Maddy Banks has dreamed of having a successful business since she was a young girl. When other girls were reading fairy tales about princesses, Maddy was begging her parents for a subscription to the Financial Street Journal. She has brilliant ideas and a business degree to back them up, but so far entrepreneurial success has been elusive. Most recently, her old college nemesis, Derek Rogers, has beaten her latest venture to market, leaving Maddy frustrated and out of ideas.

Her professional problems are pushed aside when she gets the heart-breaking news that a good friend has suddenly died. While enduring a canned eulogy delivered by a clergyperson who never knew her friend, Maddy realizes the importance of a personalized ceremony to honor the life lost and comfort the living. Isn't there a business that fulfills this need? Looking for a distraction from her grief, Maddy works on a business plan for Lights Out Enterprises!–a company that will create unique and unconventional pre-planned funerals that celebrate life. With the guidance of her entrepreneurial Uncle Sam, she embarks on the journey to turn her ideas into reality.

When Madison gets enough money for the start-up costs from handsome venture capitalist Victor Winston, Lights Out! takes off. Maddy starts flying all over the country to meet the demands of her growing client list. For Maddy, fulfillment has always equaled professional success, something that Lights Out! may finally provide.

Everything comes to a screeching halt when new government legislation (with the suspicious involvement of Derek Rogers) forces Maddy to pull the plug on Lights Out! Devastated by another loss, Maddy retreats to Clark Lake near her hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan to figure out what her next move will be–no Financial Street Journal, no business plans, no distractions. For the first time in years, Maddy forces herself to deal with her personal and professional losses and figure out what she really wants out of life…and in an unexpected grassroots come-back discovers that self-worth caps net-worth any day.

Isenberg’s penchant for blurring the lines between reality and fiction has paid off. The Funeral Planner launched the real life business of LIGHTS OUT ENTERPRISES with a notable advisory board of high stakes entertainment professionals as well as a spin-off company called Fashion Therapy 101, all inspired by the novel. Reality may be at the root of all fiction, but in this case, fiction has clearly spawned reality. For more information, visit www.lightsoutenterprises.com and www.lynnisenberg.com/tfp.THE FUNERAL PLANNER

For additional information please see www.lynnisenberg.com, www.lightsoutenterprises.com or blog away at www.lightsoutenterprises.blogspot.com.

  Lynn Isenberg
September 2005
$12.95 U.S./$15.95 CAN.
ISBN# 0-373-89533-X
Red Dress Ink

LYNN ISENBERG
Avant-garde content creator and narrative marketing strategist best describes native Detroiter and Californian Lynn Isenberg whose critically acclaimed work include two comedic novels My Life Uncovered and The Funeral Planner. Among her feature film and television credits are Youngblood, I Love You to Death, True Vinyl, and the popular series I::Design (which she co-created and executive produced). Her work in new media and branded entertainment include Jill Sobule’s Analog Girl for Paramount Pictures as well as the premiere Sundance Online Film Festival and the upcoming Resolve (which she co-wrote) for The Creative Tank and TaylorMade Golf.

In addition, she is founder of the renowned and critically acclaimed Hollywood Literary Retreat. Lynn speaks at major venues across the nation about her novels and the role of storytelling in entertainment, new media, and online marketing. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and NELP with a B.A. in English Language & Literature, a minor in Film Studies, and an MBA & Entrepreneurial Studies audit. Through her company Focus Media, Inc. (Finding Opportunities Creating Unified Success), Isenberg designs and produces cutting edge branded entertainment marketing strategies for selective clients while working on her third novel.

THE FUNERAL PLANNER, like her debut novel, My Life Uncovered, challenges convention once again, this time through America's perception of bereavement. Isenberg massages mourning deaths into celebrations of life through the eyes of an ambitious entrepreneur who learns to live life by confronting grief along the way divining the difference between self-worth and net worth.