,

Do you have a really abominably painfully ugly book cover to nominate? Something so bad that you feel a need to put a post-it note over it while reading what is inside to keep from cringeing? Please feel free to add to the list.

PLEASE NOTE: Nominations should be considered only on the Cover Art--the outside packaging. Not to what is inside. Remember, authors rarely get to influence their cover art choice and bad covers are usually not their fault. (There are different lists for criticizing the insides. This is not one of them.) Ugly cover art only, please!

Again, this Listopia list refers only to the outside packaging! Not to the book inside.

Let's try to be nice about self-published books. But publishers that can afford to hire professional artists are fair game.
1

by
3.08 avg rating — 114 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
3.59 avg rating — 112,071 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.84 avg rating — 12,014 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.09 avg rating — 4,759 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,783 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.02 avg rating — 33,669 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.93 avg rating — 443 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.43 avg rating — 92,085 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.66 avg rating — 8,907 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.85 avg rating — 538 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.91 avg rating — 31,980 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.12 avg rating — 798 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.02 avg rating — 15,474 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.11 avg rating — 670 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.88 avg rating — 55,638 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.17 avg rating — 30 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.06 avg rating — 112,873 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.32 avg rating — 142,638 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.76 avg rating — 469 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.91 avg rating — 19,802 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,977 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.85 avg rating — 177,582 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.84 avg rating — 1,258,657 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.35 avg rating — 135 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
2.52 avg rating — 82 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.07 avg rating — 24,202 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.23 avg rating — 1,142 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.12 avg rating — 5,785,708 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
3.86 avg rating — 1,052,981 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.07 avg rating — 296,697 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.86 avg rating — 8,441 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.90 avg rating — 977 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.40 avg rating — 229 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.85 avg rating — 17,225 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.32 avg rating — 16,354 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.76 avg rating — 1,938 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
3.94 avg rating — 33,595 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.63 avg rating — 685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.75 avg rating — 54,204 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.24 avg rating — 2,027,911 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
4.05 avg rating — 11,136 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.30 avg rating — 95,402 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.45 avg rating — 385 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.22 avg rating — 2,039,418 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.81 avg rating — 32,266 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.94 avg rating — 527 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.28 avg rating — 4,388 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.43 avg rating — 90,438 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.87 avg rating — 25,911 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.79 avg rating — 1,697 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.07 avg rating — 9,952 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.59 avg rating — 5,189 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.75 avg rating — 108,030 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,611,346 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.79 avg rating — 38,627 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.02 avg rating — 405 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,068,239 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.75 avg rating — 224 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.91 avg rating — 2,020 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.23 avg rating — 12,020 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,210,960 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.93 avg rating — 5,200 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.07 avg rating — 248 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.21 avg rating — 28 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.69 avg rating — 149 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
3.91 avg rating — 972,753 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.70 avg rating — 840 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.95 avg rating — 539 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.70 avg rating — 2,241 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.78 avg rating — 455 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.14 avg rating — 219,965 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.70 avg rating — 166,571 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.05 avg rating — 136,207 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.02 avg rating — 365 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.12 avg rating — 6,609 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,766,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
3.51 avg rating — 105 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.13 avg rating — 3,784 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
4.24 avg rating — 151,516 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.74 avg rating — 15,307 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.69 avg rating — 3,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.45 avg rating — 2,583 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.80 avg rating — 910 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.27 avg rating — 960,034 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.19 avg rating — 17,710 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.88 avg rating — 162 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.18 avg rating — 266 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.36 avg rating — 1,167 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
3.69 avg rating — 409,110 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.35 avg rating — 10,055,846 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.75 avg rating — 2,916 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
1.87 avg rating — 118 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.29 avg rating — 17,159 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.52 avg rating — 2,526 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.52 avg rating — 1,097,344 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.87 avg rating — 5,098 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
liked it 3.00 avg rating — 35 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
4.12 avg rating — 6,006 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.07 avg rating — 72,501 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
462 books · 231 voters · list created January 26th, 2011 by MB (What she read) (votes) .
17 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


MB (What she read) 8973 books
123 friends
Nina 995 books
54 friends
Brad 2686 books
703 friends
A 3805 books
1092 friends
Kimberly 2004 books
282 friends
Rachel 415 books
56 friends
Zuzana 728 books
110 friends
Cindi 2430 books
62 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by A (new)

A Dude! I love The Dark Divine's cover! :) I just won't vote for it, hehe.


MB (What she read) No problem, our tastes are subjective. It'll be interesting to see what gets the most votes.

I'm going to add a lot more when I have a chance to think about it.

Frankly, I look at this as constructive criticism for publishers. Ha!


message 3: by A (new)

A Don't get me started on indie publisher covers. It's like they're not even trying.

Notable exception: Flux Books, of which there is already one on this list (imho just meh but not the WORST I've seen!) I loooove the cover for Mahoney's Iron Witch.

I'll be back to vote (and abstain from voting) some more!


message 4: by Cindi (new)

Cindi I especially hate when they just put a bulging body with no head showing...it's too embarrassing to read them in public. It says, "Who cares about brains or personality...I only care about animal physicality!" What an insult to the author and the readers!!!!


MB (What she read) Oh, me too, Cindi! That is a style I dislike. For some reason the older style of romance covers that was popular a few years ago with a woman's legs and shoes didn't bother me as much. But chopping off the head/s is just annoying.

Subliminally, I feel like I'm being told to 'check my brain at the door' while reading.


Therealbadkitty All of the newer Nightshade covers are awful. The orginals are so beautiful why did they change it?!


message 7: by [deleted user] (new)

Cindi wrote: "I especially hate when they just put a bulging body with no head showing...it's too embarrassing to read them in public. It says, "Who cares about brains or personality...I only care about animal p..."

I agree!


message 8: by Lu (new)

Lu I vote for any cover with a shirtless dude and little else on the cover...then again I don't think I've ever read a book like that. Not my genre :D


MB (What she read) Lu wrote: "I vote for any cover with a shirtless dude and little else on the cover...then again I don't think I've ever read a book like that. Not my genre :D"

I hate those covers too. Unfortunately, they must sell well.


message 10: by Jan (last edited May 07, 2021 10:40PM) (new)

Jan All these covers are beautiful. I will not comment that somebody thinks ugly book cover art is possible. To each their own, but these are evocative covers that take me places. Anyone who thinks they're ugly is missing out on magical dreams.


message 11: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen Jan wrote: "All these covers are beautiful. I will not comment that somebody thinks ugly book cover art is possible. To each their own, but these are evocative covers that take me places. Anyone who thinks the..."
It's very nice of you to think everything is beautiful, but you are pretty unique with that opinion.
I'd rather let the book take me places.


message 12: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen Laura The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Donald Zochert
WHY THE HECK DID THEY USE THE TV SERIES THAT HAS PRACTICALLY NOTHING TO DO WITH LAURA INGALLS WILDER!!!??!?!?


message 13: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen Yes, one could fill up this list with self published and the "Chinese" classic covers where they have just whacked on some image that may or may not be some way associated with the story itself...


back to top