Scarily good stories deserve the best horror book covers. But what takes a book from lurking in the shadows to devilishly following readers home? (Shock horror, it's not just any kind of illustration slapped across the front like a ‘for sale’ sign on a haunted house.)
While places like Literary Hub round up all-time horror classics, today’s covers (and readers) shriek for modern marvels. After all, it’s the fifth most popular fiction genre, so there’s a whole lotta competition for attention. Dreaming of skipping to the good part, where your author’s book’s shining on shelves, captivating eyeballs and smashing new sales records? Read on (if you dare) to discover the best horror book covers according to publishers and score ideas to inspire your own.
What makes the best horror book covers?
Here at Miss Nat Mack Studio you might’ve heard that I roll publishing house know-how, market analysis and audience research into drool-worthy designs that turn browsers into megafans to catapult sales. Because of it? Many award-winning thriller and horror books wear Nat Mack designs. So naturally, I’ve learnt a thing or two about creating captivating covers in the niche horror genre.
It’s exactly why I believe cover templates should be buried six feet under. The exact reason most churn-and-burn designs RIP. And precisely why just any ol’ book designer without experience in this specialised design realm could be costing you more time and money with ghost-like returns.
The best horror book covers include:
While there’s no ‘secret formula’ to designing the best horror book cover, the non-negotiable process includes:
Market analysis: What’s currently working?
Audience research: What do readers want and expect?
Trend forecasting: What else will be on the shelves upon release?
Plot intricacies: What unique features of the plot will intrigue readers?
Unlock this chamber of horrors to explore the best horror book covers as chosen by publishers following completion of our creative process.
1. The Hollow Places
By T. Kingfisher | Titan Books Publishing
Winner | 2021 Best Horror Dragon Award Nominated | 2021 BFA for Best Horror
Nominated | 2020 Goodreads Best Horror Nominated | 2020 Ladies of Horror Best Novel
T. Kingfisher is the chilling mastermind behind The Hollow Places, a horror book featuring a shop full of curiosities, weird oddities and taxidermy. Need I go on? Much like the storyline’s inclusion of hunting for the perfect item in the shop, Titan Book Publishing was set on making this horror book cover’s design a killer one.
Throughout our creative process, we explored designs that lent themselves to the market’s current fascination with life and death. To make this the best horror book cover for its release timing, it was also important to take special note of typography to communicate the historical themes explored in the book.
Through a collaborative process, the winning cover features:
Capital letter typography for certainty
Hand-drawn illustration to suit the market
Handwritten elements to reflect the plot’s note-taking importance
2. Truth of the shadows
Slade Templeton | Genius Books Publishing
Searching for horror book cover ideas that venture into the darkest corners of the mind? Then look no further than Templeton’s Truth of the Shadows cover design.
Alongside Genius Books Publishing, we created an intricate Rorschach design that entwined story elements and clues into the illustration itself. How many hints about the story can you see?
“Natasha delivered a masterpiece. We were mind blown”
slade templeton
Author, Truth of The Shadows
This s-s-scary book cover is the perfect inspiration for how horror stories can creep beyond the pages and into lands of visual identity.
The winning cover features:
Psychological theming
Bold colour juxtaposition
Murder meets mind motifs
Shadow and lightness contrasts
3. The loop
Jeremy Robert Johnson | Titan Books Publishing
Winner | 2020 Wonderland Novel of the Year
Nominated | 2020 Goodreads Best Horror
Us designers are real people too. And personally, my love for Stranger Things is stronger than a freshly poured triple-shot espresso. Lucky for me, so is that of The Loop’s fan base. Since Stranger Things had grown a cult following around the same time, similar theming was the perfect way to use trends (such as seasons 3 and 4 of Stranger Things, released in 2019 and 2022) to the book’s advantage.
To strengthen the likelihood of this psychological thriller becoming a crowd favourite, it was imperative for Johnson’s cover to feature the perfect balance of 80s nostalgia, an ordinary house with more than meets the eye and the incredibly spooky mind-bending powers its main characters fell victim to, reflected in the alluring silhouettes and humming cords of connection.
The best horror book cover design chosen by publishers combined:
80s time setting
A stack of variant covers
Visualising the small and eerie town
Colours to contrast the everyday turned sinister
Human characters overtaken by devilish powers
4. The twisted ones
By T. Kingfisher | Titan Books Publishing
Winner | 2020 Dragon Award for Best Horror
2nd Place | 2020 Locus Award For Best Horror
Nominated | 2019 Goodreads Best Horror
Nominated | 2019 Ladies of Horror Best Novel
If T. Kingfisher’s name sounds familiar, it's because according to award judgings, they write some of the best horror books out there. Unlike The Hollow Places, The Twisted Ones’ suspenseful plot left a lot of space for the reader to connect the dots amidst serious cliffhangers.
Incredibly talented at creating full-throttle atmosphere, this read’s laced with mystery, plays tricks on the mind and features spine-chilling moments mid-spook. Chosen and finessed from the series of concepts submitted, the published cover keeps visuals simple to let the reader’s imagination run wild. What could be lurking beyond the mist and trees?
To craft the best horror book cover for this novel, we focused on:
Contrasting colours
Soft shapes to create an air of mystery
Lowercase wording to reflect the modern setting
5. The bones of the earth
by scott hale
Like with any of the best thriller or horror book cover designs, diving between the pages is essential. And the dimly lit forest of Hale’s The Bones of The Earth was no different.
Unearthing the spine-chilling horror themes throughout the novel, we contrasted soft rose petals with jagged skulls dangling from eerie vines.
“Natasha gave new life to my series. Phenomenal. Punctual. Amazing communication”
scott hale
Author, The bones of the earth
Choosing my personal favourite horror book cover design is like choosing a favourite child (or a pair of Vans from my ever-growing collection). AKA impossible. But if I’m honest, this one’s right up there.
Throughout the design process, it was important to the publishing house and author that the cover reflected the evil undertones in an otherwise beautiful setting. As well as capturing the creepily realistic setting of planet Earth.
This horror book cover includes:
A repeatable series mascot: the skull
Natural world meets underworld colliding
Eerie theming: darkness and evil can lie in the most beautiful of things
SPOILER ALERT: Hale went on to release three more horror books with Nat Mack covers in this series. Across each, we brought stories to life using similar theming and illustration techniques to accurately reflect what lurked beneath the cover and between the pages.
6. don’t eat the pie
by monique asher | rising action Publishing
With an irresistible storyline brimming with neighbourly suspicion, my mind bubbled with a fountain of angles for Don’t Eat The Pie. A new town, a creepy house, an island full of older women and grim messages presenting themselves all too often. The final cover we landed on features a chilling juxtaposition of inescapable neighbourly closeness and looming doom.
We included:
Illustrated font on a home-baked pie
Classic and ornate plates
Splattered accents
6. edenville
by sam rebelein | titan books Publishing
As someone who hates (and I mean hates) spiders, this cover was an interesting one to bring to life! These hairy eight leggers *shivers* play a huge role in this novel. Think: a Goosebumps-meets-Stephen King tale about an aspiring horror novelist who takes a teaching job in a blood-soaked town. It features a secret underground society, alternative dimensions and even spiders disguised as people. This winning illustration reflects the importance of the main theme, the ever-present closing in of horror and a race against the clock to access another world, before it reaches the town.
Together we:
Illustrated the main theming
Created textures and movement
Used colour to guide the eye
Presented two worlds uncomfortably colliding
It’s time to bring your creepy book cover to life
Like publishers, authors and stories. No scary book covers are *exactly* the same. So your author’s horror book cover shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Need some more spooky insights? Take a look at the cover coven, discover more book cover intel via the Miss Nat Mack blog, or simply follow me down this dark alley *cackles maniacally*