Across social media I've noticed a lot of authors posting AI-generated book covers to real books they have published.
Going a step further: some of these authors are using AI tools to generate the images for the entire book.
Here I've written about 10 styles you can try for your book covers.
NOTE: Midjourney is still not great at text. All examples of text below have been added in Canva.
Minimalist Design
minimalist graphic design of polar bear --no text --ar 2:3
minimalist graphic design of flower by paul rand --no text --ar 2:3
illustrated hand with ring, by saul bass, minimalist --ar 2:3 --c 2
bear in the forest, beautiful light, graphic design vector, minimal, style of japanese book cover --v 5 --ar 2:3Simple Illustrations
simple illustration for a romance novel, minimal --no text --ar 2:3 --c 3 
simple illustration, girl running with dog, children's book --ar 2:3 --c 2 --s 90Retro High Fantasy
Inspiration: Dragonlance Series, Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo
The swords and sorcery oil paintings that started from the 1960s defined an entire genre - you'll find the look in older comics, vinyl records, older movie posters, and comic-adjacent illustrators.
barbarian in an epic story of adventure betrayal and romance, by frank frazetta, retro vintage fantasy art --ar 2:3
Paladin Knight on a perilous journey to find the cradle of life, world of ancient myths and legends, by Rodney Matthews, epic fantasy art --ar 2:3Aesthetic Illustrations
girl and robot sidekick which is a floating thing orb, happy and talking, a beautiful day outside by Otake Chikuha, breathtaking illustrated, simple, featured on pixiv, muted colors with minimalism, irina nordsol kuzmina, a hazy memory, --ar 2:3 --c 2
reading alone inside library, nostalgic, a beautiful day outside by Sachin Teng and Craig Mullins, minimalist, muted colors, hazy dreamlike --ar 2:3Abstract / Pattern
Tip: add --tile to your prompts for repeating/seamless patterns!
very simple pattern on white background --tile --ar 2:3
graphic hand drawn floral pattern on white background --ar 2:3Science Fiction
Inspiration: Science fiction book covers and movie posters
Depending on your science fiction novel, you might want to play up or down the feeling of cosmic insignificance.
starship slying past the cosmos --ar 2:3 --c 3
starship moving slowly through space, style of science fiction --v 4Japanese Style
There's something very refreshing about the minimalism of Japanese book covers, especially when it seems like Western books are all competing to grab your attention!
bear and a child, minimal, style of japanese book cover --v 4
minimal octopus, style of japanese book cover --ar 2:3Photography / Realistic
As AI-tools advance, you're no longer limited by the constraints of only being able to create illustrations: you can now create covers that resemble actual photographs!
The key is to specify the camera and the lens.
new york cheesecake made from recipe, Sony A7R IV camera, Sony 30mm f/3.5 lens --v 4
Arctic beautiful landscape, Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM Lens, hyperrealistic photography, style of unsplash and National Geographic --ar 2:3
How to Add the Design
After generating the above images, I used Canva to add the book cover designs in less than 10 minutes.
You'll want to create a Canva account. Search "book cover" in the search bar, and you'll get thousands of book cover templates that you can add your images to!
What I love about Canva is how easy it is to learn. You can add or remove text and change the font. Make sure to choose a font that complements the genre your book is in.
That's how I'm using Midjourney and Canva to create book covers. What are you doing?
