- too feminine,
- too busy
- and not serious enough.
It turned many readers away. So, for the second edition’s cover, I wanted something that was:
- Simple and modern.
- Clean and professional.
- Appealed to authors, speaker, and coaches of all genders.
My first stab at such a cover came up with these:

When I put them up for a vote, no one liked concepts 2 or 3 because they found them too stark. Concepts 1 and 4 got the most votes and I like Concept 4 the best. However, the picture isn’t quite right for what the book is about. So I tried out four more ideas taking what I liked from the winners and tweaking them further.
Concept 5b
I rejected Concept 5 outright because I just didn’t like the way the image was working. I like the remaining three, however, they are all missing something. I just don’t know what. That’s when I decided to get some real designers in on the project. What they’ll come up with will be posted below, later.