Phil Town was a river rafting guide when he helped rescue a wealthy client, who gratefully began giving him financial advice. Town followed it so successfully that after four years he had run an initial $1,000 investment up to $1 million, and begun offering such advice himself, in a series of crowded seminars across the nation. There was thus an eager lineup of five publishers when a Town book was offered at auction by Coast agent Bonnie Solow, and after a seesawing five days, it was won by Crown's Rick Horgan. It's called Rule No. 1, after the edict under that rubric by Warren Buffet: "Rule No. 1: Don't Lose Money." Crown has such confidence in the appeal of Town's message, and his expertise in delivering it, that it is sending him on no less than an 80-city tour when the book appears next year.