It's Hard to Be An Introvert

Lessons in self-advocating and assertiveness from a debut author who now has a beautiful cover to reveal

Welcome to the first of the victory logs! And man, was this a hard won victory!

I can only write this publication because we are on the other side of the storm. The waves, rain, and lightning have passed. Before this, I will be honest, my hands were shaking with anger and frustration. I could hardly write at all.

This is a story of working through the design of my first book cover. There are many layers that add to the complexity of this story, but I would like to start with the fact that this is by no means a bash on any specific person or company. And, for this reason, all names have been left out. In the end, we reached our desired result, and that’s all that matters.

Rather, I want all writers and aspiring writers to take this as a tale of warning and encouragement. You are not alone when you struggle with your book—whether writing, editing, or producing. Do not to fear the cover design process, but rather, know your place and hold your ground.

YOU are the creator of the book! YOU know what would serve your book best! So, advocate for yourself. Don’t give up. Fight for your dream cover.

Because they say…don’t judge a book by its cover, but we know everyone does.

Before anyone comes to me with this question, this cover design process was done without the use of AI, which I loathe. It came together through 3D modeling, Adobe, and thoughtful text design and layering. Just so our bases our covered. Hire artists!

To lay the framework, I hired a coach a few years ago to help me take this book from idea to self published since I had no idea what to do after WRITING A STORY. I am so grateful to have my coach! She has so much knowledge about the process and has really guided me every step of the way, especially in the publication and marketing department.

As a part of her fees and services, she provides me with a cover! Which is awesome! So, while working with my cover artist, I did not realize that they were part of a bigger outfit or that my coach actually gave me the email of the middle manager who then was relaying what I wanted to the cover artist whom I never spoke to.

In the end, I don’t know what happened in that chain of communication, but my assumption is the middle manager didn’t relay my emails word for word. Rather, I think they tweaked and said what *they* thought would be best. However, I will never know the truth, it’s only speculation!

As a marketing manager and graphic designer for my 9-5 job, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted with my cover, but not quite the skill to achieve it myself. I’m more of the video Premiere Pro side of Adobe, not Illustrator or Photoshop. However, I would also say that I’m “relatively” skilled in explaining my desires due to my knowledge of graphic design (and some undergraduate level college courses), so that’s what made the process more complicated and confusing. I kept asking myself, “How could I possibly convey this in a clearer way?”

I will never know where my explanations fell short or where my desires were ignored on the other end, but it has helped me grow better as a communicator. For the next book I publish, I will probably interview MANY artists to find the one that jives with me in personality, communication style, and work ethic.

But let’s get on to what you have been waiting for! Let’s take a dive through the rounds of developing my book cover!

Round One Ask

Round one is probably the hardest because you have to convey what’s in your head to the artist without anything else to go off of. I found some images of dragons that I liked, and I also mocked up a VERY BAD layout with the online graphic design tool, Canva. However, it was something to start with.

I asked my cover artist for a dragon looking at the reader. I wanted the dragon to have a d20 dice in it’s mouth. However, since this is a breast cancer memoir and self growth book, I wanted the dragon to be feminine. A dragon you would ride rather than fight. A nice dragon, so to speak. And of course, breast cancer related colors so pinks and purples.

Round One Receipt

The middle manager was so excited to tell me they used 3D modeling to create this dragon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really tell this was a dragon and not a dinosaur. Can you? The way my stomach sank. I literally started crying. It felt evil. It felt masculine. In the end, it was NOTHING like what I wanted.

They also delivered this second cover option to me, saying they believed it better conveyed what happened in the book…even though neither of them had ever read it. I think I cried even harder because it looked like someone brand new to photoshop slapping come clip art one over the other. I started to question the skill of my artist. I immediately dashed this cover. Nope. Nothing like this.

Round Two - Four Ask

Switching things up after a grounding conversation with my coach, we decided a dragon wrapping around an adventurer’s journal would be better. We asked for clean, readable white text and a feminine dragon. We asked that the dragon have wings.

Round Two - Four Receipt

I’m only showing the best option provided from each of the rounds, but you can see how we strayed a bit dark and masculine at first, but slowly made our way closer.

The frustrating moments at this time were most receiving reversed corrections. For example, we got the white text in round two that was switched to yellow in round three, even when I said stick to white text.

With seven business days or more between each rendition of the cover, you can see how time might slowly be ticking away on our deadline. Each cover that wasn’t up to snuff made me more nervous and sick to my stomach. What if it didn’t happen???

Round Five - After live edits

At this point, I’m starting to throw in the towel. Time is running out to get this cover done on time to publish this fall. I was feeling hopeless. I wasn’t feeling heard or listened to. I didn’t like how angry I was getting. I didn’t like that I wanted to yell and scream because that’s not me. So, another Zoom with my coach and we finally scheduled a live edit where I watched the cover designer adjust my cover.

I advocated for myself, and I am so proud that I did it with kindness. We tackled every little nitty gritty thing from the background to the font placement to the the alignment. When I got off that call I felt relief, but they still were doing some final color edits. So I was holding my breath to see the final product.

Several days later…

WE HAVE AN AMAZING COVER TO REVEAL!

I love the cover of my debut book with all my heart. I love the purple and pink mountain background that exactly matches the branding I use across my website and social media platforms. I love the clear, easy-to-read white font. I love the leather journal and the placement of the subtitle text.

And I love…love…love this beautiful golden dragon!!! She looks tough, but definitely one that would fly with me rather than fight.

Fight For Your Fairytale: A Guided Quest to Total Transformation is a super mashup! A self-growth book crossed with a breast cancer memoir crossed with a fantasy story! I’ve certainly never read anything like it.

If you are interested in reading my book, please consider joining my launch team! I’ve got some ambitious goals for its release, mostly because I intend to donate 10% of my profits to the Cancer Center where I was treated.

Submit your email here if you want to join us: https://colleenochab.com/ffyf-early-interest

Warriors walk together, and I can’t wait to walk with you!

Love,

Colleen