Miss America: In Pursuit of the Crown was the first guidebook authorized by the Miss America Organization and was a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection. Bivans has also served as a columnist for Pageantry magazine since 1992 and written feature articles for Miss America national program books.

The author has been interviewed on some 300 radio and television programs including Larry King Live, The Jenny Jones Show, The Joan Rivers Show, Hard Copy, American Journal, Real Life (NBC), Lifetime Television, The 700 Club, TV Food Network, America's Talking, A.M. Canada, A.M. Los Angeles, A.M. Philadelphia (interviewed live from the Miss America Pageant), Live From Universal Studios, and an Arts & Entertainment documentary special, Beauty Pageants: Bright Lights and Big Business.
 

The author and her work have been quoted in newspapers and magazines nationwide, including Newsweek, USA Today, The New York Times, Harper's magazine, Washingtonian, New Woman, Woman's World, New York Daily News, Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia News, Miami Herald, Birmingham News, Detroit News, Mobile Register, Press of Atlantic City, San Antonio Express, Fort Worth Star, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, The Globe, Inquirer Magazine, and Boca Raton magazine.

A seasoned pageant judge, Ann-Marie has judged the Miss America Pageant, Cinderella International Finals, Miss Cayman World / Universe, and scores of local and state pageants including the intensely competitive Miss Florida and Miss South Carolina pageants.

Her two decades of research on pageants has included 250 interviews with titleholders, judges, emcees, contestants, officials, and 35 Miss Americas. She has conducted exclusive interviews with pageant legends including Lenora Slaughter-Frapart, founder of the Miss America Scholarship Program, Albert Marks, who ushered pageants into the television age, and Adrian Phillips, the only person to personally view the crownings of seven decades of Miss Americas (1921-1990).

Due to Bivans' expertise she has served as a consultant for pageant-related features and documentaries including the Arts & Entertainment Network documentary special Beauty Pageants: Bright Lights and Big Business, an upcoming historical documentary on pageant history, and pageant-related features produced by The 700 Club, American Journal, Hard Copy, and TV-Asahi (Japan).