Printed front cover design with a purple background that includes a photographic reproduction of a woman with short hair facing forwards, with her head slightly upturned. Above the image, "KATHY ACKER" appears in green, and below, the title "EMPIRE OF THE SENSELESS" appears in orange, with the subtitle, "a novel" printed in black inside an upside down green triangle at the bottom. Traveling from the top to the bottom of the front cover is a simulation of a tear in white. A quote praising the book appears on the lower right in white printed text inside a black box. The spine is also purple and shows the author's name in green and the book's title in orange, both printed vertically, as well as Grove Press's colophon in black at the bottom. The back cover includes information about the book, including the price ($9.95), printed in black against a purple background. The first letter, "S," is contained within an upside down green triangle, and a small orange symbol that appears to reference book pages being turned, appears towards the bottom of the design above the black text, "AN EVERGREEN BOOK / Published by Grove Press." A white block containing a bar code and ISBN number printed in black is in the lower right corner of the back cover.