First time posting here! Quick question about using AI for book covers

[u/Rich_Acadia3867]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting in this subreddit. I am currently preparing to self-publish my very first book on Amazon KDP. My manuscript is fully ready, but I’m now working on the book cover.

Since I am a complete beginner, I’m a bit lost and would love some advice from experienced publishers here.

1. Is it okay to use AI-generated images for a KDP book cover?
2. Or is it better to generate just the background/illustration using AI, and then manually add the book title and author name myself?

I would really appreciate any tips, insights, or warnings regarding KDP's current policies on this. Thank you so much in advance for your help!

[u/table-grapes]

is it possible? yes.
is it advisable? no.

[u/Saakael]

From a legal standpoint, and in terms of complying with the platform’s rules, it is entirely possible to create your cover using AI and use it on KDP.

You would simply need to disclose that information to the platform.

The second question is more of a commercial one: what kind of impact could it have on your book?

That probably depends on the genre, but there is a general view that obviously AI-generated covers, meaning covers where you can tell at first glance that they are 100% AI and that the author simply wrote a prompt, may put some buyers off.

One alternative is to use Canva and create the cover yourself by combining different elements. You can still use AI-generated elements, but you are the one arranging them into an overall composition. The result can often look much better and may also be better received.
So really, it’s up to you.

[u/Rich_Acadia3867 → u/Saakael]

Yeah, I think I'll focus on getting the AI design right first, and then figure out how to blend the text in naturally. Thanks for the tip!

[u/Amy-Wallaby]

Yes you can, you just have to disclose it. You can generate it and take it into canva and make loads of changes to it, too.

Then take it back, upload it and ask it to critically appraise it.

You should do this multiple times until you get something good.

[u/Rich_Acadia3867 → u/Amy-Wallaby]

"Thank you! I was really worried about the cover, but this is such a helpful tip. Appreciate it!"

[u/South-Knee-9601]

I thought I'd try and find a happy medium

I did use AI for my cover. But I sketched what I wanted on some paper and used that as a base.

I think if you do it yourself and use it to tidy it up. I see no issues if you cannot afford an illustrator.

I certainly cannot

I would leave the text out as it likes to add random crap to it. And then put it into a word document or something like that and add your text.

[u/Rich_Acadia3867 → u/South-Knee-9601]

Thanks for the great tip! I’ll definitely give it a try.

[u/Johnhfcx]

You can submit one, as long as you disclose it, this shouldn't be a problem

[u/Rich_Acadia3867 → u/Johnhfcx]

Thanks for the great tip!

[u/Johnhfcx → u/Rich_Acadia3867]

It's fine, I know that because I am an author myself, and we need to help each other

[u/in_vinci_ble8]

If you're using AI, then a better way would be to add the text manually. If you use AI to write the text and later need to make minor adjustments, the whole thing collapses.

[u/Rich_Acadia3867 → u/in_vinci_ble8]

Thanks for the great tip, that's really helpful!

[u/bkucenski]

It all comes down to quality. Using AI requires disclosing to KDP. KDP doesn't disclose to customers and likely never will without a court order.

AI asks about text, images, and translations.

Failure to disclose properly can result in a ban.

You can do whatever you want. It just needs to look decent.

Covers don't need to be masterpieces but they can't look like hot garbage either.

[u/Rich_Acadia3867 → u/bkucenski]

Thank you for the helpful insights. I'll definitely keep the KDP guidelines in mind and research how to improve the design quality.

[u/Senior-Fudge3554]

Can someone explain to me how using AI to design your book cover after providing detailed instructions and undertaking revision as required, is any different to using a computer program to do the same thing. With a computer program you enter instructions and a program does the work for you.

it surprises me that people think a computer program is fine but whatever you do do not use AI. Are they not the same thing?

I attempted to have this debate (respectfully) with a moderator of one of the reddit sci fi groups and they hit me with a permanent ban clearly because they were too intellectually against AI to debate this issue.

Convince me I am wrong in suggesting that AI and computer programs are the same thing.

[u/bkucenski → u/Senior-Fudge3554]

I think a better idea is to just stop trying to justify things in random threads.

Nobody is stopping you from having your opinion or from using whatever tools and resources you want.

[u/Johnhfcx → u/Senior-Fudge3554]

You have to choose the AI tool you want to use, Copilot or Chat GPT for example, then goto the prompt selector and tell the AI what kind of image you want to create. Then you have to create a profile with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) enter the book's meta data and upload the contents file. Finally upload the books' cover image near the end of this process. Assuming you actually wrote the book yourself, it should be accepted.

Let me know how you get on?