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The second entry in Jeremy Clift’s Sci-Fi Galaxy Series crash lands with all the grace of a deflating weather balloon. Space Vault: The Seed Eclipse sounds like a title promising interstellar stakes, alien civilizations, or maybe even some high-octane quantum vault...
Somewhere in a conference room bathed in blue light and broken dreams, this cover was born. You’ve Been Upgraded arrives with all the energy of a motivational seminar PowerPoint and the aesthetic finesse of a quarterly performance review gone rogue. Let’s begin with...
When we talk about covers that give us chills, Cold Winds Blow lands somewhere between a blank Word doc and a haunted printer test page. There’s minimalism, and then there’s this—an arctic wasteland of design where color, clarity, and common sense have gone into...
Welcome to the underworld of cover design where shadows loom, daisies mysteriously glow red, and a random German flag wedge reminds us that national pride and vampire romance apparently go hand-in-pale-hand. Shadows & Daisies isn't just a title—it's a warning that...
If this cover is trying to teach you the secrets of writing a mystery, it’s doing a phenomenal job of hiding them—because absolutely nothing about this design suggests intrigue, suspense, or even the vague hint of a clue. Welcome to Secrets to Writing a Mystery, a...
If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a poetic identity crisis collides with a budget cyber-thriller, look no further than Any Place But Here—a cover so disoriented, it looks like two books filed for joint custody of the same ISBN. Let’s start with the most...
Every so often, a cover comes along that asks the eternal question:“What if a lion and a shirtless man shared a dark void of poorly coordinated lighting and smoldered directly at you?” Behold Lion of Fortune—a tale of were-shifting, seduction, and Photoshop decisions...
Some book covers are designed. Others are assembled. And then there’s Arrow of Fortune, a fantasy-adventure-meets-graphic-jigsaw puzzle that looks like it was built entirely from decorative clipart and duct tape. This is what happens when a cover tries to whisper...
You know a book cover’s in trouble when the most coherent element is a woman shrugging in confusion under the caption, “It Was One Bottle of Wine!” That’s not just a tagline—it’s a cry for design help. Welcome to Somewhat Lost, where every visual element looks like it...
If you've ever wondered what happens when you mix a motivational poster, a dusty printer, and a touch of fonts-you-should-never-use, behold the design catastrophe that is Mondays With Morty. This isn’t just a bad cover—it’s a full-blown beige cry for help. It wants to...
Ah yes, The Gift of Self-Doubt—because nothing says personal transformation like a giant floating question mark and a motivational tagline that feels like it was peeled off the back of a cereal box. This cover wants to uplift your spirit and challenge your inner...
Ah, My Canvas Bag—a title that promises deep emotion, youthful introspection, and... apparently, a heartfelt trip through a Photoshop tutorial from 2007. If this cover were an emotion, it would be “muted sigh in a fluorescent-lit therapy session.” It wants to be...
A Note to Authors Featured Here
The purpose of Horrible Covers is not only to critique but also to highlight how much cover design matters to a book’s success. Many authors set out with the best intentions but end up with covers that don’t reflect the quality of their writing — sometimes because they tried to do it themselves, sometimes because they relied on someone who wasn’t a professional cover designer.
We understand how frustrating that can be.
Our aim is simple: to help writers put their best work forward with cover art that does justice to the story inside. If you’ve been featured here and are ready to level up your presentation, reach out through our contact form and mention “Horrible Covers Author.”