I fail to make Rising Star status

I am left wondering what it must take to get this award. I had promotional quotes from experts, links to bookstores, book fairs, and libraries established, a website up, and an open invitation to write an article on the subject in a major online publication serving my target audience.

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)

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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

1. created a personal website
2. two alumni organizations (X and Y) which will publish notices of my publication
3. 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
4. contacted two non-iUniverse marketing organizations that specialize in promoting books
5. 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)