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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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#1
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.
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#2
It’s Worth A Look!
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."
#4
The Hobbit
#5
Do Your Kids Suffer From Nightmares? No, Not Yet? Well This Should Help A Lot
#6
My Mom Used To Read This One To Me
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.
#7
Found This In A Doctors Office A Few Years Ago. I Think About This Way Too Much
Isaac7lego 4 years ago
What..........The.............F***!!!!! If I saw this in my doctors office I would be seriously weirded out!!!!
#8
Not Sure If This Has Been Posted Before, But...
#9
Prehistoric Passion From Mars
#10
The Very Hungry Cthulupillar
#11
Kissing The Coronavirus (Coronavirus Erotica?!)
#12
How Ironic
#13
I’m Just Waiting For The Film Adaptation
#14
My Librarian Wife Always Has Interesting Finds
#15
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...
#16
Woof? I Feel So Empty
#18
Browsing Through Books At A Thrift Store, Um...
#19
Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover, Even If It Is A Collage Of Jpegs
#20
Even The Price Is Questionable
#21
I Think I've Found It! The Most Glorious Photoshop Of All Time!
#22
Terrible Everything
#23
How To Talk With Your Dog About Homosexuality And Communism
#24
That Lighthouse Imagery...
#25
Empress Theresa - Final Cover
#26
His Leg On Ready Player One’s Cover
Isaac7lego 4 years ago
I thought this was photoshopped at first....I looked at my copy its real!!!!
#27
Kissing The Coronavirus Is Back!
#28
Romance Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving
#30
Librarian Wife Comes Through Again
#31
The 50th Edition Lotr Covers Are Something Else...
#32
I Don't Even Know What To Say About This Book Cover
#33
Til That Native American Women Shot At Cowboys With Lasers (Also There Was Young Love In The Wild West)
#35
Ten Things Doctors Won't Tell You About Your Cpap Machine
#36
People Who Need To Die: Cell Phones
#37
This Is Bad Even For The Low Bar Of Dinosaur Erotica
#38
Imagine Getting Kilt
#39
Don’t Steal This Kids Lunch
Dest 4 years ago
The book covers do look odd, but the story was really amazing to me as a kid. Not only you get really dark stories, with reasonable gore and proper risks, but you also get a lot of character development through the books. It's an alien war story, that is weird but rather charming. I read all 65 books
Fluffy Griffin 4 years ago
I looooved this series as a kid. I'm not sure I read more then 10 or so, I think my library stopped buying them for a while.
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Kira Okah 4 years ago
It's a very good war story that doesn't hold back from the horrors of war. It exists for being a good story.
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Kira Okah 4 years ago
If I remember this one correctly, it's actually one of the better books in the series.
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Kira Okah 4 years ago
So the person who shot Harambe was actually a Yeerk!
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Liam Farranree 4 years ago
Not many people know It was originally titled "The Girl Who Could Turn Into A Child Sized Gorilla"
Dolevaal 4 years ago
Holy crap, I used to love this series as a teenager. Now I feel ashamed :D
#40
Just Say "No"!
#41
If You Fail You Can Always Say, "The Devil Made Me Do It!"
#42
I Don’t Even Know What To Say About This One
#43
I'm Impressed By Her Balance
#44
Apparently Hitler & Co Invented Time Travel
#46
...if You Say So!
#47
Can't Stop Staring In Puzzlement At The Perfectly Matching Hemline
#48
This Series Of Books Is A Goldmine
#49
From The Author Of Kissing The Coronavirus!
#50
Don't Make Me Go Back, Mommy: A Child's Book About Satanic Ritual Abuse By Doris Sanford
#51
C'mon Everyone, Let's Join In On The Fun!
#52
I Think Mom Has Taken This Too Literally...
#53
"These Heels Were Made For Walking, Through The Apocalypse"
#54
This Author Is Cancer
Ryan Deschanel 4 years ago
Step outside the box... And then the mortician will put you in a new one.
#55
Our Library Was Trying To Get Rid Of This One
#56
Found This On Facebook
#57
This Belongs Here
#58
Secrets
#59
Why The Hell Was This In The School Library?
#60
Lisa Simpson Grew Up To Be A Hitchhiker
#61
It Came With A Poster As Well
#62
Tractor Teacher
#63
Not A Strip I'd Want To See
#64
Is This What Happens When You Build Your House On An Ancient Wolf Burial Ground?
#65
With One Breath (Czech For "Reading In One Sitting"): Pillar Of Fire (And Other Short Stories)
#66
Cheap Date?
#67
Photoshop? I've Got My Kids!
#68
Beneath The Half Ass Photoshop
#69
Yeah It Does...
#70
I Met The White House!
#71
Why The Chinese Are The Way They Are
Sista of the moon 4 years ago
Why are you the way that you are? Every time I try to do something fun...
#72
Can You Feel The Love Tonight?
#73
Excuse Me, Are You Talking To Me?
Eliška Hůlková 4 years ago
Old book, when it was written r-word might have been a medical term still.
#74
Ok
#75
The 1987 Berkley Reprint Cover Of ‘It’ Is Really, Really Bad...
#76
Substitute Father
#77
Philosopher's Stone, Albanian Version. Not Sure What's Going On Here
#78
My Anaconda Just Don't...
#79
Odd Experiment I'd Expect This From Bert And Ernie But Not Elmo And Grover
#80
The Title Was Weird Enough To Get My Attention At The Library
#81
Do Movie Covers Count?
#83
Milk: The Deadly Poison
#85
I'm Not Entirely Sure What That Is But I'm Not Convinced Kids Would Eat It
#87
In Our Neighborhood David Has Aids By Doris Sanford
#88
People Who Need To Die: Bad Drivers
#89
Maybe I Would Have Been Better At Geometry If I Had This In High School
Real_Katsuki_Bakugou 4 years ago
I'm not sure whether this is a book about how to get guys or how to solve geometry equations, help
#90
Check This Kindle Author’s Sweet Photoshop Skillz
your local lesbian 4 years ago
how- who in the world would make this cover and say “ah yes, this is terrific!”
#91
This Infamous Serbian 8th Grade Biology Textbook... With Nicolas Cage On The Cover, For Some Reason
#92
You Gotta Love The Covers Kai Chooses For His Books
#93
Warm Fuzzies For Lonely People, Now With Beanie Babies!
#94
This Title Is Surprisingly Relevant Nowadays
#95
This Book Cover I Found On Amazon...
#96
Empress Theresa - "Improved" Edition
#97
I Feel Violated
#98
Ah Now This Is Modern Art
#99
À Mash Made In Heaven. The Title Is Sexy Potatoes. I’m Sure They’re Onions
#100
My Latest Purchase
#101
Presenting To You: The Very First Draft Of "Stranger Things"
#102
Picked This One Up At A Thrift Store
#104
Found In One Of Those Trashy Book Apps
#106
That Man Is Most Assuredly Deceased
#107
Cookbook Covers Shouldn't Be Uncomfortable
#108
I Found This At My School's Library
#109
The Dangers Of Kissing... Or Whatever These People Are Doing
Amy Pattie 4 years ago
Ok guys apparently kissing is sin so I guess from now on it’s “you may now fist-bump the bride”
#110
Why Are His Feet So Detailed
#111
Found This Beauty At Goodwill
#112
No This Is Not Lord Of The Rings
#113
Uncanny Valley Much?
#114
I Think The Title Is Just As Bad As The Photo
#115
This Book Was Recommended In A Thread About Power Armor, But The Cover Is Ridiculous
#116
The Gears Are My Favorite Part
Bacony Cakes 4 years ago
When you wish to have legs just as the dark elves are shutting down the magic abilities of earth:
#117
No Ponies In The House!
#119
Of Animals, With... Of Animals
FurryManiac 4 years ago
True Stories Mysteries Of Animals With Of Animal Amazing Abilities Intelligence
#120
I'm Not Sure Why You'd Pick Such An Utterly Terrifying Cover For A Joke Book
#123
Things Were Different Back Then
#124
How Do You Even Begin
#125
Hey Girl... I Heard You Like Book Covers
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
Give that guy a cell phone and there'd be D**k pics flying all around the world
#126
I Have Spoken Too Soon...
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
I'm getting a hunch that Lawrence Ambrose is not the guy you want as a neighbor, looking at his oeuvre.
#127
Going To Learn This Language Just To Read This Book. Art
#128
Do Online Book Covers Count? Because, Yikes
#129
I Loved These Books When I Was Younger But This Is Just Horrible
Just a Snowball 4 years ago
im reading that book rn! its a good book but not this... just no...
#130
Subtlety Is The Key
#132
"He A Little Confused, But He Got The Spirit"
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Trump himself tweeted that there was no evidence that he won the elections because of Russian interference. That was before he became the first president in history who was officially declared a troll and got banned from mainstream social media.
#133
This Butt-Faced Alien Viking
#135
No
#136
A Shell Of A Read
#137
How To Make Beautiful Food In A Mold
#140
Not Another Lotr Fanfic!
#142
I Can’t Believe This Is A Real Book
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What do you think ?
Toujin C'Thlu 4 years ago
Some of these books are parodies that I've seen on other humor sites.
Son of Philosoraptor 4 years ago
Yeah kinda disappointed, thought these would be natural monsters...
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Jelly the Bean 4 years ago
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 :)
your local lesbian 4 years ago
second one i saw “how to play with a lions testicles”
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LittleMissLotus 4 years ago
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
Raine Soo 4 years ago
These titles and covers were so bad, I had to stop, and move on to something else.
bill marsano 4 years ago
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.
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
I saw a book cover once something like--the Centaur Ghost turned me gay--and now I know I didn't dream it.
Toujin C'Thlu 4 years ago
Some of these books are parodies that I've seen on other humor sites.
Son of Philosoraptor 4 years ago
Yeah kinda disappointed, thought these would be natural monsters...
Load More Replies... Jelly the Bean 4 years ago
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 :)
your local lesbian 4 years ago
second one i saw “how to play with a lions testicles”
Load More Replies... LittleMissLotus 4 years ago
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
Raine Soo 4 years ago
These titles and covers were so bad, I had to stop, and move on to something else.
bill marsano 4 years ago
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.
Agnes Jekyll 4 years ago
I saw a book cover once something like--the Centaur Ghost turned me gay--and now I know I didn't dream it.
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