A Purposeful Prose Advice Column: Judging a Book By Its Cover

Dear Purposeful Prose,

I’m an indie author, and lately, I’ve seen a lot of AI-generated book covers from other indie authors. Some comments said that if the cover is AI-generated, the book will be as well. I don’t really get that. People pay artists to make book covers, so by that logic, wouldn’t the natural assumption be that the book was paid for as well?

I think I can see where you’re going with this, but there are some key differences. 

It can be difficult and expensive to self-publish, and it can be time-consuming to write a full book. Does that mean you should use a large language model to turn out your book for you? No, it does not. 

I’m sure that you would agree that there are key signals of AI use. As an educator, I have taught students who have used ChatGPT to write and submit their essays. Essentially, the signals were clear to me and affirmed based on the student’s presence in the lesson. 

If a reader, therefore, is similarly signaled by a generated book cover, that beacon will glow for as long as the work itself is read. The reader will find cues in the text regardless of whether you used a large language model. This can be difficult to argue. After all, AI makes choices because we make similar choices. I agree that there is no guarantee that the person who generated the book cover absolutely generated their words.

That said, their assumptions are not baseless. 

Let’s move to a paid book cover. A self-published author can hire a cover designer to produce a work that best fits their book. The process can vary based on who is hired, but usually, the artist will want to read the book before making sketches and send them to the author for approval. The artist has education and experience under their belt, and a cover design is no easy feat. Their time, skills, and experience will cost money, and understandably so. 

For an author who is self-publishing for the first time, this can feel challenging. They want to make money from their book. Where a publishing house would ordinarily fund the cover designer, the editor, marketing, these become the self-publisher’s responsibility. How can the self-publisher make money if not by saving money where they can?

As such, it’s natural to want to turn to something that’s both free/low-cost. A self-published author might feel that AI can fill in those gaps effectively. I believe that if you feel you’ve written a high-quality manuscript, you deserve better.

To answer your question, there is no way to compare an author requesting a cover from ChatGPT or another AI system to an author commissioning an artist. If you’re feeling particularly defensive about your AI, free or low-cost tools that can help you improve your manuscript might not be for you. 

I recommend looking through Canva, PosterMyWall, and Adobe. While there are AI-based options, it’s also possible to create effective covers through these programs for free without AI. Even if you aren’t confident in your skills, these tools can help you to create something that matches the mood of your text. 

Give yourself grace and time, especially if you’re using these programs for the first time. 

If you’re having trouble with the cost of editing services, I’m an editor and I get it. At the same time, talk to us. I have a blog that is available to you at no cost. My resources aim to provide writers with tools to advance their skills and help them to work with editors should they ultimately choose to do so. Many editors also offer payment plans that meet authors where they are. 

Regardless of what you choose to do with your book, who you choose to hire, you should have the tools at your disposal to make educated decisions for yourself.

If you believe that your manuscript deserves the time, effort, and energy, you deserve better than what AI can give you. The lines might be smooth, and they might even be able to get proportions right, but potential readers will be signaled. 

This, you’ve communicated, is what you feel your story is worth. I don’t believe you.

If you have a writing or editing-focused question, I would be more than happy to dedicate a post to you. Contact us for any questions you might have or to schedule a free consultation with yours truly!

All submissions will remain anonymous unless you explicitly request for me to include your name.