the hand of their designer through round after round of revisions, thinking they are bettering their cover. In actuality, they are both running from their fears and ruining their cover design. Ask your cover designer when they believe your cover is done, because they are the only impartial source for this knowledge. 5. DID YOU MAKE THE BRAVE CHOICE? We see this happen all the time: we’ll give an author three mock- ups, and there will almost always be a non-optimal choice, a solid choice, and a great choice. The great choice will almost always require the author to be brave in selecting it. It will have some angle or position that is novel in your field, or make a statement that is controversial, or just be different in a way that will make you just a little uncomfortable. I’d say that only about 25 percent of authors pick the brave choice. You don’t have to make the brave choice, but it’s almost always the best one (if there is a brave choice available). Be aware if this happens to you. The solid choice is not bad, but it means your book won’t stand out or get the attention it deserves. The brave choice means it will. If you are unsure how to define brave, here is a way to think about it: The brave choice says what everyone is thinking but not saying out loud. The brave cover is the one that people will remember. You’ve worked too hard on writing your book to cover it in mediocrity because some stranger on Facebook doesn’t like blue. Be proud of your achievement. Be bold. Make your mark. 290 · ThE SCriBE METhOD