The Cover Story

Literally, this is the story of how the cover was created on “The Empathic Gift.” It has already gone through one major revision. I designed the original and current cover. Learning how to become a published author also gave me the opportunity to learn how to do graphic design. Of course, I could have hired out the job. However, I am a do-it-yourselfer by nature. I enjoy the creative process. My first cover’s image was a rainbow of light I took a photograph of on the wall of my home sometime by the summer of 2020.

It was not the first cover I had created or used but it was the one I chose because the rainbow modeled “Pivotal Shifts”, a cornerstone of my title. I placed the title and subtitle in a circle to reflect the value of looking at life in circular patterns. This is an underlying theme in my book. I also found it intense enough in color to be appealing.

However, I learned quickly that it wasn’t a descriptive front cover by image or verbiage. Hence, I went back to the drawing board, or in this case, You-Tube, to learn how to manipulate graphics for my own unique design. Learning how to layer, make parts of images transparent, and locate the image that I wanted – were all important steps in this process. The image of the human profile was from an I-Stock purchased photo. I can sell 500,000 copies of my debut title before I need to pay more for the license again. I told them, it’s a deal!

So in 2020, like the majority of people around the world, I hoped to survive COVID and make use of my more isolated time.  Yes, of course, I sent out many prayers for others. I also learned how to finally get a book published. I do hope to have at least 2 more published this year too. I absolutely had fun creating the covers. What do you think of the new one? I personally hope it shows both the discordance that comes from being an Empath till one learns it’s about helping others and bringing healing to the world. Does the cover show the discordance, hope and light all at the same time? Note, I did still use the rainbow on my wall in the background of this graphic.

Thanks for listening to the musings of a budding author.

Sharing light,

Linda J. Coate