See the coveted Flying Monkey Awards presented Daily on YouTube!
And see who wins the Flying Monkey Award!
Ah, the holiday season: a time for cocoa, carols, and design decisions that should’ve been left in the return bin with the broken string lights. Tales for Advent and Christmas by J. Traveler Pelton aims to bring warmth and tradition to your bookshelf, but the only...
Somewhere deep in a snow-covered mountain range, two skiers are locked in a high-speed race—not down the slopes, but straight into the uncanny valley of bad book design. Mara J. Ova’s The Crash Course promises thrills, romance, and maybe a few broken bones, but all...
If Edinburgh ever needed a tourism campaign to actively dissuade visitors, this cover just volunteered as tribute. T. R. Dray’s Wasted is a gritty thriller about trash and corruption, but the real crime here is against graphic design. First, let’s address the scene—or...
There are design crimes. There are aesthetic misdemeanors. And then there’s this — a celestial catastrophe so earnestly chaotic it feels like a PowerPoint slide got baptized and raptured mid-sermon. Let’s start with the obvious. The title, A Further Focus on the...
If you’ve ever wanted to squint your way through a cloud of bird fluff while desperately searching for meaning, congratulations — Swish has arrived to deliver your visual migraine. This cover is what happens when an art school dropout discovers the feather brush in...
Nothing says “bold personal transformation” quite like… a stock photo of trees. Behold, Dare to Evolve, a cover that dares absolutely nothing and evolves even less. If graphic design were a personality test, this would be the blank space where you forgot to write your...
Strap on your sneakers and tighten that fanny pack, folks—because we’re taking a scenic walk through the design equivalent of a roadside souvenir stand explosion. Today’s cover catastrophe is 3 MPH by Polly Letofsky, a title that proudly proclaims the speed at which...
When you think of the word “runaway,” you might expect action, urgency, or even a whisper of drama. What you probably don’t expect is a book cover that looks like it wandered into a museum gift shop, tripped over a public domain painting, and never got back up....
Behold For the Witches—a cover so chaotic it feels like it was summoned from the depths of a discount cauldron-themed Canva template. Where to even begin? At first glance, it’s unclear if you’re looking at a paranormal romance collection or the promotional poster for...
Nothing says “Christmas spirit” quite like a pair of ghostly lovers hovering ominously over a log cabin like they’re haunting a snow globe. Welcome to The Christmas Wish in Twinkle Falls, a cover that took a sleigh ride straight into the uncanny valley—and crashed...
Some book covers whisper “I’m professional.” Others shout “I’m visionary.” And then there's What Every CEO Must Know, which positively screams “I was designed during a layover on Microsoft Publisher circa 2006.” Buckle up, boardroom warriors — because this cover is...
Let’s take a moment to appreciate what happens when a motivational poster, a gold foil sticker, and a cracked iPhone screen walk into a book cover. The result? Nobody’s Legend—a cover so confused, it might need to sit down and read its own subtitle. Let’s start with...
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.”