Unshrinkable: Why Strong Women Secretly Criticize, Diminish, and Thwart Themselves…and How to Stop

Performance Psychology

Unshrinkable: Why Strong Women Secretly Criticize, Diminish, and Thwart Themselves…and How to Stop

Darby Bonomi had the expertise, the stories, and the point of view. What she needed was a team to help her turn all of it into a book.

Client

Darby Bonomi

Industry

Performance Psychology

Year of Release

2026

Timeframe

11 months

Darby Bonomi wanted to bring her 34 years of expertise as a performance psychologist to the women she couldn't reach in her practice. Cheval Press helped her turn that knowledge into a book. The challenges: she had a full practice, a wealth of material, and no clear path to turning it all into a finished, published book.

Our Solution

Darby brought more than three decades of expertise, a wealth of client stories, and a clear point of view to our partnership. Our job was to help her shape that material into a book—starting with positioning and structure, all the way through to a finished, published work she could be proud of.

From the first roadmapping conversations to the final production details, Darby was a hands-on collaborator. Getting her voice right was the top priority—she wanted every page to sound unmistakably like her and to represent her expertise with precision. Our deeply collaborative process made that possible. She reviewed everything carefully, and we worked together at every stage until it was exactly right. The result was a complete package: a published book, a bespoke marketing strategy, and a dedicated book website.

Plot twists

Every path to publishing has its challenges. Here's what they were up against.

No time to write.

With a full practice of more than 30 clients a week, Darby simply didn't have the sustained mental space (not to mention the time) to push a manuscript across the finish line on her own.

Lack of scope clarity.

She came in knowing her message was bigger than her main client base of equestrians and other high-performing athletes, but she hadn't fully resolved who the book was for or where one book ended and the next began. That clarity had to be built as part of the process.

Voice capture.

Darby had spent decades developing a distinct voice that was at once direct, warm, and deeply personal. Getting that onto the page took work. We went through rounds of revision together until every chapter sounded unmistakably like her. That process is something we take seriously with every client, and it's exactly what our collaborative approach is built for.

No publishing experience.

Darby had written a dissertation and years of newsletter content, but she had never published a book. From structure to production to distribution, she needed an experienced team she could trust to guide the process from start to finish.

Results

The resolution

By every measure, Darby's experience with Unshrinkable was a clear success.

Great reception.

Unshrinkable hit #1 Best Seller status in multiple categories and #1 Hot New Release status in four categories across all formats within the first week of launch. Her launch event at a Sausalito bookstore drew roughly 60 people—psychology colleagues, barn community, family, and neighbors—all showing up at once for a book that had been years in the making.

Influence extended.

Within the first month after launch, Darby appeared on a radio program and multiple podcasts, and booked two New York book events—one at the Columbia Club and one at the University Club, where she was interviewed by a New York Times reporter. The book has connected her with new communities and opened speaking opportunities she hadn't anticipated.