Johan Depraetere came to Whitefox through a recommendation. Now mid-career he wanted to create a reflective and memorable business manifesto drawing on his years of experience. Johan is a leadership expert and business advisor who has held senior roles at McKinsey, Samsung, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble and has degrees from both Harvard Business School and INSEAD.  The book would allow him to share what he has learned along the way, build a community and lay the foundations for future content.

Based on the idea of twelve pivotal ‘gummy bear moments’ throughout Johan’s professional and personal life, Pick Your Gummy Bear examines how we make big life and career choices. He imagines these choices as reaching into a bag of gummy bears and pulling out the rare green ones: dramatic, bold, life changing. Others are like picking a yellow gummy bear: quieter, softer. Yet each choice opens doors to possibility and growth.

To do justice to such a visual concept, the cover needed to reflect the gummy bear imagery and stand out in an oversaturated market of self-improvement books.  Johan was very involved in the design process and receptive to our guidance and feedback, resulting in a striking cover featuring bold, atypical colours.  

As part of a full-service package, we provided project management, a structural edit, copyediting, proofreading and metadata development with the book published in four different formats: POD paperback, eBook and audiobook, as well as a hardback private print run. Pick Your Gummy Bear benefits from broader distribution through IngramSpark allowing Johan to reach out to his local booksellers who are able to order copies. He also opted for our Marketing Essentials package, A+ content on Amazon, an author website and a targeted PR campaign from a specialist agency recommended and introduced by us.