When we launched the CULTIVATE Book Publishing Contest we didn’t expect the number of entries that we received. We were also overwhelmed by the number of great submissions we read.

The winners ‘Because I Can’ by Janet Oberholtzer and ‘The Ballad of Troop-Z’ by Jacob Fox are perfect examples of authors and stories that should be on bookshelves. They should be on YOUR bookshelf. Now we aren’t saying this because we are the publisher of these books. We are saying this as readers and lovers a good story.

Why did we pick ‘Because I Can’? Beyond it being a good read, it’s a story real people can resonate with. In contrast with us, the conglomerate publishing companies have a different criteria for a good story. For most non-fiction they want celebrities or normal people in situations that will shock you. These books are sensational for the publishers and their marketing teams love them.

The following was an actual response from a publishing house to Janet.

“…since it’s been more than a year or two since the accident and my injuries, the story doesn’t have as much appeal…It took four years, additional surgeries and months of therapy before I returned to running…Because it is a one-step-at-a-time story it doesn’t have as much shock value.

http://www.pilgrimsmoon.com/2011/09/09/death-by-pep-squad/

Shock value? This is a story about what REAL woman face. Life is a one-step-at-a-time story that 99% of the world goes through. The fantastical stories are great reads about the human spirit but are not ones we turn to in our time of need.

These fantastical stories about the human spirit in unbelievable situations are great reads but they remain curious novelties, powerful, but still novelties.  It is unfathomable to comprehend living in situations in these stories and that draws in the masses. Losing a limb rocking climbing. Giving up on society and living in Alaska. Having a broken leg, thinking your climbing partner has given up on you and making it back to basecamp.

Great reads but unrealistic.

We don’t feel ‘shock’ books have much value when you actually are looking for a book to relate to you.

If you are soon-to-be mother, how does reading the story of an actress who deals with the paparazzi, her TV show, vacationing in Aruba and her pregnancy relate to you?

If you are struggling with depression does reading about an athlete who lost the Super Bowl actually connect with you?

There’s a difference between the books we read to escape from the normality of life and the books we read to connect to other normal people in the same situation we are experiencing. We read these stories to realize we are not alone.

Janet’s story is universal. It’s the story about the woman, your mother, sister, wife or best friend, sitting across from you — in one moment her life is normal and the next she’s struggling with the new normal. It’s a story about coping with a traumatic accident and all the physical, mental and spiritual complications that come with it.

For as unrealistic reality can be at times, when the normality of life is changed we seek, even desire, to find others to relate with and feel we are not alone. ‘Because I Can’ is that book for those who suffer a traumatic event and live the daily struggle to begin anew. “Because I Can’ is a story giving hope when you or that special woman next to you feels hopeless.

‘Because I Can’ by Janet Oberholtzer will be released this Tuesday, September 20, 2011. You can find more about the book here. The ‘Ballad of Troop Z’ will be released later this year.