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Ah, Temple Knight — or as I like to call it: “What if Medieval Times had a sunset cruise line?” This cover is a fever dream of every fantasy cliché rolled into one Photoshop disaster. Let’s break it down: The Knight: Our heroine is wearing armor so shiny it looks like...
Oh, August of 68’ — a title that promises drama, nostalgia, and maybe even a hint of historical gravitas… and then immediately sucker-punches you with a design choice that screams, “I made this in Microsoft Paint at 3 a.m.” Let’s start with the apostrophe in 68’....
Ah, Tattoo — a title that promises ink, artistry, rebellion, and skin-deep storytelling. But what we get here is the design equivalent of asking for a full back piece from a master tattoo artist and instead getting a “Live, Laugh, Love” decal from HomeGoods. The cover...
Ah yes, behold A More Ancient Evil, a book cover that manages to look like it’s been through at least three layers of Photoshop and one hasty cell phone snapshot before it got uploaded. And the pièce de résistance? The top two-thirds of the image forms a suspicious...
There are bad covers. There are weird covers. And then there is this. Opening this visual potion feels like falling face-first into an overgrown terrarium after downing three shots of rose quartz–infused moon water. Our central figure, a pastel elf straight out of an...
The Sage Forgot Graphic Design Somewhere in a dimly lit office, Robert B. Haynes sat before a computer, gazed at the horizon of possibility, and said: "What if I just… slap white Times New Roman on a sunset?" And thus, the cover of Sound Thinking: Thoughts From a Sage...
Welcome, dear readers, to tonight’s feature in Horrible Covers After Dark — a sultry stroll through the land of high drama, questionable font choices, and the kind of graphic design that makes you wonder if the designer was paid in Hot Topic store credit. “Veil of the...
Oh, Dragon’s Lore. A title that promises adventure, magic, and fire-breathing spectacle — and yet, delivers a cover that feels more like the end boss was “MS Paint circa 2002.” Let’s start with the sword, which appears to have been plucked from a free Photoshop brush...
Proof that mountains can be majestic… and still photobombed by bad typography. Ladies and gentlemen, gather ‘round for today’s installment of “Why Did This Happen to Design?” — a little number I like to call Above It All. Here’s the setup: you’ve got a sweeping,...
When I hear the word subtle, I don’t expect a woman cosplaying as “Sexy Assassin #3” from a Spirit Halloween aisle. Yet here we are, standing in front of a cover that thinks subtlety is spelled C-O-R-S-E-T. First, let’s talk about the title: Her Subtle Investigations....
🎵 Horrible Covers Hall of Fame Entry #287: “The Tracks of My Years” – Now with 200% More Gradient Regret 🎵 Ah, “The Tracks of My Years” — a memoir that dares to ask the question: What if a vinyl record cover had a love child with a vaporwave mood board from Tumblr...
Let’s be clear: this is not a book cover. This is a PowerPoint slide from a 2008 corporate retreat that accidentally got printed and bound. From the moment you lay eyes on it, you are hit with the distinct aroma of burnt coffee in a break room where the motivational...
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.”