Last night’s BOOKWARD BOUND / Daily Build was plagued by tech problems. The result was I didn’t get a lot of writing done. So rather instead of a true ‘daily build’ post, I’m posting a section of the book that I wrote earlier in the process, long before I started this blog series. Good thing too, as it explains why I’m not at all shy about including my photo on the cover of the book. – dp
So why are you on the cover?
Good question. It’s a pretty bold decision to put your photo prominently on the front cover of your own self-published book. Some might chalk it up to toxic narcissism or shameless self-promotion, but it’s not about that at all. It’s about graphically demonstrating what the book is all about. Seriously.
At the start of this writing project, I did what any good writer does—avoided actually writing the thing by procrastinating, working on something else. In this case, my shiny object du jour was designing the book cover. Most book projects don’t even begin thinking about the cover design until the book is finished or at least in the final stage of publication. But here’s the thing: I truly believe the concept of ‘you got to see it to be it.’ And that applies to potential books as well.
So yes, the cover of this book which you hold in your hands was designed and finished well in advance of the any of the writing contained within. And that photo of me on the cover is one of the its fundamental design features for a reason.
Before I tell you what that reason is, it’s pretty important that you understand where I’m coming from: The American Midwest. Pretend for a second that you’re someone born and bred abroad. There are parts of the United States that are everything you’d expect of of the stereotypical American. Loud, more than a little crass, and completely unafraid to trumpet personal success no matter how trivial. Well, The Midwest ain’t exactly that.
Go back far enough, and my people were uniformly northern European Lutherans. Were they a diner menu item, they’d be oatmeal, served neither sweet nor savory. Definitely good ‘stick to your ribs’ stuff, but not exactly fancy or flashy. But boy, Midwesterners know how to work. They just aren’t so good at touting their quality and uniqueness.
For years, I labored under the mistaken idea that if you did good work, someday someone would recognize and reward you for it. It only took me about four decades to understand one simple truth: more people will take credit for your work than will ever give you credit for it.
Sooner or later, most people wake up to this reality, and one of two things happen:
1. An exhausted bitterness sets in, and a glass that’s perpetually half-empty attitude.
2. The self-awareness dawns that you don’t have to be all ‘me, me, ME!’ to take credit and own what is yours to own. Once this truth is absorbed and fully understood, then it all comes down to a question of style. How can you take credit for what is truly yours, without seeming to be that toxic narcissist you’re rightly afraid of.
In this age of self-indulgent social media, it’s all too easy to see nothing but Insta-narcissist bad examples out there. But if you look closer, you’ll see a huge movement of individuals who are out there doing incredible work within their areas of excellence, and sharing it freely to an the world’s online population. And the result is powerful. People in the most arcane professions achieve national, and even international stature within their fields. Self-demonstrated experts come out of the woodwork and become sought-after speakers, writers, interview guests, and globally recognized hosts based not on what they look like, but on the quality of their conduct and content. Even a self-described high-functioning introvert from the Midwest can put the past behind him in order to create a bright new future, all based on the full truth of who he is, what he does, and how he does it. And that brings us back to the book cover.
So why is my picture on the cover? That’s why.
Taking a page from my own playbook, I’m purposely stepping out of the shadows, and into my own personal brand spotlight. It’s a black and white proposition, too, hence the cover’s color palette. You can’t partially own your personal brand, you need to own it 100%, 24/7/365. Does that mean you suddenly have to start over-sharing or don a ‘look at me’ wardrobe? No—but it does mean you need to put yourself out there in a meaningful way. And so I did, on the cover. There was going to be a photo of the author of this book on or in it somewhere, so why be shy? Put it front and center—exactly where your personal brand should be.
…and there’s much more to come.
BOOKWARD BOUND / Daily Build is just what it says: the writing I did today in order to get my book a little bit closer to its publication. Posted the next day, it is presented here exactly as written and complete with all the typos, misspellings and grammatical errors you’d expect of a rough draft. Don’t worry, it’ll be edited later. The above was written during a livestream video of BOOKWARD BOUND that you can find on my YouTube BOOKWARD BOUND playlist any time you’d like. – DP Knudten
@2020 DP Knudten LLC – all rights reserved.
