Biz Book PitchFest 2010 Winner of Round #2!

Well, the time has finally come. The winner of Round #2 is Maura Thomas.

Maura will get my comprehensive Networlding Book Writing and Publishing Coaching Package from me to write her book and get it out to the world. However, this does not stop the other two Round #1 winners from getting out great books. I am excited to see what books they will create.

Here are some simple highlights from Maura’s fans who voted for her:

VOTE: Maura Thomas. (And not just because I know and like Maura, admire the work she’s doing, and want to support her in this competition.) For the past five years we’ve been implementing a behavioral wellness initiative primarily with rural and community hospitals. We know that people will change satisfying and even deeply entrenched behaviors so long as they believe it’s worthwhile to do so and that, if they make an honest effort, they can expect to be successful. In order to instill that sense of self-belief, they must be mindful of their daily choices and believe that they can incorporate modest-but-meaningful improvements in a way that won’t be burdensome or stressful. As I understand Maura’s strategy, it should provide a toolkit to help our participants stay positive, focused, engaged and successful.

VOTE: Maura Thomas : Regain your time As a person (finally) diagnosed with A.D.D. (after age 50) as well as having a renaissance soul (interested in just about everything) this is exactly the kind of information that could clearly be life changing. A well needed strategy to keep people like me on track despite the usual “Look, shiny!” distractions that seem to pop up far too often.

VOTE: Maura Thomas: As I write this, I just finished a 2-minute zone out checking Twitter. Today was a good day – I am on track with a task list. But not every day goes this way. Distractions and diversions are increasing in presence and speed. This book holds something for folks like me, I’d bet!

VOTE Maura Thomas: The book is timely — it promises to explain the challenges of living in the information age in an integrative, insightful way. More importantly, it will help people understand what they can do for a more rewarding and productive life. The benefits will be immediate and invaluable!

Maura’s Entry:

Proposed Title: Control Your Attention, Control Your Life: Succeeding in the Information Age

Proposed Title: Control Your Attention, Control Your Life: Succeeding in the Information AgeCompany name: RegainYourTime.comTitle: Chief TrainerWebsite: www.regainyourtime.comBlog: www.regainyourtime.com——————————-

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The Award:

Maura will be receiving a comprehensive book coaching package by me. We will also publish the author’s book through our publishing division or work with the author to submit a book proposal to an agent if preferred .

To keep promoting them, the other Round #1 winners were:

Winner: Laura O’Shea

Proposed book title — The Potlatch Principle: How to Build Customer Relationships Through Content Marketing

Company — Two Rivers Creative
Website — http://www.tworiverscreative.com
Blog — http://www.tworiverscreative.com/blog.html

FULL PITCH – http://www.tworiverscreative.com/blog/2010/07/12/19-what-is-the-potlat ch-principle-.html

Brief overview of your book pitch — When companies distribute free, high-quality content via blogs, videos, newsletters, webcasts and other media channels, they want three things in return: recognition, loyalty and sales. This book, named after the historic term ‘potlatch’ meaning to give away, uses case studies and stories to illustrate how content marketing builds strong customer relationships and provides corporate decision makers with the tools they need to develop a powerful content strategy.

Winner: Sheri Lee

Proposed Title: Say What Free Stuff – Small Business or Launch Your Business with Say What Free Stuff

Company:  Hurston + Hughes Owner/Blogger/Author
Website: http://www.saywhatfreestuff.com/
Blog: http://saywhatfreestuff.wordpress.com/

Brief overview of your book pitch : Say What Free Stuff (SWFS) Small Business is a resource guide for small business owners and budding entrepreneurs emphasizing free open source software, online resources, talent bartering, and crowd sourcing. SWFS Small Business explains how entrepreneurs can leverage free resources to eliminate some startup cost. In addition to the cost benefit, using these free resources allows the entrepreneur to simultaneously grow their business and promote other entrepreneurs, freelancers, and e-lancers.

Judges’ Bios

Kevin Small

In 1996, Kevin was recruited by the leadership development author John C. Maxwell. Kevin was tasked with the creation of a platform that would be used to bring Maxwell’s leadership books to market. As the
President of Maxwell’s company, Kevin launched a satellite event training series that would enroll over 1 million students while rolling out an integrated publishing platform that launched four New York Times bestselling leadership titles. Maxwell’s annual book sales grew to over 1.2 million books. Under his leadership, the company grew dramatically over the next four years – from 10 to 125 people, and from $2 million to $25 million in revenue. Kevin managed the company’s sale in November 2004.

Meanwhile, the book business was changing quickly. Publishers were less and less able to commit the usual level of resources to authors’ launches. Kevin recognized that market conditions would soon require
that authors have their own marketing representation in order to have impact — despite the strength of their ideas, or their platform.

Kevin’s response was to form ResultSource, a boutique marketing firm that works with today’s thought leaders to build bestsellers. Kevin and his staff of six full-time employees serve as the business managers for Chip and Dan Heath, best-selling authors of “Made to Stick.”

Steve Farber

Steve is an executive coach, speaker and a best-selling author. His latest book, Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership, has been a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller.
This first book, The Radical Leap: A Personal Lesson in Extreme Leadership” was recently named one of the “100 Best Business Books of All Time.”

Sarah Miller Caldecott

Sarah is an innovation champion who works with companies to ignite the innovation process, bringing a world-class innovator’s toolkit to individuals, teams, and leaders. She is also a great grandniece of Thomas Edison, an innovation author, and an MBA with 25-years of domestic and international marketing expertise.

Her best-selling book (Dutton Penguin) on Thomas Edison’s innovation methods was endorsed by the New York Times, Fortune Small Business, USA Today, 800-CEO-READ, and Investor’s Business Daily.

Brett Farmiloe

Brett is the social media manager for Jobing.com- the nation’s largest, locally-focused provider of employment media. He is a Gen Y’er who frequently speaks on the topic of how to use social media to attract and retain top talent. He has interviewed hundreds of leaders and employees in companies like Microsoft, Nike, and EA Sports in a social media intensive project he founded entitled Pursue the Passion (www.pursuethepassion.com). He also just published a book called ‘Pursue the Passion’ available on Amazon.

Melissa Giovagnoli

Creator of Biz Book Pitch Fest, Melissa is an eleven-time author with four books on bestseller lists. She recently launched Networlding Publishing a division of Networlding to help thought leaders and organizations with thought leaders grow their market share better and faster through the creation of award-winning blogs, profitable e-books and books. Networlding also helps thought leaders grow their platforms with the development of a community of “fans” who promote their books and hire them for
speaking, consulting, training and more.

Again, please vote, below in the comment area by August 5th. Thanks! Melissa