From Author to Authority - Cover Design

We're back this week with another solo episode of the From Author to Authority series! We’ve been rolling with the delays to cover design (cause it needs to be awesome), and nearly everything at this point hinges on it. So this week I'm diving into the journey of getting a cover that captures the essence of my book (and all the uncomfortable bits of telling someone that it’s not up to par).

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Transcript

Juli Wenger: 0:10

You're on this earth for a purpose. You want to live a life that matters. So let's get through the fear and the overwhelm and all the crap that gets in the way of you living the life of yours. This is the becoming ourselves podcast where we are fired up about you getting clear on who you are, what you're called to, and how to get there. Because the world is waiting for you to show up and own your power. I'm your host, Juli Wenger, a coach, a speaker at Jesus lover, and Enneagram, two, and a tree shaker. Let's dive into what's keeping you stuck. Because on the other side, is a life that's fired up the film's Welcome back to from author to authority, the series, we are talking about book covers today. And I'm excited about this partially because it has been such an adventure. And there have been challenges. So there's a lot to dive into and dig around in. And we're also talking about book covers, because the launch itself, of fired up fulfilled and free has been delayed, partly because of guess what book covers? Yep, one thing can delay the whole entire process. Which means what for those of you that want an update on the actual book release that are listening to this, you know, in spring of 2022, we're looking at mid July. And it's been a tension for me in the waiting, because I had this date of May 31. And I thought that was the date that God gave me of we're going to launch this book, then it's going to be done then. And I don't know if I misunderstood or if it's changed, because my humanity showed up and some stuff got in the way or he's saying I need you here a little longer, so I can make sure you're ready to step into the next thing. Regardless, here we are. Here I am, in the end of May of 2022 recording this episode, and not launching the book yet. So let's jump into the process of a book cover. So when you're designing a book cover, number one, hire this stuff out, okay. And that was the intention because my publishing package came with book cover design. So we went through this process of submitting a whole bunch of information of looking through every book on my bookshelf. And it's not that many because I'm a perjure by nature, so I tend to let things go. But I looked through every single book and I asked myself, what draws me in? What books what covers catch my attention? What lands with me, what do I look at go, ooh, that'd be a fun cover to have. If I had something like that, that would just fire me up. And so his books like Daring Greatly, and dare to lead by Brene Brown, and love does. And everybody always by Bob Gough and win the day by Mark Patterson. And the scattered mind by Dr. Gabor Ma Tei, the printed new version, not the old one that shows up in audible, because it's totally different. They've changed it. So anyway, I went through and I looked at all of these book covers, and I said, Okay, what is it about them that I love? Well, they all have really blocky texts, they're easy to read. There's no pictures in the background, but there's something graphical about them. That's interesting. They're punchy, they're bold, they have a bit of a texture to them. And the colors pop. And for a book that's called fired up, fulfilled and free, this book cover needs some punch. Okay, that is a requirement. And here's the reality. And I've heard this said to me so many times as I've been having conversations with people about this, people say that you can't judge a book by its cover, but books sell because of covers. And I've done that. And you probably have to, if you stop and you think about it, if someone's recommended a book to you, and you go and you look it up on Audible or you go on to Amazon and you check for it or chapters or Barnes and Nobles or whatever. And it's got a really boring old school blase cover, does it not make you question How good is this book? Is this a really, it's it's really that great. Can it be that great if the outside is so the and so Here's where this gets interesting, okay, as I submit all this stuff, and I say, here's the, the style that I'm thinking, and here's a bunch of examples. And here's what I like about them. And I wait, and they get back a couple drafts of book covers. And one of them has a picture in the background, and it's very brown. It was like a, what, and then the other one was almost a copy of one that I had sent in. That's in the same genre, right? Like these books could end up beside each other Christian self development. Just know we can't, there's liability. So needless to say, I'm disappointed, right? Because this is something that I'm super excited about. And I've heard other authors say, yeah, when I got my book cover designs back, there was just this excitement, in my soul of look, look at this, this is so exciting. It's all real. And I'm sitting there going, what, what, so I do what I do, because I like to take control of situations and I hop into Canva. And I pull off every graphic design skill, designer talent, because I have a little bit of history in this, okay, I pulled all of that in that I can and just try to brainstorm some ideas. So I can send some stuff back and say, here's like, here's some ideas of what would be better, what might be a better fit, to give you something to just brainstorm off of so that you can come up with something that's better. And I get back a couple more versions. And they're, like copies of what I sent in, but worse. And so at this point, I'm feeling really frustrated, because this book, for one thing, this book is God's book, I did not write this by myself, when I go in and I look at this thing. And I read it, there is that moment of what I wrote this, what, but God, right hashtag but God because he partnered with me in this, he told me to do it, we've done it, it's written, it's done, the manuscript is finalized, which still blows my mind. And part of me doing justice to this assignment to this project that he's given me, part of being able to create the impact that I desire to create and feel called to create through the publishing of this book requires all parts of it, to present really well, to bring glory to what he's doing. And so I had to just step away. And I mean, here's how we're gonna step into provision. Okay, here's how he showed up, is that there is this author at church, it's one of our associate pastors, his name is Drake, he wrote a book called addicted to hope you should all check it out. And his book had just released, his cover was fire. It's so good, so good. And I happened because we're connecting into a new church. And we have some people in common, I happened to reach out about a week before I got my second round of covers back. And because zoom coffee, so the morning that like, you can't make this stuff up. The morning that I get my second round of drafts. And I'm feeling so disappointed. I have a call with him five minutes later. And we're just gonna sidebar into ADHD land here for a minute, because I legit see it everywhere. I hop on this call with him. And I'm like, okay, so I just got these cover spec, and they're not good. And they're not up to par with what I need them to be. And I have really high standards. But I'm also standing in my power on I have really high standards. So I need to know about your book cover designers. And like, can you introduce me to them? And then I think to myself, I haven't introduced myself to you yet. We've never met in person. We've just like, messaged back and forth a couple times on Facebook. So like, oh, by the way. Hi, I'm Julie. But it's just one of those funny moments where it's that impulsiveness. And that racing warp speed. Just let's dive in. And so anyway, the interesting thing about the provision is that and we had this conversation about who he uses and who had supported him in the process. And so I reached out to them, and there's this local company called anthem creative, and I am so impressed with their process already. I don't even have the finalized cover back but I reached out to them. And they said to me, Look, we normally don't take on one of projects like this, but we've checked you out and we think what you're doing is interesting So let's have a conversation. So not only has God provided with the timing of this conversation I have with another author, who's had the support of people who have done a phenomenal job in representing the essence of him and his book. But then I have this in because of get this being authentically me. Because that is our target, right? Living in fearless confidence as our whole and authentic self, powerfully standing in that. So I have this proof coming at me of look, Julie, when you're you, when you show up as you when you show up as authentic when you show up in line with this path that I've called you to and you're bold, doors open. And I'm sitting there like, wow, because there's still that part of me that struggles with Am I worthy of this. And so I meet with them. And it's phenomenal. And their, their whole culture, their whole framework, the way they manage their client journey, their heart is so aligned with me and what I'm working towards, there's just this connection that happens. And so now we're waiting for this book cover. And yet I know and I have peace about the quality and the representation that will come from this phase of book cover development. So that's process. And that's provision. But what about the personal growth? There is something that as a recovering people pleaser, and someone that doesn't want to make anyone unhappy, there's part of that that had me struggling with writing the email or making the communication of what you've sent me is not what I need. So I'm hiring this out. There was this concern about potential conflict. And I had to recognize it. And there's an anxiety that came with it, I'll be real. But I did recognize it, and I got to recognize it and say, Okay, what is it that me being love, joy, strength, light, and grace requires of me right now? What does walking out my calling, and completing this assignment with excellence require? And what it required was for me to step through my fear, and into what's next into what I knew was the next step, which was hiring this out. Can we do it right within the current context? No. Okay, then where do we need to go to get that done? And hey, Julie, reminder to self, what other people think of you is not your business. What other people's reaction is to you is not your responsibility. Can you be compassionate? Can you be gracious? Can you be clear? Can you be concise about it? Yeah. There's no need to be throwing anybody under the bus. I mean, am I disappointed that it didn't come through the way I thought it would? Yeah. And I also trust that all things work together for my good. That because my Jesus loves me, because God My father has my back. That he will work this together, that this is purposed. And when I can stand in knowing that this is purposed, it takes some of that fear and some of that warrior out of the equation. Like right, that's not my birthright. My birthright is to stand in my power. My birthright is to stand in that knowing that I am God's powerful daughter, and that He has given me the authority. And he has given me the courage and the strength to stand in what He has called me to, that he makes me worthy of that. Not i Make me worthy of that, but he does, which is one of my favorite passages in Second Thessalonians one, verse 11, that we constantly pray for you that God would make you worthy of a life He's called you to. There's such a piece in that. That when things are swirling, and they're not going right, and there's disappointment, and it starts to make you question, Did I get it wrong? Did I screw something up? Is this just me You know, like throwing proof at me that maybe it shouldn't. Because guess who shows up? We're diving right out of the whole process of this book thing. But guess who shows up when we're stepping into something new, our ego, every uplevel, every shift every change for me right now I'm in the middle of a massive growth curve on the way to author. And my ego is fighting me so hard, so consistently. And it throws at me, the stuff that it knows has taken me out before it throws the overwhelm, it throws the self doubt it throws that worry, it throws the concern about what are people going to think, which are really just my perceptions of their perceptions anyway, so it's probably not even real. I've had to contend with that stuff. And I've had to consciously choose to step through it, and surround myself with the right people. We talked about that earlier in this series of community and the power of that and the need for that we talked about that last week in our conversation with Katherine brokens, about her journey, and how important the people are. And with Annalise a couple of weeks ago and her journey and how important the people are, when we surround ourselves with people who believe in us and who call us up. And people who can hold space for the worry, who can hold space for the stories so we can speak them out. And they can say Julia, don't think that's true. That's not how I've ever perceived you. That's not how I see the situation. There is something that happens to that story that takes its power away. There's an empathy that shame cannot survive. We get to borrow other people's belief in us when we're faltering. And the other piece is I've had to continually root into my faith, I've had to continually go back to Okay, God, what you're trying to teach me right now, the personal growth has so often been spiritual. It hasn't been the traditional worldview of personal growth of, I'm just going to get some new awareness. And I'm going to develop some new self care habit. And I'm going to start stretching for five more minutes a day. And I'm going to write my journal for, you know, seven and a half minutes, and then I'll be great. It's this posture of surrender. And of saying, okay, trust that you have me, I don't get what's going on right now. But I trust that you're straightening the path. And that if you have me paused right now, it's because it's not ready for me to step forward yet. Or I'm not ready to step forward yet. Because his plans are multi purpose. So back to covers. Now we're waiting. And we'll be done waiting, I think by the time that this episode rolls out, so watch social because we're going to have a reveal of cover. And that's going to make things a whole new level of real. There was a moment last week, when we got a ballpark estimate on the size of the book, the number of pages and I went searching through my bookshelf to see what do I have, it's a comparison. You know, it's a comparison. And this is fine, because she's one of my heroes, braving the wilderness, by Brene. Brown, best I can tell my book is going to be the same size as that book, and is walking around the house with it, holding it in my hands. Like Dustin? Look, this is how big my books gonna be. He's like, cool. And then 10 minutes later, I'm still walking around with it. And he's looking at me like, Honey, like, but But look, it's like a real book. And he's like, yeah, I hope so given how much time and effort you've put into this habit, but but it's a real book, I can physically holding this thing in my hands. And while it's not my book, there is this relevance, this relation to what is coming, that was kind of magical. There was such gratitude in that moment. So hang out with us as we continue to go on this journey and on its bumps and its ups and its downs. And in the meantime, here are some things you can do. Number one, get on the presale list for the book, because when it does finally drop, we're going to let those people know first so check out the link in the bio for that. And number two, if you're excited about what this book can bring to the world. If you're on this journey with me, I would love if you would help us with our launch. We are building an international launch team and I'm so excited about the collection of people that we have that are willing to share about the book with their network and their community. Because truthfully, the more hands we can get this book into, the better from a perspective of that means more people have an opportunity for life transformation. That means more people have an opportunity to understand who they are, why they're here, and how to get out of their own way to live that calling that God put them on this earth for. So until next time, thanks for journeying with me, all my love and Virtual hugs. I hope this episode triggered something in you and got you thinking about your next growth curve. Make sure to check out the show notes for more details and links to resources or people that we've mentioned today. And make sure you hit follow or subscribe. And if you have a hot minute, leave an awesome review. I would be so beyond grateful. Until next time, be too much DARE YOU