Book covers have to fit in before they stand out. The tone, genre and story type need to be clear from the outset. But when does a cover tip over into cliche? How many times do those elements appear before they turn into fantasy book cover cliches? We present some of our favorites…
A few classics to begin.
A pensive heroine under the moonlight, with a castle, prison or forest in back.
A big weapon. That’s all. And maybe some tiny soldiers at the bottom.
Big Dragon, tiny girl. The bigger and tinier, the better.
That same dang font. Everywhere.
A peasant girl, farm girl or gypsy girl stares up longingly into the sky.
Rose petals and a Sword. Every romantasy novel. And no clue how much smut.
How far do you dare to stand out and still meet genre expectations? Eveyone judges books by their covers. Especially scrolling online. The cover is your movie poster now. No one reads the blurb unless the cover stops them scrolling.
I would actually read some of these.
Only some of them?
I love these. Did you create these?
I did. Apparently I have too much time on my hands.
How did you do these?
A lot of stock images, a bit of AI character generation and a lot of compositing.
All the Romantasy covers look the same now.