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Ladies and gentlemen, gather 'round for a visual heartbreak so profound, it forgot to consult a graphic designer before airing its emotional laundry. Papi Doesn’t Love Me No More dares to ask the question: what if we put a breakup, a butterfly, a rose, and a backless...
Strap in, design lovers—and haters—because Spoiled Journey is less of a book cover and more of a hostage situation between a crayon set and Microsoft Word 2003. This is not a journey gone wrong. This is a journey that never had brakes, a map, or even wheels. What...
There are book covers that whisper their themes through subtle design, carefully curated colors, and elegant typography. And then there’s Redman: Finding the Man in the Maze — a cover that kicks down the door, dumps a box of mismatched gradients on your floor, and...
If Perfect Beat were a song, it would be the kind that clears the dance floor. You know — the one where the DJ insists, “No really, it drops in a minute,” but the only thing dropping is the collective will to live. Bob Stone’s Perfect Beat is a masterclass in what...
Some book covers whisper “indie.” Some scream “artistic freedom.” And then there’s Losers, which proudly kicks down the door, waving a half-dried marker and yelling, “Look, Ma, I used all the colors!” The first thing that hits you—besides the blinding yellow of the...
If there were ever a book cover that perfectly embodied its own title, it’s A Tale of Regrets. One look at this thing, and you immediately understand what regret feels like on a spiritual level. It’s as if the cover artist whispered to their software, “Make it look...
Every once in a while, a book cover comes along that doesn’t just whisper “bad design” — it flexes it. Beat Down! Episode 2: The Heist doesn’t merely enter the hall of fame for terrible covers — it punches its way in with a glowing, radioactive fist of graphic...
There are covers that make you laugh with them, and then there are covers that make you laugh at them. 2nd Humorous Beat: Actual Funny Police Stories by Officer Bob Morrissey confidently parks itself in the second category — a surreal, pastel fever dream where humor...
If ever there was a cover that embodied its own title, it’s Disbelief by Nicole Quinn. You don’t just see this one—you experience it, like a jump scare made of watercolor and regret. You click on it, lean in, and then immediately wish you hadn’t. Because what greets...
There’s something poetic about a book called The Lost Journal of Robyn Hood – Outlaw because this cover looks like it’s been lost — not just to time, but to logic, anatomy, and the basic principles of design. If this truly were Robin Hood’s journal, it’s safe to...
There’s haunted, and then there’s Haunted — a cover so visually cursed that it looks like the spirit world tried to make its own digital self-portrait and ran out of both art supplies and emotional bandwidth halfway through. This isn’t so much a book cover as it is an...
Every once in a while, a book cover comes along that captures the raw, unfiltered power of ambition — and then gently smothers it in a haze of bad gradients and design confusion. Reach for the Moon by Tuan Ho is that cover. It’s a celestial cautionary tale, reminding...
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.”