How to Create Professional Book Covers with ChatGPT (+22 Example Prompts)
Introduction
With ChatGPT 4o, it’s now possible to easily create professional, visually striking Book covers. Whether you’re publishing fiction, nonfiction, comics, or creative journals, AI tools can help you generate polished, genre-specific covers in minutes.
In this guide I’ll walk you through the process of designing book covers using ChatGPT or Sora, from writing effective prompts to refining the final image.
You’ll also discover how to:
- Create consistent, professional covers for sequels
- Generate mockups featuring your actual book cover in epic, cinematic scenes
- Troubleshoot common issues like inaccurate text
If you’re looking to master the full power of image generation with ChatGPT and Sora—including advanced prompt structuring and visual inspiration—you can check out my full guide here:
👉 The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to GPT-4o Image Generation
How to Make a Book Cover with ChatGPT (or Sora)
Creating a professional-looking book cover is now easier than ever with AI image generation tools like ChatGPT and Sora. Whether you already have a clear vision or you’re starting from scratch, here’s how to guide the AI step-by-step to bring your book to life.
Step 1: Write a Tagline
If you don’t already have a tagline for your book, ChatGPT can write one for you. Just tell it:
- The title of your book
- A short description or summary
- The genre or tone you’re aiming for
Then ask for tagline suggestions. You can request variations in tone—serious, dark, playful, minimalist, etc.—until you find something that fits your vision.
Step 2: Create the Design Prompt
Now that you have your title, tagline, and author name, it’s time to create the book cover design prompt. You don’t have to write this yourself—just ask ChatGPT to do it for you.
Tell it your book details, and say you want it written in the same format as the examples in this guide. This way, it can structure the layout, color scheme, visual elements, and font placement clearly and professionally.
If you already have a vision, you can also be specific about:
- Color palette (e.g., dark blues, warm golds, soft pastels)
- Elements you want included (e.g., a tree, a city skyline, a floating figure)
- Style (e.g., photorealistic, watercolor, minimalist, cartoon, digital painting)
- Layout (where the title and author name goes, curved taglines, etc.)
- Typography: bold serif title, handwritten script, futuristic sans-serif, distressed grunge, etc.
But you don’t need to include everything. A simple, open-ended prompt like “A fantasy book cover with a glowing forest and mysterious atmosphere” works just as well—AI can fill in the gaps if you don’t have a specific design in mind. Then you can generate multiple covers until you find one you like.
Step 3: Generate and Refine the Image
Once your prompt is ready, paste it into ChatGPT or Sora and press to create your book cover.
Keep in mind: if your design includes a lot of text or complex elements, the AI may make mistakes. Some common issues include:
- Incorrect or misspelled text
- Weird hands, faces, or object distortions
- Unappealing design or color scheme
If this happens, there are a few options you could try:
- Try regenerating the image (sometimes the next one works perfectly)
- Describe the changes that you want to make to ChatGPT or use the remix feature in Sora
- Simplify the text or remove some elements in the design
- Focus on getting the image design right first, then add the text later in a design tool like Canva or Photoshop
Designing Book Covers for Sequels
It’s also possible to create matching book covers for sequels using AI. All you need to do is include the cover of the first book when generating the next one, and clearly tell ChatGPT (or Sora) to base the new image on the same visual style, layout, and tone—but updated for the next volume.
You can specify things like:
- Keep the title, author name, and tagline in the same position
- Use a similar composition or recurring characters
- Adjust the colors, character pose, or setting to reflect the next chapter in the story
Here’s an example prompt for creating Volume II of a fantasy series based on a previously generated cover:
“Using the book cover for Emberwake – Volume I of the Stormbound Saga, create a matching design for the sequel: Frostrend – Volume II of the Stormbound Saga. Keep the same layout and title position, with the author name Dorian Thorne centered at the bottom. Use the same character as before, but update their pose and outfit to reflect the snowy environment. The character now stands with their back turned slightly toward the viewer, one arm extended outward as if sensing the approaching storm, and their other hand resting on the hilt of a sheathed sword. They wear cold-weather armor and a that flows dramatically in the wind. The figure should be positioned at the edge of a frozen lake beneath a storm-filled sky, with lightning cracking over distant ice-covered mountains. The new tagline is: “When winter arrives, the gods will answer.” Use the same font style but give it an icy theme.”
How to Turn Your Book Cover Into a Mockup With ChatGPT
Once you’ve generated a cover (or if you already have one), you can instantly turn it into a professional-looking mockup. Just attach the image of your book cover to ChatGPT or Sora, then use a prompt like:
“Create a book mockup utilizing this exact book cover. Place it on a wooden desk with a warm morning light, a coffee cup nearby, and an open notebook beside it.”
The result? A photorealistic mockup you can showcase on your website, social media, or online store. You can experiment with environments like cozy cafes, bookstores, library shelves, minimalist tabletops, or even digital device displays depending on your theme.
But if you want something more creative or cinematic you can ask ChatGPT to come up with some unique mockup ideas tailored to your book:
“Write 5 visually striking and unique book mockup prompts that feel custom-built for this book. The mockups should complement both the design of the cover and the title of the book. They must include the phrase ‘featuring this book cover’ when describing the book.
Then just paste the prompt you like into ChatGPT4o or Sora, attach your book cover, and you’ll get a set of one-of-a-kind mockup ideas tailored specifically to your design.
The results:
What If the Mockup Doesn’t Look Right?
When incorporating your book cover into a mockup, GPT-4o can sometimes make mistakes—especially with the text. The title may appear distorted, misspelled, or not match your original design. This is common with more complex book layouts and mockups.
To help improve the accuracy, you can include the title, author name, and tagline directly in the prompt, like this:
“A sleek modern apartment with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a surveillance-heavy cityscape, featuring this book cover. The title of the book is The Watcher’s Lens, the author is Kieran Malik, and the tagline is: You gave them permission. You just forgot when.”
If the results still aren’t clean, try generating several variations—or you can also generate the mockup using a blank white book cover then manually Photoshop your actual design onto it for perfect precision.
22 AI Book Cover Designs With Prompts
Prompt: A surreal, artistic cover for Unfollow Yourself, with a person walking away from a giant floating smartphone that’s disintegrating into dandelions. Deep sunset colors, glowing silhouettes, ethereal textures. The title floats across the middle in dreamy cursive. The tagline “The path to peace starts with disconnection” fades into the top right. The author – Mira West – is cleanly printed at the bottom in minimalist sans-serif, centered below the figure’s feet.
Prompt: A cozy illustrated book cover titled Beneath the Moonvine Tree, showing a glowing magical tree covered in hanging lanterns beside a small cottage at twilight. Soft purples and warm yellows dominate the palette. The tagline “Love grows where magic sleeps” arches above the tree canopy. The author – Liana Frost – is written in elegant script at the bottom right, and the title is centered in whimsical cursive at the top.
Prompt: A futuristic cover for Terms of Intelligence, showing a humanoid face made of circuit boards and contracts, partially torn like paper. Background: a wall of blurred user agreements. Monochrome color scheme. Title in sharp sans-serif across the top-left. Tagline “You already agreed. You just didn’t read it.” mid-right. The author – Maxine Hollow – is at the bottom in minimal type.
Prompt: A tense, high-detail cover for Offline, with a power grid map flickering and shutting down across a city skyline. One building stays lit: a single room with someone watching through the blinds. Deep shadows, bold contrast. Title glows in glitch font across the middle. Tagline “Silence isn’t peace. It’s setup.” is hidden inside the map lines. The author – Malcolm Rho – is displayed in square font at the bottom.
Prompt: A poetic, painterly cover for Clouds Beneath the Sea, showing a woman in a red dress walking along the ocean floor while clouds swirl above her like upside-down waves. Soft brushstroke style, pastel blues and dreamy whites. Title is centered in elegant script. The tagline “Some stories don’t stay on the surface” is handwritten in the corner. The author – Ana Kuro – is at the bottom in silver italic.
Prompt: A dramatic cover for Beneath the Ashes, showing a woman in a 1940s dress standing amid the ruins of a bombed-out European city. Sepia-toned with light snowfall. Title in elegant serif font aligned left. The tagline “Hope survives the fire” appears just above the rubble. The author – Isabelle Hart – is placed at the bottom center in small gold font.
Prompt: A cinematic cover for Voices in the Canopy, showing a misty rainforest with detailed birds mid-flight, their wings forming musical notes. Lush green and blue tones with shafts of light breaking through. Title floats at the top in elegant serif. Tagline “Listening to the language of wild places” is layered above the treetops. The author – Dr. Julian Mott – is displayed at the bottom in natural-textured font.
Prompt: A surreal cover for What Time Dreams Of, depicting a melting clock over a reflective ocean, with a glowing moon split in half. Dreamlike colors and Dalí-inspired layout. Title is scrawled across the top in distorted font. Tagline “A meditation on memory, perception, and fate” floats in the middle. The author – Soren Vale – appears along the bottom left in handwritten script.
Prompt: A gritty, high-energy cover for Fourth and Forever, with a close-up of a mud-smeared football helmet resting on a worn field, under dramatic stormy lighting. Title is bold, capitalized, and placed across the top of the helmet. Tagline “The comeback that rewrote the game” is written in small caps beneath a fading scoreboard. The author – Darren James – is stamped in distressed white text at the bottom center.
Prompt: A dramatic, cinematic cover for The Blueprint Era, a nonfiction epic about the rise of megacities and tech empires. The scene shows a towering futuristic city rendered in photorealistic style, merging old architecture with sci-fi towers. Title is split in two: The Blueprint stacked vertically in the left margin, Era stretched horizontally across the top right. The tagline “How the 21st century was designed” glows at the center. The author – Charles H. Raymond – is boldly displayed at the bottom in white block font.
Prompt: A vivid book cover for Borders in My Rearview, showing a rearview mirror reflecting changing landscapes—desert, jungle, snow-capped mountains—while the road behind fades into the horizon. Warm-toned sky with drifting clouds. Title in curved, vintage script across the mirror. The tagline “30 countries. One passport. No regrets.” floats above the dashboard. The author – Lena Rios – is placed along the bottom center in retro serif font.
Prompt: A striking cover for Built Without a Blueprint, showing a precariously stacked tower made of mismatched household items (coffee cups, books, a stapler, a hammer) balanced like Jenga. A blue sky background hints at optimism and chaos. Title is angled across the top right. Tagline “What I learned building a business from nothing” is curved at the tower’s base. The author – Marco Day – appears in clear bold at the bottom.
Prompt: A vibrant watercolor cover for The Chaos Sketchbook, splashes of paint and torn paper layered into a creative explosion. Loose, abstract brushwork. Title is centered in a white space carved out of the mess. Tagline “Where messy ideas become masterpieces” floats diagonally across a paint stroke. The author – Theo Crane – is handwritten at the bottom right in black ink.
Prompt: A vibrant conceptual cover for Your Brain on Brands, exploring consumer behavior and marketing psychology. The image shows a human brain made of neon product logos and QR codes, with animated-style electric signals firing between them. Bright, clashing colors, modern collage style. The title is large, off-center, and slightly rotated. The tagline “Why you crave what you hate” floats diagonally across the brain. The author – Dr. Leila Monroe – is placed in clean lowercase along the bottom margin, framed between stylized barcode lines.
Prompt: A playful illustrated cover for Dictatorship for Dummies, styled like a parody self-help book. A cartoon character in a suit and crown stands proudly on a pile of burning ballots while saluting a rubber duck. Title is huge and slapstick in yellow bubble font across the top. The tagline “Rule the world in 7 unethical steps!” is stuck on like a warning label. The author – Rachel Blunt – is at the bottom in handwritten-style font, with a fake “as seen on TV” sticker beside it.
Prompt: A sleek, oppressive cover for The Watcher’s Lens, with a massive black camera eye looming over a digital cityscape where every citizen glows with data streams. Title in tall, narrow caps across the top. The tagline “You gave them permission. You just forgot when.” wraps around the lens. The author – Kieran Malik – appears in stark white, small, at the bottom of the skyscrapers.
Prompt: A gritty, illustrated comic cover for Shadowpoint #1: Justice Walks in Silence, showing a masked figure with glowing white eyes standing on a rain-soaked rooftop at night, overlooking a neon-lit city. His cloak blends into the shadows around him, while lightning cracks in the background. Title is angled across the top in sharp chrome lettering. Tagline “He sees everything. And says nothing.” fades into the fog. The author – J. Marcus King – is stamped along the bottom.
Prompt: A high-intensity manga cover for VOLT//ZERO, featuring a teenage mech pilot standing atop a destroyed android, with electricity surging through cracked streets behind him. Bold black-and-white linework with electric blue and yellow accent streaks. The title is stylized in fragmented chrome letters across the top. Tagline “Power comes with a price” appears diagonally across a building wall. The author – Riku Onishi – is listed in vertical kanji along the bottom-left edge.
Prompt: A vibrant and chaotic cover for Mind Maze Deluxe, showing a 3D labyrinth twisting into itself with floating question marks, optical illusions, and geometric patterns spilling out of the edges. Neon colors on black background. Title in bold glitchy font top left. Tagline “100 puzzles that bend your brain” is layered between the maze walls. The author – Elliot Rhymes – is placed at the bottom center in digital block text.
Prompt: A highly detailed line-art cover for Sacred Symmetry, with a mandala-style fractal pattern expanding outward in perfect geometry. Soft gradient background behind the black linework. Title is centered in minimalist serif. Tagline “A meditative coloring journey through structure and chaos” appears above the mandala. The author – Rowan Steele – is placed at the bottom center in calm lowercase.
Prompt: A rugged, travel-inspired cover for Stamp the World, showing a world map stitched into a leather-textured background, with stamps from various countries, a compass, and plane ticket stubs embedded in the design. Title is embossed at the top like a passport. Tagline “Track your journey, one country at a time” curves along the globe. The author – Aiden Brooke – is at the bottom in weathered serif type.
Prompt: A fresh and minimalist cookbook cover for Plants, Plates, Power: 100 Bold Vegetarian Recipes for the Modern Table, showing a vibrantly colored bowl of roasted vegetables with tahini drizzle on a black ceramic plate, centered over a sage green background. Clean sans-serif title dominates the top half. Subtitle directly beneath in small caps. The tagline “Flavor-forward. No meat required.” appears just above the plate. The author – Milo Teran – is centered at the bottom in clean uppercase text.
Book Mockup Examples
Prompt: A photorealistic depiction of the cartoon character from the cover of Dictatorship for Dummies reimagined as a real-life dictator in a suit and crown, standing proudly in front of flames and piles of shredded ballots, holding a physical book featuring this book cover. The title of the book is Dictatorship for Dummies, the author is Rachel Blunt, and the tagline is: Rule the world in 7 unethical steps!
Prompt: A glowing retail display inside a high-tech brand lab, with limited-edition packaging and holographic ads cycling behind a physical book featuring this book cover. The title of the book is Your Brain on Brands, the author is Dr. Leila Monroe, and the tagline is: Why you crave what you hate.
Prompt: A flat-lay composition of vibrant watercolor tools, scattered paper, and a hardcover featuring this book cover, lying at the heart of the creative mess. The title of the book is The Chaos Sketchbook, the author is Theo Crane, and the tagline is: Where messy ideas become masterpieces.
Prompt: A boho-style craft table with lace runners, pressed flowers, and a softcover featuring this book cover, surrounded by delicate mandala sketches and gel pens. The title of the book is Sacred Symmetry, the author is Rowan Steele, and the tagline is: A meditative coloring journey through structure and chaos.
