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Nothing says organized crime quite like… five fonts, a glitter explosion, and a gold strip that looks ripped off a Hershey’s wrapper. Welcome to Convenient Mafia Wife, a cover that screams less “dark, dangerous mafia romance” and more “DIY Canva project at 2 a.m.”...
Covers are supposed to give you a sense of the story. Tea, Me and Memory gives you a sense that your grandmother is silently judging you for not calling more often. Let’s start with our leading lady: perched at a table, book in hand, side-eyeing us like we just...
Some covers don’t even need to be roasted — they roast themselves just by existing. The Nexus is one of those. This design hinges entirely on a single glowing orb, and unfortunately, that orb looks less like a mysterious interdimensional portal and more like a plasma...
Sometimes a cover is bad in a boring way, and sometimes it ascends into a special kind of chaos that can only be described as “graphic design purgatory.” Trouble in Heaven lands squarely in the latter camp, looking less like a celestial battle and more like a rejected...
Paranormal romance covers are supposed to smolder with danger and allure. Lost by the Alpha instead smolders with… teal photo filters, mismatched stock images, and the faint whiff of a Windows XP wallpaper. The heroine, posed front and center, looks like she just left...
Some covers look like books. Others look like corporate brochures left behind at a conference table. Revitalize, Engage, Generate lands firmly in the latter camp — a visual reminder that buzzwords can’t build bridges, and bad design can’t hide behind Helvetica...
Fantasy and LitRPG covers are supposed to pull you into a world of epic battles, dangerous quests, and mysterious realms. Dungeons ‘N’ Dames pulls you instead into the discount aisle of Party City’s “Sexy Warrior” costume rack. Front and center are four near-identical...
There are many ways to signal “sci-fi alien romance” on a cover. You could lean into starships, cosmic vistas, or mysterious silhouettes. Or, if you’re Claimed by Aliens, you could skip all that and just slap a scaled six-pack across the entire page and call it a day....
Paranormal fantasy covers are supposed to ooze power, danger, and transformation. Creation of the Dual Shifter instead oozes Photoshop fatigue, Spirit Halloween claws, and the energy of a half-rendered video game character. Let’s start with the heroine herself. She’s...
Erotic romance covers are supposed to smolder. Dirtiest Lie doesn’t smolder — it yawns in sepia tones while fumbling around with stock tuxedos and swirly fonts straight out of Microsoft Word clip-art. Front and center we get three interchangeable men in tuxedos, their...
Speculative thrillers deserve sharp, striking covers that grab the imagination. Futureproof instead delivers a chaotic pile of design elements that look like they were pulled from three different stock image websites and glued together in Photoshop at 2 a.m. Let’s...
Some romances are forbidden. Some are dangerous. And then there’s I Dated a Golden Vampire, which looks like a Sims expansion pack nobody asked for. Let’s start with the vampire himself — our glittering anti-hero. Except he’s not glittering, he’s gilded. This isn’t a...
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.”