘new’ or ‘different’ at all.  It’s the way food has been handled since the beginning of time.  It’s only for the last couple of generations that we are processing foods and genetically altering them.  Look at almonds, as just one example:  We now pasteurize them, but still call them ‘raw’!  Once you cook, or pasteurize, or homogenize anything, it’s no longer raw.  So, we are now getting nothing like our grandparents got and nearly nothing like our parents got - our food is being genetically modified and chemically altered, one way or another.

“When I approach people about this concept, it freaks them out and they often just shut down.  So I thought, let’s try a less aggressive approach and the Playboy shoot seemed ideal.  Yes, it’s controversial, but if that’s what it takes, I’m OK with that.  If someone thinks that I have anything but altruistic reasons for doing this, they’d better think again.  Seriously.”

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S HOMO ERECTUS” fka “THE CAVEMAN COMEDY”

“I’m a tall woman”, Carol says, “But I always managed to avoid playing Amazons throughout my career…that is, until the script for the independent comedy, ‘Homo Erectus’ landed in my lap. This script was so funny, I was laughing out loud as I read it. That’s what finally won me over!”

The movie, written and directed by it’s prolific star, Adam Rifkin, is, as Carol puts it, an “A” movie takeoff of a “B” caveman movie (was there ever any other kind?). It co-stars Ali Larter (”Heroes”), David Carradine, Talia Shire and Gary Busey. If that eclectic combination of talent doesn’t give you a hint that there’s something funny going on here, Carol’s decision to finally portray an Amazon (the literal, not figurative, kind) based upon the script alone should be enough to send her fans in droves to theaters when it opens across the country. Her cameo role still has her in stitches…although there weren’t many of those in her costume…!

As any good Amazon scholar surely knows, 5′10″ still isn’t tall enough, so Carol had to wear high heels throughout the shoot.

“We shot in a rock quarry, which was scary enough, but they had me running around in these high-heeled boots and I had to keep up with everyone else who was running in sneakers. By the end of the day, I had sore muscles everywhere!” The fact that she was wearing only a fur bikini and those high-heeled fur boots obviously did nothing to lessen the physical exertion - dodging rocks, sweltering in the heat, all the while trying to keep up with Ali Larter, who was running in flats. Still, she had a wonderful time working on this crazy comedy.

“In post-production, I had to go into the studio and record some new lines, because when National Lampoon bought it, they wanted to expand my role. Well, while I was looping my lines, the recording engineer and ADR director were sitting in the booth laughing their heads off. And they were only watching my scenes at the time. I thought then that if these pros were laughing that much, this film was going to be a huge hit.”

“National Lampoon’s Homo Erectus” had its world premiere at Slamdance in 2007. It’s currently scheduled to open in various cities in the summer of 2008. Everyone knows that National Lampoon doesn’t add its name to anything that isn’t funny and, since their branding generally assures the “golden touch”, Carol (and of course, everyone else involved in the project) is anticipating a summer hit!

CELEBRITY APPRENTICE

“Firing me (from ‘Celebrity Apprentice’) was the best thing Donald (Trump) could ever have done for me”, says Carol Alt. “People were so incensed – the one thing everybody says to me is ‘You should have won!’. And of course, no one will ever know if I would have or not (had she gone toe-to-toe with Piers Morgan, the ultimate winner), which keeps the conversation going and that’s always a good thing.”

Carol was shocked by the firing at first, because she had helped raise a lot of money for charity (close to $100,000) and had never lost a task. But, as everyone knows, Donald is a businessman extraordinaire and obviously must have had his reasons, mysterious as they may have been.

Something else that Carol was not completely prepared for was the fierce (and often vicious) competition among the women. She caught on to that quickly, though, and was able to use it to her advantage as the weeks went by. Surprisingly enough, the worst of it did not come from the “usual suspect”. She won’t name names, but it is safe to say that danger is often hidden in velvet-wrapped packages.

There was a list of nearly 200 celebrities who were interested in being a part of this wildly entertaining fund-raising event. Apparently, one who had already been chosen went into a mild state of panic shortly before shooting was supposed to begin and decided to bow out. Carol reports, “Donald and I have known each other for years. He’s always liked me and suggested calling to ask me if I would step in. I was just finishing a film and, since this was only two weeks before ‘Celebrity Apprentice” was set to start, I really didn’t have time to freak out. So I said I’d do it!” Carol saw this as a wonderful opportunity to raise money for TAMFI, the Tony Alt Memorial Fund, in honor of her late brother (www.TAMFI.com).

The shooting schedule was intense, to say the least. The average day lasted 20 or 21 hours, leaving them only 3 or 4 hours to sleep. “We often didn’t even have time to eat and I lost 12 pounds within the first 10 days”, Carol says. “I should write another book: ‘The Celebrity Apprentice Diet’!”

Lack of sleep and food aside, the stress level was horrendous. It was during the boardroom meeting following the first task that Carol says she “got it” – meaning, it became crystal clear to her that the other women had, shall we say, their own agendas and bringing Carol Alt down seemed to be a priority for most of them. There was obviously some kind of game being played and once Carol understood the “rules”, her competitive nature took over. She still doesn’t agree with the tactics that were being employed by the other women, but the old expression, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” seemed to apply and certainly worked in her favor.

Carol’s business acumen was in high gear throughout the often grueling competition. Unfortunately, not everyone had the same savvy way of handling the various tasks, nor did they always agree on the best approach. Take the hot dog task, for example. “Basically, the leader (in this case, Omorossa) didn’t identify our assets. In her mind, we were. . .selling hot dogs. Period. Tiffany Fallon pointed out that we were not just ‘selling hot dogs’. We were seven beautiful women selling hot dogs and a thousand guys on the street that day would have bought anything from us, probably at any price. Well, Omorossa disagreed and insisted that we were just selling hot dogs, based solely upon their own merits, like anyone else would have done. The guys, on the other hand, recognized that they were seven celebrities selling hot dogs and behaved accordingly – they sold one hot dog for $10,000! – while we sold 1,000 hot dogs for $2.50 each. We did not identify our assets properly and that’s just a basic business strategy. So, we failed.”

In fact, Carol says that with each task, at least one common business point was overlooked or ignored by the women. One by one, each of the other female celebs was eliminated in the Boardroom until it was just Carol and the two final guys: Trace Adkins and Piers Morgan. That’s when Donald pulled the shocker and gave Carol the axe, which in retrospect, as she says, is the best thing he could have done for her. So, once again, Carol thanks Donald for yet another good turn.

In case you missed any of Carol’s episodes, or just want to re-visit them, click on the following link.

http://www.nbc.com/The_Celebrity_Apprentice/

PLAYBOY COMES CALLING

Considering the fact that Carol Alt is one of the world’s most photographed women, it seems somewhat surprising that she has never posed for any kind of nude layout. That is about to change.

Playboy Magazine has finally, after several attempts over the years, timed its request for a layout of Carol at precisely the right moment. Make that Carol’s right moment.

“I’ve never done a nude shoot in my life”, Carol said. “There was one shot of me years ago, illegally “stolen” by a paparazzo. A doctored version of it, including one with my head added to someone else’s body (!), made the rounds on the internet, so this is really a departure for me. It (posing nude) was never really anything that interested me. Playboy had asked me several times, but I always turned them down. And I love Playboy – I look at it myself. I don’t even always read the articles. I do look at the pictures – I’m like any other woman: I compare myself to other women in the magazine.

“What was interesting to me at this moment in my life is not just my age…very few women my age do this…but I am a raw foodist and the only reason I look the way I do right now is because I changed my diet and started eating healthy, living foods, which are unprepared and unprocessed foods, the closest they can go from God to me”, she laughed. “That’s what I eat and my body shows it.”

The photo layout will be entitled “Carol Alt In The Raw – The Body That Raw Built”. Carol is very excited about the underlying theme of the shoot, which is to show how healthy eating – and in particular, raw, natural foods – can benefit any woman (and of course any man, for that matter), at any age. She began eating this way in her mid-30s and is living proof that what she believes in really works. While admitting that she’s somewhat shy and a teensy bit nervous about the upcoming nude photo shoot, she is driven by the idea that if the same change of lifestyle can save just one person’s life, she’ll have accomplished what she set out to do.

Carol has, in fact, already written two books on the subject: “Eating in the Raw: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Slimmer, Healthier and Looking Younger” (Clarkson Potter/Random House) and “The Raw Fifty” (Random House). “Eating In The Raw” was a USA Today Best Seller. Both books are available through various booksellers, including Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, etc.

Playboy and Carol are currently interviewing potential photographers for the upcoming shoot, which they hope to do in late June, 2008. The issue in which the layout will appear has not been decided upon yet, so stay tuned for updates and perhaps, some behind-the-scenes video snippets of the actual shoot.

Another factor that has led her to agree to appear in this particular magazine is her strong feeling that Playboy’s photo spreads are always beautifully and tastefully done, and respectful of women. She knows that her artistic vision of this, her first nude photo shoot, will be adhered to without hesitation by both the mutually chosen photographer and the editors of the magazine. Besides which, she retains the right to veto any pictures that she doesn’t like (don’t you wish we all had that privilege?!).

How much better could it get?

Well, if Carol has her way, it will go one step further, making it even more exciting than it already seems: Her hope is to find a great photographer with whom she can collaborate on a post-photo shoot auction of a very limited number of archival prints from the shoot, which will be autographed by Carol and the as-yet unknown photographer. The purpose of the auction: To raise money for the Nick Gonzalez Alternative Cancer Research Fund.

As Carol says, “For me, this is completely about saving lives, from beginning to end. I only accepted Playboy’s offer because I want to help save lives. With the right photographer, we can raise money from the photos to help different charitable organizations that do research on alternative forms of cancer medicine (not regular, conservative methods – I’m very skeptical of those). That’s exactly what I’m hoping to accomplish.”

We will keep you updated as Carol and Playboy continue their search for the right photographer. After all, June will be here before any of us knows it.