Apparently you must offer a truely awesome gantt chart and established interview/speaking schedule to get this.
iUniverse has explained that in order to remain independent the Rising Star Board does not communicate specifics with iUniverse, so there is no way to know in what way my submission fell short.
For the record, below is a summary of the marketing info I sent to them. (Their headers, my lightly-excised info)
AUDIENCE/MARKET:
Non-self-employed
high school or college grads with 2+ years of work experience after
graduation
SELLING
POINTS:
Other
titles in this area are completely impractical. They're more
entertainment than information. Some are huge encyclopedias of
interesting / weird / high-paying jobs, but they devote only a few
words to each one, give no real information, and in many cases the
job is singular: Curator for the National Arboretum. That's no use to
anyone.
An actual survey of
practical jobs that a regular person could expect to do for
themselves? That book doesn't seem to exist - yet.
MARKETING
& PROMOTION POINTS:
I have
- created a personal website
- two alumni organizations (X and Y) which will publish notices of my publication
- a local library with a local author program which will allow me to do a Q&A of my book, and/or at least announce the publication of my book
- contacted two non-iUniverse marketing organizations that specialize in promoting books
- begun working with Z at iUniverse to produce marketing and publicity materials
PUBLICITY:
I plan to hire a
professional for a 3 phase approach
Phase I is 2-3
months: This is a sanity check to see if anyone wants to BUY it.
Phase II is 3-12
months: Minimum profitable run time, according to my sources.
Phase III is 13+
months: Until the book stops selling...
ADVANCE
PRAISE/ENDORSEMENTS:
"Earning
without being employed" provides the reader with a "Gee, I
can do that" idea that these professions are within their reach.
Military veterans come with a great work ethic and self-starter
attitude, and would find this book of great value to capitalize on
their skills and experiences they learned and achieved during their
service." --EndorsementPersonOne
"If the only
thing standing between you and successful self-employment is What or
How, you can toss those obstacles away by reading this nifty book
filled with how-to information. Quite simply, Jeff Evarts has rounded
up a goldmine of entrepreneurial options and he shares them in this
easy-to-read collection. Start digging." --EndorsementPersonTwo
TIMELINE/APPEARANCES:
None
PREVIOUSLY
PUBLISHED TITLES
None (technical
papers, but not “book titles” per se)
