Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover? Readers Do.

I have a several favorite childhood novels with construction paper taped over the cover art. The writing was beautiful, the stories still live inside me, but the covers were bad and ruined a few mental images I had of the characters.

“You can’t judge a book by it’s cover,” so they say.

True, true, but the reason this needs to be said at all is because people can—and do—judge books by their covers. Over the next few weeks I’ll be exploring the philosophical, social, and even theological aspects of gen-AI infiltrating art, namely writing. I’ve been working super hard on this series which is why I got a little behind on regular posting. I wanted to finish all four essays at once and see how they fit together. That being said, you, my wonderful paid subscribers, are going to hear a lot from me in July and August. But today, as a bit of a warm-up I’m republishing an article entitled “To AI, Or Not to AI: Book Cover Design” co-written with the talented Dariah Henshaw and first published in June 2025. Enjoy!

As a writer, I—Bethany—make it my mission to support other artists. In my mind, the creation process is incomplete if it ends with me. Creation is about giving of one’s self for the edification of others. There is an exchange. A giving and receiving.