Don't judge a book by its cover, they say. But what if it looks so bad, even a five-year-old with the oldest version of MS Paint could have done a better job?
There's a subreddit, called r/TerribleBookCovers, and its members are—you guessed it—collecting the worst book covers that have ever been published. Whether it's an insulting title or a hideous drawing, they have it all. Continue scrolling and check out some of the most popular pictures within the online community.
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Everything About This Is Terrible
In order to understand what is a bad book cover, we can start by figuring out what is a good one instead. Renowned book designer Chip Kidd (who created the cover for Jurassic Park and many others), said that book design is all about giving form to content but also appreciating the balance between the two.
In his Ted talk, Kidd explained that on his first day of graphic design class in school, the teacher drew a picture of an apple, then wrote the word Apple and said: "Listen up. You either say this," pointing to the word apple, "or you can show this," pointing to the picture of the apple.
"But you don't do this," he said, pointing to a picture of an apple with the word Apple beneath it. "Because this is treating your audience like a moron. And they deserve better."
So a book cover can show or tell, but can't do both.
It’s Worth A Look!
Wtf?
Best-selling author Jeff Goins thinks covers should also know and respect the audience of the book.
"Books are not created in a vacuum. They are not merely a manifestation of the author's creativity. The content needs a form, and the form will influence the way the content is consumed," Goins wrote. "All art has an audience, and books are no different. Good book design, then, is not just an expression of the story or idea behind a book. It is a piece of the marketing. As such, it needs to matter to the people it was intended for."
The Hobbit
Do Your Kids Suffer From Nightmares? No, Not Yet? Well This Should Help A Lot
My Mom Used To Read This One To Me
Keep in mind that the R word used to be a medically acceptable term. Let's not use modern sensitivity to judge the past.
And maybe it will come back around as an acceptable word, like "idiot" and "cretin". Both began as clinical terms.
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a few hundred years ago, some people decided that people with significant intellectual or developmental disabilities deserved to be treated with basic human dignity, and they said "Lets create a non-judgmental word to describe these individuals". They came up with the word "cretin". Eventually, the word cretin became an insult, so a new generation of people said, "Cretin is insulting, lets create a non-judgmental word to describe these individuals", and they came up with the word "idiot"... well you see where this is going. "Imbecile", "moron", "retarded"... they ALL started out as words that were supposed to be "clinical and non-judgmental".. and look where they ended up. Which leads me to believe that when the underlying problem is that people are judgmental jerks, changing a word doesn't solve the problem.
Yes, yes, sounds goofy, but I'm sure the point is, How can you help people with limited intellectual ability to understand this difficult concept.
Not sure what's so "bad" about this one. If it's the wording, that was just the normal term when the book was published.
NO WAY!!! Was this wrote in 20s - 30s? You wouldn't get away with publishing this nowadays
Mum was misguided perhaps or indoctrinated.. that is a dreadful title
I get the point, but it seems like "you don't know god? You're an idiot." Yes I know god... but thanks to his followers I stay far away from him
This is probably really old when "retarded" was a clinical term.
Retarded still is a clinical term. The MHMR (Mental Health and Metal Retardation) offices in many states use the term regularly. And it still shows in most med school textbooks and journals.
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After John got fired from his construction job and joined the fire department as a pilot, this book got an incredibly larger audience.
My mom wouldn't! The four of us girls would be wondering which of us was the “retarded” one and teasing each other , mercilessly!
Teaching a mentally impaired person about religion is a skill. It does need a book. This is just old phrasing before the politically correct idiots somehow got in charge.
Deleted because I couldn't get my wording right. Fundamental religion is a weird bloody place.
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Coming back to Chip Kidd, he said that a book designer has a responsibility to three groups of people: the reader, the publisher, and the author. So the ultimate goal of a good book design is to get people to respond. For the reader, you want people to say, "Wow! I need to read that." For the publisher, you want them to say, "This is something we can print." And for the author, you want them to say, "Yes! This expresses my idea better than I could!"
So I guess you could say that a terrible book design is boring, unmarketable, and superficial.
Found This In A Doctors Office A Few Years Ago. I Think About This Way Too Much
What..........The.............F***!!!!! If I saw this in my doctors office I would be seriously weirded out!!!!
Not Sure If This Has Been Posted Before, But...
Prehistoric Passion From Mars
The Very Hungry Cthulupillar
Kissing The Coronavirus (Coronavirus Erotica?!)
How Ironic
I’m Just Waiting For The Film Adaptation
My Librarian Wife Always Has Interesting Finds
When Your Mom Tells You To Get A Real Job, But You Double Down Trying To Prove You Can Start That Cult You Always Said You Would...
Woof? I Feel So Empty
Browsing Through Books At A Thrift Store, Um...
Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover, Even If It Is A Collage Of Jpegs
Even The Price Is Questionable
I Think I've Found It! The Most Glorious Photoshop Of All Time!
Terrible Everything
How To Talk With Your Dog About Homosexuality And Communism
That Lighthouse Imagery...
Empress Theresa - Final Cover
His Leg On Ready Player One’s Cover
I thought this was photoshopped at first....I looked at my copy its real!!!!
Kissing The Coronavirus Is Back!
Romance Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Is the fish supposed to cover the nipples? Didn't quite manage that...
I Can’t Believe It’s Real
Librarian Wife Comes Through Again
The 50th Edition Lotr Covers Are Something Else...
I Don't Even Know What To Say About This Book Cover
Til That Native American Women Shot At Cowboys With Lasers (Also There Was Young Love In The Wild West)
Ten Things Doctors Won't Tell You About Your Cpap Machine
Note: this post originally had 142 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
Some of these books are parodies that I've seen on other humor sites.
Yeah kinda disappointed, thought these would be natural monsters...
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If you want some more of these, this website has some: https://alwaysjudgeabookbyitscover.com/ It has some of the ones on here, but there's more and they're really funny :)
second one i saw “how to play with a lions testicles”
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Some of these are obviously parodies, but I'm truly disappointed that some of these aren't, like the LaCroix erotica or the Covid smut
These titles and covers were so bad, I had to stop, and move on to something else.
Reduced from 142 to 35? Reduce again. Maybe to zero. Many faults shared here: witless, unfunny, obvious, lameness, crappy artwork/ You owe us beter than thi, BPeditor.
I saw a book cover once something like--the Centaur Ghost turned me gay--and now I know I didn't dream it.
Some of these books are parodies that I've seen on other humor sites.
Yeah kinda disappointed, thought these would be natural monsters...
Load More Replies... If you want some more of these, this website has some: https://alwaysjudgeabookbyitscover.com/ It has some of the ones on here, but there's more and they're really funny :)
second one i saw “how to play with a lions testicles”
Load More Replies... Some of these are obviously parodies, but I'm truly disappointed that some of these aren't, like the LaCroix erotica or the Covid smut
These titles and covers were so bad, I had to stop, and move on to something else.
Reduced from 142 to 35? Reduce again. Maybe to zero. Many faults shared here: witless, unfunny, obvious, lameness, crappy artwork/ You owe us beter than thi, BPeditor.
I saw a book cover once something like--the Centaur Ghost turned me gay--and now I know I didn't dream it.
