danbena.com
Purposely driving value
for all stakeholders
Would you share your story in 500 Words (about one page)
to inspire others across the world?
You have likely reached this page because the answer is "yes," and you are excited about contributing to my book! Thank you! Here are the details:
Several years ago, I was on a social enterprise panel, and I was asking one of my fellow panelists—the founder of an amazing organization dedicated to literacy—about her journey. She, in turn, asked me about mine. I then said to her, “This is really interesting and inspiring to hear about your journey in such a quick, digestible way. One day, I would love to write a book where I give a variety of people one page in a book to write about their journey—their passions, their life lessons.”
My co-panelist thought it was a great idea. A decade later, it became a reality, and the first edition was published in 2022 and is available to purchase (click cover image below):
It doesn't stop there!
The experience of collecting and curating the content for the first edition has been so remarkable that it inspired me to try to publish a new edition every year--either for the rest of my life, or until I have convinced 1% of the global population (about 75 million people!) to share their stories for the benefit of others.
With that as the goal, this is now a "rolling submission" process, and you can provide content whenever it is convenient for you. If you are interested, read on!
MY ASK OF YOU
In 500 words or less, write about the most important road that got you to where you are today—your passions, life lessons, advice, anything that moves you.
You might be surprised that it is more difficult to write something brief, rather than something lengthy. Knowing that you only have one page on which to convey your story forces you to distill down the most important messages…every word and letter become a valuable commodity! I think you will also find that it is a lot of fun once you get it right!
WHAT I'LL DO WITH IT
My plan is to secure a one-page story from people across a diverse range of cultures, positions, religions, geographies, notoriety, sexual preference, political leaning, and more.
The more diverse, the better, since my objective is to ultimately engage, inspire, educate, and motivate the reader, and have them come to the conclusion that there are more things that connect us as one human tribe than there are that divide us. Those ties and shared desires are the things that really matter, after all.
Like I said above--we need 1% of the world to share!!! So spread the word!!
THE AGREEMENT
There is a more official legal agreement to read here, but in a nut shell, you give me permission to publish and sell the one-page story you write, and any derivative works—in print and electronic versions, use excerpts (as warranted) for advertising, publication, and communications.
You will not receive any financial compensation in royalties or any other form. You will, however, inspire anyone who reads the book! In exchange for your contribution of content to the book, I will promote you, your organization, or any other content (as long as it is legal and not vulgar or obscene) in three lines of text at the bottom of your page. Hopefully, the book will become a best-seller, and this will provide terrific visibility and promotion for you as an individual or for your organization or cause!
EASY STEPS TO PARTICIPATE
(1) Read the release form and agreement details here. The act of submitting content for the book as described above serves as your electronic signature and your confirmation that you understand the terms of the agreement, agree with them, and provide me permission to use your content in my book and as described in the agreement.
(2) Get writing! In 500 words, or less, tell your story--about your passion, and how you found it, life lessons, approach to life, things for which you are thankful, or anything else that you think will be inspiring to share. EVERYONE has a story, and people want to hear yours!
To make it easy, you can write your story directly into the form below, which will come swiftly to me when you hit "submit," or you can send your story to me via email here.
Don't forget to include how you want your three lines of promotional content to read at the bottom of your page!
Important: by clicking "Submit," you acknowledge that you are contributing original content to a new book, without compensation, and in agreement with the conditions of the release form here.