Six voices speaking up for AI as a creative tool, professional design and an author's right to choose.
Spend a little time in the indie publishing world lately and you could be forgiven for thinking everyone has been issued the same rule book on book covers. Use this image. Avoid that tool. Explain yourself. Defend your choices. And brace yourself if somebody online disapproves.
But the conversation is much bigger than the loudest comments on social media. There are published authors and experienced book cover designers who see genuine possibilities in AI-generated imagery. Some are outspoken defenders of an author's freedom to choose. Others are using AI alongside stock photographs, traditional design methods and professional creative judgement.
As someone who designs covers for independent authors, I find that far more interesting than another online argument. A good cover still needs a clear concept, the right atmosphere, thoughtful typography and an understanding of the story and its readers. AI can be one part of that process. It does not have to be the whole process.
So, rather than listen only to the book cover police, let's hear from people who are actually writing, designing and publishing books. I've selected six articles and conversations worth reading. Their views are not identical, but they all offer a welcome alternative to the idea that using AI automatically makes an author or designer less creative.
1. J. Paul Roe: Authors Don't Owe Anyone a Commission
Article: Creatives vs. AI: How Extortion Hides Behind Virtue Signaling (16 May 2025).
Author J. Paul Roe certainly doesn't tiptoe around the subject. In this strongly pro-AI piece, he challenges the suggestion that an indie author has a moral obligation to pay a cover artist before publishing a book. He objects to boycotts, blacklisting and pressure campaigns aimed at writers who choose AI-generated cover imagery.
Roe's point is simple: an author's book is the creative work they are trying to bring to readers. How they choose to package it should not become an excuse to shame them.
His language is deliberately provocative, and readers may not agree with every characterisation, but his defence of authors on small budgets is unmistakable.
Read J. Paul Roe's full article
2. William M. Chippich: You Can Dislike AI Without Attacking Authors
Article: Let's Talk About AI, The Nevermore Chronicle (1 September 2026).
This is one of the more persuasive pieces because William M. Chippich isn't defending his own use of an AI cover. He explains that the artwork for his novel Nevermore was created through his publisher's art department. Nevertheless, he firmly defends the right of other authors to make a different choice.
Drawing on his experience with both traditional and digital commercial art, Chippich remembers a time when computers were expected to destroy creative jobs. Instead, new forms of digital art and design developed.
He also acknowledges that generative AI raises real questions about copyright, consent and creators' livelihoods. What he refuses to accept is using those concerns as justification for publicly attacking individual indie authors.
That distinction matters. Nobody has to approve of every use of AI to recognise that bullying is wrong.
Read William M. Chippich's full article
3. Joanna Penn and James Helps: AI Can Give Designers More Room to Imagine
Interview: A Creative Approach to Generative AI in Book Cover Design with James Helps (26 January 2024).
James Helps, the designer behind Go On Write, talks with author and publishing educator Joanna Penn about incorporating tools such as Midjourney into his cover-design workflow.
Instead of choosing from a limited selection of existing stock images, he can experiment with ideas tailored more closely to a book's characters, mood and setting.
One detail I particularly liked is that AI doesn't always make his work quicker. It can send him down new creative paths, with more possibilities to explore and refine.
In other words, the software hasn't suddenly taken over his imagination. It has given him more material to work with, while his design experience and judgement still guide the final result.
That is a very different picture from the claim that pressing a button is the same thing as designing a cover.
Read or listen to Joanna Penn and James Helps
4. Joanna Penn and Damon Freeman: Professional Design and AI Can Work Together
Interview: Using AI Images in Your Book Cover Design Process with Damon Freeman (7 September 2023).
Damon Freeman founded Damonza, a professional cover-design business.
His conversation with Joanna Penn looks at a practical question: how can AI imagery become part of a professional designer's existing work without losing the skills that make a cover effective?
Freeman discusses mixing generated elements with licensed stock photography, adding text, creating effects and refining the composition until the image feels right for the book.
He also speaks about authors who prefer not to use AI. That matters too. A good working relationship involves knowing what the author wants, rather than assuming that every client will be comfortable with the same methods.
For me, this is exactly what choice looks like. Designers have options. Authors have preferences.
The finished cover comes from collaboration, not from somebody else dictating which creative tools are acceptable.
Read or listen to Joanna Penn and Damon Freeman
5. Joanna Penn and Derek Murphy: More Creative Possibilities for Authors on a Budget
Interview: Using AI for Art, Images, and Book Covers with Derek Murphy (14 October 2022).
Derek Murphy has worked as a painter, book cover designer and author, so he brings more than one perspective to the discussion.
In this early conversation with Joanna Penn, he is enthusiastic about the ability of AI image tools to create the sort of dramatic, highly specific artwork that can be difficult or expensive to achieve using existing stock imagery.
He also talks about something designers know well: the importance of selecting, revising and composing the image.
An extraordinary picture still isn't necessarily an effective book cover. Fonts, genre expectations, balance and the relationship between the artwork and the title all matter.
Murphy sees AI as a way to open up new possibilities for authors who cannot afford expensive bespoke illustrations.
His enthusiasm doesn't erase the questions about copyright and training practices discussed in the interview, but it does challenge the assumption that exciting new visual tools have nothing positive to offer publishing.
Read or listen to Joanna Penn and Derek Murphy
6. Joanna Penn: Using AI Imagery and Still Hiring a Human Designer
Article: Lessons Learned from 13 Years as an Author Entrepreneur (13 September 2024).
Joanna Penn's own publishing business provides a useful real-world example.
In this personal reflection, she explains that many of her covers now include images created with Midjourney or DALL-E, which she takes to professional designer Jane Dixon Smith of JD Smith Design to turn into finished book covers.
Think about that for a moment.
A bestselling indie author is experimenting with AI, expanding what she can visualise and continuing to work with a professional designer. Those things are happening together, not cancelling one another out.
Penn also talks openly about the unpleasant responses she has received for discussing AI.
Rather than pretending everyone must agree, she has sought out spaces where she can explore creative technology without personal attacks.
That experience will sound familiar to authors who have watched book-cover discussions become unnecessarily hostile.
Read Joanna Penn's author-entrepreneur reflection
Supporting the Option to Use AI Is Not the Same as Insisting Everyone Must Use It
An author who wants hand-painted illustrations should be free to commission them.
An author who wants licensed stock photography should be free to use it.
And an author who wants to explore AI imagery with their designer should be able to discuss that option without being treated like a criminal.
What These Voices Have in Common
They don't all agree about every aspect of artificial intelligence. Some are enthusiastic advocates. Some are more careful, particularly about the effects on artists and the questions that still need answering.
But each adds something important to the conversation.
They remind us that a book cover is a combination of creative choices.
The source of an image is one part of the process; the concept, editing, composition, typography and understanding of the intended audience are others.
They show that authors have different budgets and different priorities.
And several make a compelling case that disagreement should never become an excuse to intimidate or humiliate someone.
There are still sensible responsibilities: follow licences and retailer rules, respect the rights of others, and agree with your designer or client on what tools will be used.
None of that requires a public pile-on.
I would much rather see independent authors exchanging ideas, sharing useful resources and helping one another produce beautiful books than spending their time policing how somebody else's cover was made.
Readers are free to like a cover, dislike it, buy the book or leave it on the shelf.
Authors are equally free to decide which creative direction suits their story.
We can disagree about AI. We can still be decent to each other. And perhaps we can give the actual stories a little more of our attention.
These links lead to the original authors' articles and interview transcripts, so readers can explore the full discussions and draw their own conclusions. Summaries reflect the authors' stated views, not endorsements of every argument they make.
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