Publisher's Room

Mini-Proposal for Publishers

Targeted Audience and Overview

Book Summary -- Soul: Success From the Inside Out ministers to a nation wildly at work by addressing the waning work ethic in a world of work gone haywire. Fueling the fires of fervor in the workplace with inspiration and education, it addresses the following questions:

• What accounts for the waning of the human spirit at work?
• Is it symptomatic of deeper problems inherent in our social fabric?
• What are the paramount issues and what will it take to resolve them?
• How can we engage in our work as the life-giving and satisfying experience it was meant to be?

Overview: This book-in-progress responds to the soul-deep needs of a society wildly at work. Dignifying with words what all of us think but few of us say about life in the fast lane, it presents the principles and practices that support employees to realize their highest potential. Bringing labor and management together in a common conversation over what works, the manuscript educates and inspires readers toward soulful engagement in their work. In doing so, it offers a blueprint for construction of soulful work, soulful workers and the soulful work environment.

Here is a book that focuses on the soul-satisfying aspects of employment that are generally under-represented in labor-management dialogue. It delivers an operational definition of “soul” that is appropriate to the pragmatic world of business and industry and to the general population. By adding to the knowledge base of what serves soul in the workplace, the proposed book distinguishes between more management strategy and the sincere resolution of soul-deep issues that plague the working public. The final product is a work of high literary value that connects theory with highly selective practices that can make the critical difference.

Why This and Why Now: While contemporary authors inspire us to establish soulful workplaces in order to address psychological impoverishment among workers, the search is on for applied knowledge to realize these lofty visions. Here is a book that augments the growing body of published works, bridging the gap from profound theory to the pragmatic solutions.

What Makes This Book Unique: Cutting edge business theory supports participative team approaches, yet the dialogue between labor and management is cut short by a literature base that continues to isolate its audiences. Management books written by CEO’s of large corporations continue to dominate the trade market with oppressive redundancy and an executive-preferred approach. In the minds of many, this is management talking to itself while hoping to solve the problems of labor-management alienation. Here is a book that speaks intentionally to labor and management as equal partners so that their functional unity may be achieved. What makes the book most unique, however, is the sincerity factor in contrast with strategy-based solutions that are so often associated with worker manipulation. Readers should find this refreshing.

Target Audience:
Since this book speaks to labor and management as equal problem-solving partners, market segments have been identified that represent both sides of the negotiating table.

Primary Audiences for this book are the armies of selfless men and women who comprise the workforce. Finding themselves amidst a world of work gone haywire and ready for change, they will be gainfully employed professionals who work in earnest. They will represent the brightest and the best upon whom this world so desperately depends: healthcare workers, public servants and professionals who work tirelessly on behalf of the common good.

Those with power to transform the workplace, those who seek personal relevance in their work, and those who hoping to make a difference will be first in line for this book. Many of them will be members of professional organizations and associations, problem-solving teams, negotiating teams, transformational work groups or think-tank specialists focusing on cultural change in the workplace. Others will have an intense personal interest in healthier workplace lifestyles.

Other Primary Audiences for this book are change agents from among the ranks of leadership and management. Servant leaders and those with an interest in principled leadership will find this book of particular interest. This audience will include human resource specialists, consultants, trainers, college professors and students majoring in business administration. Labor negotiators, mediators, conciliators and advocates of human rights represent yet another likely venue for this book.

Secondary Audiences will be consumers with concerns about the waning work ethic. Among this group are those disgusted with the quality of goods and services, victims of unhealthy work environments or those concerned about a spouse, friend or neighbor who has fallen victim in a work-related situation. Many potential readers will be from among those directly impacted by poor quality work: those discouraged by the lack of personal care their parents receive in a nursing home, the lack of cleanliness in hospitals, the slow responsiveness of rescue teams in catastrophic situations, etc.

Market Analysis: This book welcomes readers from all corners of the working world. American and foreign markets for this book have been identified using Gallup1 reports of widespread worker disengagement in eleven different countries: These countries include: USA, Canada, Germany, Japan, UK. Chile, France, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

The full-scale market research study indicates percentages of disengaged employees within each of the respective locations. These staggering statistics indicate a widespread need to address issues of worker productivity around the globe. In America alone, Gallup¹ reports that worker disengagement impacts the economy at an estimated $350 billion per year, a staggering statistic that magnetizes many to a book of this nature.

(¹Gallup Management Journal, October 9, 2003)

Why This Book Will Attract Buyers:
Factors that drive book sales include the following:

• The literary quality of the work.
• Political pressure for reform in the work arena.
• Focus on the workplace as a pressure point of society.
• The impact of worker disengagement on national economies.
• Consumer dissatisfaction with goods and services.
• The unsolved mystery of how to improve worker performance.
• Management’s lingering problem with motivating workers.
• Our shared need to self-actualize in the workplace.

Full Proposal Available Upon Request – Acquisitions Editors Only

Forward requests for full proposal to:

jtriner@soulfulwork.net

Enjoy Jo-Ann Triner's quote collection while you're here. Copyright rules apply. 

Thank you!