Generally, I’m a proponent of the expression, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” In traditional publishing, concepts for book covers don’t originate from the author; instead, publishers generally design covers for marketability purposes. In this way, they aren’t direct reflections of the novel’s contents and the author’s artistic vision. This process, however, is considerably different when it comes to self-published novels.

The number of self-published titles has increased significantly, growing about 7.2% from 2022 to 2023. Growing right alongside this is the increasing accessibility of Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs. With these two intertwining factors comes a rather questionable trend of covers generated by AI. Though AI is most often utilized by independent authors, the technology is starting to seep into larger publishing companies, sometimes unbeknownst to clients. In these cases, it’s difficult to pin the blame on an uninformed writer.

But especially in the case of self-published novels, AI cover art often reflects a lack of effort and is a major red flag for writing of the same quality. If authors aren’t willing to commission human artists for a human-made cover, it says a lot about the time and effort they’re truly willing to put into their work. 

A book cover generated by AI is essentially a glaring red flag which signals the author prioritizes speed and convenience over craft. And when you put hardly any time into the cover, I will automatically assume your writing reflects an identical amount of effort. 

The same can be said about traditionally published novels; if an author is agreeable to a publishing company’s use of AI, it is a direct reflection of their values. It should be the writer’s responsibility to educate themselves on publishing companies’ AI policies and make that informed decision.

The common complaint that some authors need to use AI because commissioning artists is too expensive is ridiculous.While financial struggles are certainly not an issue to be ignored and professional, highly-renowned artists may charge higher rates, costs for book cover designs can run as low as $50. Of course, an even cheaper option is creating a cover yourself, without the assistance of AI. If an author is truly passionate about their work, taking the extra step to have a cover which accurately reflects their creative vision and intent shouldn’t have to be a question. 

But what worries me most about the rising frequency of AI covers is the future. How long will it take before the books we’re reading are also entirely machine-generated? Already, novels completely generated by AI plague the industry. Recently, I read a New York Times article covering a woman named Coral Hart who generated over 200 novels and self-published them on Amazon. Her endeavors were met with significant backlash; when I read the article, I was similarly astounded.

How far does our acceptance go when it comes to AI generated content? The sentiment I hold on this topic comes down to the necessary goal of sustaining creativity in all parts of novels, covers and writing alike; to overlook one is to overlook the other. We cannot accept content made by AI in any factor in the making of a novel.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Catherine Guo at [email protected].