| name | cover |
| description | Generate book cover art prompts for image generation models. Reads project content and produces optimized prompts for Kindle-dimension covers. |
Generate cover art prompts for your book using the cover-artist agent.
What This Does
- Asks whether you want image-only or text-inclusive covers
- Reads your project materials (README, themes, characters, world, tone)
- Synthesizes the story's visual essence
- Produces 3-5 distinct cover concepts as image generation prompts
- Optimizes for Kindle dimensions (1600 x 2560, aspect ratio 1:1.6)
Usage
/fiction:cover # Generate cover prompts for current project
/fiction:cover /path/to/project # Generate for specific project
Text Options
You'll be asked whether to include text:
- Image only (recommended) — Clean image with negative space for title overlay in post-production. More control over typography.
- Include text — Title and author name generated as part of the image. Works well with GPT Image 1.5 and Gemini 3 Pro.
Output
For each concept, you'll receive:
- Approach — The visual strategy
- Prompt — Ready to paste into GPT Image, Gemini, FLUX, or other generators
- Why it works — Genre signals and design rationale
- Variations — Style/mood alternatives
Generating Images
Use the motif CLI to generate cover images directly:
motif "your prompt here" --cover
motif "your prompt here" --cover -m gpt
motif "your prompt here" --cover --dry-run
For illustrated books: After generating your cover, use /fiction:illustrate to create a motif series from the cover and generate consistent chapter illustrations in the same style.
Prompt Compatibility
Prompts are optimized for:
- GPT Image 1.5 — Conversational prompts, specify dimensions
- Gemini 3 Pro Image — Natural language, descriptive prompts
- FLUX.2 (via fal.ai / motif) — Subject-first prompts, use
--cover flag
- Other generators — Adapt aspect ratio parameters as needed
Design Philosophy
The agent prioritizes:
- Symbolic over literal — Evoke the feeling, don't illustrate the plot
- Cut-through — Stand out in crowded genre thumbnails
- Genre signals — Honor conventions while avoiding cliches
- Thumbnail test — Readable at 80px width
- Title space — Negative space in upper third for text overlay
After Generation
If you chose image-only:
- Generate images with your preferred AI tool (or falcon)
- Select the strongest result
- Add title and author name in a design tool (Canva, Photoshop, etc.)
- Test at thumbnail size
- Upload to KDP
If you chose text-inclusive:
- Generate images—inspect text carefully for errors
- Regenerate if any letters are wrong
- Minor touch-ups in design tool if needed
- Test at thumbnail size
- Upload to KDP
When to Use
- Final stages of manuscript completion
- Before submitting to beta readers (motivational)
- Marketing preparation
- Series branding exploration
