'Access Hollywood's' hot new authors: Nancy O'Dell and Shaun Robinson

If you heard that the glamor girls of "Access Hollywood" -- Nancy O'Dell and Shaun Robinson -- have both written books, you might assume their literary efforts consisted of terrific tips on looking glam on the red carpets.

But you would be so wrong.

New mom O'Dell has written "Full of Life," a funny, charming and informative first person book of "Tips I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Pregnant."

And Robinson has penned "Exactly As I Am," a compilation of inspirational exchanges with powerful female role models such as Oprah Winfrey, Mandy Moore, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Hudson, Diane Sawyer and Dara Torres,  giving advice to young girls and women about self-esteem.

Nancy and Shaun are good friends and longtime co-workers. But they didn't even know about each other's on-the-down-low books until the last minute.

A lot of people are asking the Hollywood hostesses, is there any celebrity scoop in their books? Not really. And that's a good thing.

"I'm like, no Hollywood dirt," says Shaun, who works with Girls Inc. and L.A. County's "Share Your Heart, Share Your Home" adoption program.

"That [dishing] just wasn't where my heart was. And I didn't feel that I could serve any purpose by doing a book like that. I wanted to do something that would inspire the millions of girls who constantly feel like they don't measure up when it comes to being pretty or popular or skinny or any of the many other things that girls sit there and say 'I wish, I wish, I wish was different about me.'"

Nancy's hilarious tell-all tome was born from personal need. "That was why I felt like I wanted to write it, because I read after pregnancy book after book, but there were so many things still that were left unmentioned."

She would find herself going to friends and family during her pregnancy, and saying, "Why didn't y'all ... tell me that was gonna happen!?"

While she was pregnant with her daughter, Ashby, she began taking notes. "I thought it would be fun for her when she grew up or when she got pregnant herself. All of a sudden I found myself with all these different notes of things that happened. And I was like you know what, it wasn't that I just decided it was time for me to write a book; I was like, there really needs to be a book like this out there. I really felt like people need this information."

For instance, she discovered the hard way that pregnant women wet their pants and have itchy bellies. To her horror, she found out that a woman's breast milk leaks out weeks before she gives birth. In Nancy's case, it was when she was on a red carpet about to interview A-list celebs and her designer dress suddenly had big wet spots on it.

Another big Nancy warning: Hire a breast-feeding consultant before you have a baby. "If I had known it was that difficult, I would have gotten a lactation consultant before I gave birth. What I say in the book is don't Because if you don't do it properly from Day 1 and they put the baby on your breast if you're going to nurse within an hour after giving birth, and if you don't do it properly, you are sore, and I am not talking about like simple sore -- I'm talking about sore, like on fire sore for three weeks sore."

Robinson's work with Girls Inc, an organization that dates back to the 1800s and broke off from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, inspired Shaun to write a book based on their motto: "Be strong, smart and bold."

"That's what girls need today. I don't think in any other time in our history has there been a period where girls are hearing more messages of female empowerment but yet they're still feeling so badly about themselves and so challenged in so many ways."

Shaun didn't just toss the questions out to celebs on the carpets or at junkets. "I called each of these women up and asked them individually, whether I directly contacted them or their publicist or their manager, and said, you know, I don't want to talk to you about your latest movie project or your latest television show or CD; I want to talk to you about uplifting today's girls. "

Eva Mendes' advice: "Surrounding myself with people who love and support me has been the key to success." Kelly Clarkson says "Perfection is boring" and "The flaws and vulnerability are what make people attractive." And Oprah writes: "True self-esteem is realizing that you are valuable because you were born."

Shaun admits that getting Oprah was probably the biggest coup. "I was really honored at the cross-section of women who wanted to lend their name to this project, because they weren't getting any publicity for it. It was just that they felt that passionate about helping girls and young women."

Shaun and Nancy are great friends. "We've been on the show forever. We laugh at how ironic that, like, here we have books coming out -- all of a sudden, I hear she's doing a book, and she hears I'm doing a book and I'm like, 'When is yours coming out?' And she's like so-and-so date, and it was like a week before mine."

But they both laughed because Shaun's is about teen self-esteem and Nancy's is about pregnancy.

"So we're like, they're completely different opposite ends of the spectrum because we don't want a lot of teens to go out and get pregnant. Hers is for teens, mine is for pregnancy. But don't get pregnant unless you're married!

Photos: WireImage