I've recently gotten into collecting and reading King's works, and an ongoing challenge is to find an edition of each new novel of his that I want to read that I can actually bear to look at. As someone with a background in design, it continually astonishes me just how lazy, generic, and butt-ugly some of his book covers and designs have been since the mid-90s or so (and it can be tricky to find classic early editions in good condition). Some of them are so bad it is literally astonishing that somewhere, someone with an actual job in design and in a position of authority greenlit these ideas for use, to represent one of the most widely-read and collected authors of all time. 

There are too many examples to show them all, but here's a small sample of just a few of the worst offenders for me personally -- feel free to add your own. 

What's especially egregious is in almost all cases these books had far better looking editions originally, editions that had personality and character, but like I say ... good luck finding them now in good condition at a reasonable price point. 

Scribner's classic/vintage re-releases of the past couple years have been a breath of fresh air, though -- I quickly bought those up (The Dead Zone, Christine, Pet Sematary, Misery, Firestarter) --- Not perfect, but vastly preferable to most of what's available on the King bookshelf of your present-day Barnes & Noble.

Worst Stephen King book designs and covers? (2025 edition)