Tracking the Cover: What Lion Prints Taught Me About Book Design

When I posted two cover options for Tracking Triggers, I asked two questions: which cover has the real lion tracks, and which one draws you in?

I expected a clear winner. What I got was something more interesting.

Most of you spotted the real lion prints immediately. They were on the left — the atmospheric, ink-wash version. Lions retract their claws when they walk, so their tracks show soft, rounded pads without claw marks. The right cover's prints, with their sharp points, are closer to a dog or hyena. Several of you nailed this without hesitation, which tells me I'm writing for the right audience.

But here's where it got interesting. Many of you said some version of the same thing: "Left is more real, but Right draws me in." One put it perfectly: "Real tracks on the left. I prefer the right, but with the correct tracks."

You were telling me, in your own way, that authenticity and warmth don't have to be separate. That a cover can be both truthful and inviting. That you wanted the real thing, presented in a way that makes you want to reach for it.

That's actually what the book is about.

In Tracking Triggers, I write about following the trail of your own emotional reactions with the same care and attention that a tracker in the Southern African bush reads signs in the sand. You don't chase. You don't panic when the trail goes cold. You pause, return to the last clear print, and continue. The lion you're tracking is your own integrated self, the part of you that can feel without being hijacked, speak truth without blame, and live from presence rather than protection.

The cover needed to carry that same quality. Grounded and warm. Honest and inviting.

So here's what we're doing. We've asked the design team to take the left cover's authentic illustration, its correct lion prints, its atmospheric Kalahari landscape with the granite koppies I remember from my years in Namibia, and bring in the warmth and earth tones that made so many of you reach for the right. Not a compromise. A combination that your feedback pointed us toward.

I'll share the result when it arrives. In the meantime, thank you for tracking this with me. Your eyes and instincts made this cover better than it would have been without you.

More soon.

John