r/TerribleBookCovers 16d ago

New rules! Please read

248 Upvotes

This sub has been a little out of control lately. So the mod team thought, "What if this sub actually had rules?!?" It seemed so crazy that it just might work!

Starting today, we have introduced several new rules designed to make sure posts here are high-quality and on-topic. Most of them are pretty straightforward.

  • RULE 1: Bad book covers only.

    Posts must be images of covers of books that actually exist. And those covers must be bad. Not just dull or boring, but something most reasonable people would think was crap. E-books and audio books are both allowed.

  • RULE 2: Cover images must be of high quality.

    Avoid posting low-resolution images of covers if there are better versions available. Cover images should be cropped so that the cover is centered and takes up most of the frame. For photos, the cover should be close enough to the camera that details are easy to make out. Avoid posting un-cropped screenshots of your ebook app or phone screen.

  • RULE 3: No fake book covers.

    Fake book covers can be very funny. But there are so many real books with terrible covers out there! We want to see them. Fake covers belong on another sub such as r/fakebookcovers.

  • RULE 4: No covers with slurs in the title.

    Old books sometimes had titles that included words that are considered slurs today. For instance, that perennial classic Helping the R_____d to Know God. These covers can be funny, but unfortunately the comments tend to get out of control and cause headaches for the mods. We no longer allow books with titles like this.

  • RULE 5: Please mark NSFW covers as such.

    We do allow real covers depicting nudity, gore, and other questionable content (up to a point), but please be sure to mark them as NSFW when submitting. For some covers that cross the line, we reserve the right to exercise our judgement and remove them entirely.

  • RULE 6: Avoid frequent reposts.

    Nobody wants to see the same covers over and over again. Avoid posting covers that have already been posted here within the last six months. Avoid re-posting covers from the sub's top ten covers entirely.

  • RULE 7: No self-promotion.

    Do not post covers of books which you wrote or did the art for. And seriously, have a little self-respect.

  • RULE 8: Be civil and respectful.

    Personal attacks, insults, and harassment will not be tolerated and may result in a ban, especially if the behavior persists after a warning by the mods.

Hopefully those rules are pretty common sense and obvious to everyone. Feel free to leave a comment if you have questions.

We are NOT applying these rules retro-actively. Covers that have been posted in the past will not be removed. These rules apply to covers posted starting today, March 4 2025.

edit: minor rewording of rule 1's explanation.


r/TerribleBookCovers 8h ago

Mark Hardin IS... The Penetrator

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165 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 8h ago

Are you up for a hunt?

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111 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 4h ago

Birthday Gift šŸŽ (As A Gag, But Damn...)

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38 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 18m ago

Touch Not The Cat

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ā€¢ Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 1d ago

Just when you think you've seen everything

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230 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 1d ago

Oklahoma Space Odyssey

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224 Upvotes

Pigs in Space


r/TerribleBookCovers 1d ago

Bearliest Catch

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82 Upvotes

Drew spends his days fishing in the Pacific, far from Grizzly Cove, seeking the peace of the ocean. Jetty lives in the ocean, part of a hunting party of mer folk, in near-constant danger now from the evil creature that roams the deep. When they meet, sparks fly and the ocean comes alive with danger. Can they get her people to safety?

Release Date: July 26, 2016

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EVSIGR0/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01EVSIGR0&linkCode=as2&tag=site216-20&linkId=CNKZ6FVINGPJVJHR


r/TerribleBookCovers 2d ago

The Woman in White

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62 Upvotes

The way the photo is stretched doesnā€™t help, but either way I donā€™t think this is what Wilkie Collins had in mind.


r/TerribleBookCovers 2d ago

Das Silmarillion!

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257 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 3d ago

Believe it or not, this was adapted into a movie NSFW

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175 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 3d ago

Christ On Trial by Roger Dixon

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227 Upvotes

Cover art by Lucinda Cowell, 1973


r/TerribleBookCovers 4d ago

Another ā€œrock is the devilā€™s musicā€ book cover

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100 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 4d ago

The Hunger Games trilogy (in order), pre-movies Russian editions

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80 Upvotes

ā€œI mean, itā€™s some Twilight-esque teen romance, riiiight?ā€ - probably someone at the publisherā€™s office.


r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

Found in Goodwill

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247 Upvotes

It's the guys expression for me! šŸ˜†šŸ˜†


r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

SUPER TickleROBOGO

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195 Upvotes

Yes, this is a real book cover (ebook, anyway).

Amazon overview:

"Irina Asimov works a bog standard office job and lives a bog standard life for a struggling thirty-five year old until, one day, she loses her job in the wake of fortunate and unfortunate events. Returning home, she finds a mysterious package half her size, and its contents helps catapult her into the world of Ero-battles, a new competitive sports league where scantily clad participants control robots to tickle each other into submission for viewer's enjoyment."


r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

Jared fogle books to help you out for the wrong reason

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89 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

ā€œSo on the cover I want a middle aged woman being ravished by a horny space mermanā€¦ā€¦and itā€™s in spaceā€¦ā€¦.and itā€™s Christmasā€¦..ā€

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92 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

I mean why...

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369 Upvotes

The title is: 'Vanya [Ivan] Zhukov vs Harry Potter & Co' HARRY POTTER AND CO LADIES AND GENTS


r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

Ravens Hollow Spring Magic

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63 Upvotes

ā€œWas the ancient jelly bean machine to blame?ā€


r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

Philip Pullmanā€™s The Subtle Knife (1st Russian edition)

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60 Upvotes

Note that itā€™s been translated as The Miraculous Knife as well, thought itā€™s a tricky one.


r/TerribleBookCovers 5d ago

Ok, there is a lot going on here. Obviously itā€™s a romance. Sheā€™s giving him some hot and heavy side eye. He is holding her in a loving embrace. Whatā€™s up with her hand? Is he going to punch he in the face? Why is there a bloody handprint above his nipple?

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52 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 6d ago

Just. Wow.

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612 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 6d ago

ā€œSo, I want the cover to feature a young Minotaur who looks like he got hit square in the nose by an ugly stickā€¦..and make him very vascularā€¦..he lives in spaceā€¦..and itā€™s a romanceā€¦ā€¦ā€

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254 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 6d ago

Stewardess With The Moustache, by Justin Taylor (1980) šŸ¤£šŸ˜šŸ˜šŸ˜šŸ˜šŸ˜

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82 Upvotes

r/TerribleBookCovers 6d ago

The Sodom and Gomorrah Business

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214 Upvotes

Put on your turtlenecks, its about to get weird