Karen Salmansohn, author of 'Ballsy: 99 Ways to Grow a Bigger Pair and Score Extreme Business Success,' recently spoke to AOL Book Maven Bethanne Patrick. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Bethanne Patrick: Tell us about 'Ballsy.' Where did this come from?

Karen Salmansohn: A bunch of years ago I used to be in advertising working as a Senior VP Creative Director at age 27. I was making lots of money but I wasn't making the creative products that I wanted to. So I kept threatening to quit and my parents kept talking me out of it, because I was still in my twenties and they figured they could still have a little parental right over my destiny. And one day I just quit. And I didn't tell my parents for two weeks, so they couldn't talk me out of it! And then I told them that I had quit and that I was going to be a writer, and since then I've sold 29 books.

Bethanne Patrick: How did you get started? What was your first one?

Karen Salmansohn: Actually my first book was a novel that I sold to Miramax to be a movie starring Marissa Tomei. And that actually has a story about being ballsy... I'd written my novel and I'd given it, out of loyalty, to my book agent to try to sell to Hollywood. And he didn't really have the connections. But I was so grateful that he had sold my very first book.

Bethanne Patrick: And to Miramax! That's not bad.

Karen Salmansohn: Well he didn't sell it to Miramax. Actually what happened was he had given up after a year and said 'Karen, that's it. You get one year, one shot and then a book goes stale.' But I didn't want to hear that, so I just kept sending it out to people. And then one day I went to see a play here in New York at Naked Angels where I saw Marissa Tomei was performing. So I called up the agent and I said, 'Let's send it to Marissa Tomei' And he said 'Karen, it's been a year. Give up.' But I didn't want to hear that, so I just dropped it off at the theater. Then a couple of months later somebody called me on the phone claiming to be Marissa Tomei, and saying she'd read the novel. And she brought it to Miramax. So I did something that you weren't supposed to do. I didn't listen to the agents, I didn't listen to my parents, I just dropped off the book.

Bethanne Patrick: And what was the name of that book?

Karen Salmansohn: That was called 'Fifty Percent Off.' And that was a 'comic romp.' But that was actually before there was a 'Sex and the City' -- it had a lot of 'Sex and the City'-like humor in it.

Bethanne Patrick: So by doing what you weren't supposed to do, you scored your first success in what you wanted to do.

Karen Salmansohn: Absolutely. And you know that has happened time and time again. That's one of the main theories in the book: it's more important to have talent and have balls. That's actually how my first book came out, which is actually the prequel to 'Ballsy'. I was giving seminars after I sold my book, and I was asked to give seminars to women about to how to pursue their passions. I was on the phone with my agent, about to give a seminar and as a joke, getting off the phone, I said 'I've got to go. I have to give my 'How to succeed in business without a penis' seminar.' And she cracked up, and she said 'Oh my god. You have to write a book with that title.' And she convinced me to do it, and it became a huge bestseller.

Bethanne Patrick: And who published that?

Karen Salmansohn: That was Random House. And I sold it to, I think, eight different countries. I went around the world with that book. But time and again it's just true in anything. If you trace back any of the books that I've sold or any of the TV shows, it's because I did something ballsy. And that book, 'How to Succeed in Business Without a Penis,' I said 'you don't need a penis to succeed. Just balls.' A lot of times women have trouble having balls because we feel like we want to be liked. When you're assertive or you put yourself out there you're could end up stirring up controversy.

Bethanne Patrick: So that's what ballsy means. It doesn't mean necessarily male, it means having that assertiveness.

Karen Salmansohn: Yeah. I want women to feel like it's ok to realize their full power. And that in being powerful, you can also be sexy and playful and feisty and fun. That's what I want to put out to the world. And that's what the book is about. I even say in the book that fun is your performance fuel. People say to me, 'God, you must be so disciplined! How did you do 29 books?' It actually doesn't have to do with discipline; it's something that I call Psych-Chology, where I psych myself into working hard by feeling very passionate about it, because you're having so much fun and you're having passion. And that's what 'Ballsy' is about. When you're really excited about something, actually you don't know about fear. Because you're in that state of passion. It empowers you. You really just have to focus on what it is you really want to do. That's what risk-takers do: they focus on what they have to gain rather than what they have to lose.

Bethanne Patrick: Along with what you have to gain, don't you have to think also about the steps you have to take in doing the right thing? Or not?

Karen Salmansohn: Oh absolutely, and the book goes into that too. I never say to be a rebel without a clue. You have to know what you're doing and actually be aware of it. But learn from your failures. Keep learning. Every member of the Fortune 500 Club could be a member of the Misfortune 500 club. Successful people are not people that never fail, they're people that know how to fail really really well. So when they fall on their face they use that leverage to push themselves up higher. They learn something from each thing. And you should actually seek out criticism and not just compliments. To try to keep an open mind about what you should be doing better.

Bethanne Patrick: How should you be doing that? What's the best way to seek out criticism without looking like someone who's just a glutton for punishment?

Karen Salmansohn: To listen during meetings rather than being defensive automatically. And to really see from some project that you worked on that really didn't succeed as well as you wanted it to, instead of just being part of the blame game, you really try to understand 'What was it? How could I've been done better? What do I know for next time?' So you don' have to put a 'kick me' sign on yourself, you just have to put an 'educate me' sign on yourself. Even when projects do well I try to get the fullest feedback that I can get so I know how to make the next thing even better.

Bethanne Patrick: After 'Ballsy' comes out in May, what's next for you?

Karen Salmansohn: I actually have another business book coming out and it's called 'Gut' And it's all about intuition, which is more important than ever in today's busy, frenetic world. And I have three more set up for 2007. So I've already sold into 2007.

Bethanne Patrick: Wow. So that's 34 books that Karen Salmansohn has coming out. And that shows you have the lessons of 'Ballsy.'