Top No-No in Cover Designs

Ok, someone please explain how i can
buy this and then sleep.

IF anyone’s taken a peek at the gallery or the sidebars, they’ll know that I’m crazy in love with digital art, photo manipulation and stock photography.

Beyond Twilight and its gorgeous covers- which I really think is what started pushing publishers into recognizing the importance of good cover-art- we’ve had a lot of good, beautifully done covers coming in. Basically in the Paranormal genre, these covers give a real pick-me-up-now scream.

But sometimes- some awful times- the cover designs are so terrible that I just had to post about what they should never be like!

(okay, this is my personal opinion as a cover designer and artist. If you guys disagree with me…good! It means I’m eliciting a response. I’m a glass half full kind of person)

1)      This Bloody Book:  Yes, this seems to be the most popular choice with publishers right now. Seriously, I think I can recognize a book for being about Vampires without blood dripping all over the place. I mean, Twilight is about vamps, and so are the Gollancz edition of the Sookie Stackhouse books- and they do use red for their books…but it’s limited. Have you SEEN that font that just drips with globs of blood? That is just disgusting. And again, I really don’t like books where the heroine has blood pouring from her mouth in the front cover. It really doesn’t endear me to her, whatever her…uh…drinking habits!

2)      Colour Disaster: This may seem weird, but have you seen books that look awful because of the awful cover color? Nalini Singh’s psy-changeling series has some of these. You just CANNOT have a buff-looking guy on mauve background and then expect the cover to look good. 

3)      Let’s Just Call This A Cover: These are the kind of covers I have seen in books where zero effort has gone into the making. Black text on a background- color if the designer feels like it, white otherwise- and sometimes (shudder) in the default Times New Roman font…it’s not a cover. It’s a crime!

4)      Random Unrelated Stuff: Why are there books where the story is about a man’s quest for spirituality…and there’s a coffee mug in the front? What are we supposed to even understand from it? That a good cup of espresso goes in hand with God? What the hell? And again…why are there books with a flower vase out front with roses in it, and no reference to any such thing later on? Yes, the cover should look good. Doesn’t mean you have to have something entirely out of reference. Having a watch or a belt buckle or a coat hanger in glossy color on a black background (black and glossy is the popular thing right now) cannot be called a book cover! No!

5)      The Ooomph Cover: I hate books that look like porn advertisements. I hate them, especially when they are used in young adult books. I don’t mind content, but I hate those kinda covers.

6)      Mismatch: Case 1 :the background is a black castle. The subject looks like Clipart? Case 2: The background is an  enchanted forest copied right off Google Images. The girl in front has half her original photo background having off her, She hasn’t been cut out properly!!

Where are the people who design these things? I want to strangle them!!!

7)Fantasy Books with awful covers.

 I just had to post this picture. What IS this? What IS that thing burning behind her? What sense does this make? Really???!!!! What is that attacking her…ship? A fish? A bird? What?!! 

And THIS. This is...oh, wow. A no:5, and no: 7 together. Yayy, this can be the new paranormal romance. Oh, God.

Tired of awful covers? Check this one out. This is what I call a beautiful cover design. The book doesn't come out till September though (sniffles)

Have comments? Have your own awful book covers to add to this pile? Please Share with me what you think of cover disasters!