I’m not big on Internet memes, but I have enjoyed the fun being had with how it started / how it’s going.
And it made me think about how the cover design process for Leading Through the Pandemic started – and how it’s going!
To wit:
Ok, I know – how did it start like THAT, you might be wondering. Allow me to explain.
In the beginning, I desired three things.
To be super-creative and have a more fiction-like feel. Business book covers are boring, I said to myself!
To come up with a catchier title than the straightforward Leading Through the Pandemic. Hence Crisis to Catalyst in the earliest version.
And to use vivid imagery – like the volcano you see here – to create a sense of change and transformation
Thankfully – I knew that I was not an expert in book cover design, and as I worked with my excerpt consultant and designers, I realized that the above three criteria where more suited to a Michael Creighton novel than to a best-selling leadership and management group.
I held on for another day or two, trying as I might to tease out something that was aligned to my initial vision. More volcanos, lighthouses, compasses, maps, and gears appeared on the cover.
And then I took a step back and reminded myself of the goal of this project – to break the leadership mold.
NOT to break the book cover design mold.
And I searched on Amazon at the best-selling business books – where ours will soon be – and imagined what would fit in the category and also stand out for the personal nature of the leadership stories in the book.
And slowly but surely – iteration after iteration – the cover transformed from a Jurassic Park thriller to a leadership book that we’ll all want to have on our bookshelves for decades to come.
Let me know what you think in the comments!