Cover design and Squarespace design for Fab Collab
‘Fab Collab isn’t a book, its a movement!’ They are words that will stay with me (thank you Zeenat)!
Co-authoring a book about collaboration with several other female entrepreneurs was a rather exciting project - a book that I’d actually love to read too! Collaboration is the ultimate tool for unlocking our collective potential, empowering us to achieve greatness beyond what we could ever accomplish alone. So, as soon as Mindy The Book Midwife mentioned her grand plan I was interested, I was on holiday at the time, so after a discovery call whilst lounging by the pool, I was 100% in!
I mean, how hard can it really be to write one teeeeny-tiny chapter of a book? …………
Well quite hard it turns out; there were rules on timescale, structure & word count and when I started to draft out my ideas, the fear that my chapter was going to be utterly sh awful set in!
But it turns out breaking the chapter into three questions actually added clarity into my writing and to the flow of the book. I actually enjoyed the writing and editing and I only got nervous when I’d submitted my chapter and was awaiting editorial feedback. 😱
Writing down some instances of collaboration in both of my businesses made me feel really proud of the projects I’d been part of, and reminded me to keep my eyes peeled for new collabortunities.
The publisher’s feedback came in with minor changes, so I felt far more confident at that stage … We’re really writing a book! 🤩 📖
An eye on the design
One of the first questions I had asked Mindy on the discovery call was whether I could design the front cover - (Hard no!) But when we received the three initial book cover ideas from the publishers, it’s fair to say we all had very different viewpoints on them!
But as they say: "Politeness is the poison of collaboration." – Edwin Land
So Lisa and I (the two designers within the Collab) decided to create a new cover design together, taking aspects from the favoured designs to showcase a new cover that would hopefully appeal to everyone (a collab within the Collab). We weaved some book design magic into it from Mindy’s expert book-selling perspective, and luckily the Collab were now on-board with the cover design.
I know Lisa and I feel extra proud that we got to be involved visually too. #sorrynotsorry Mindy!
Getting Online
We needed web presence, so building a Squarespace site to promote our book and events came next. https://www.fabcollab.co.uk - Quickly folllowed by some bespoke Canva templates for Facebook and Instagram, so all the authors could create branded promo content.
The launch went well and the book quickly became a No.1 bestseller in the Business downloads category!
What happened next?
Off the back of our success, we decided to create some online and in-person events to talk about and demonstrate the power of collaborations. These culminated in a fabulous event for 50 business owners in London - all brainstorming and networking and looking for brand aligned collaborations - it is certainly the start of a movement!
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