What it means is that magazine publishers,editors,and circulation directors know the importance of the cover image as both a newsstand impulse buy and as a brand.David Pecker,president and CEO of American Media,Inc.(publisher of National Enquirer and Star),points out 80 percent of consumer magazines'newsstand sales are determined by what is shown on the cover,a fact that can mean the difference between a magazine's success or failure over time.Johnson and Prijatel,p.240.The cover image and design reinforce the brand,an important identification factor because the average reader spends only three to five seconds scanning a magazine cover before deciding whether to buy that issue.Mary W.Quigley,“What Sells,What Bombs:Magazine Cover Roulette,”Washington Journalism Review(July/August 1988),p.18.
Consequently,publishers are deadly serious about what or who to put on the cover,even to the point of turning to their readers for cover choices.In September 2000,Sports Illustrated called 300 of its subscribers to ask them which story-“the inside scoop on Bobby Knight's firing;Venus Williams'U.S.Open victory;Kurt Warner's leading the St.Louis Rams to nail-biting wins to open the season;or mighty Nebraska barely beating Notre Dame in overtime-deserved the prime cover real estate for the current issue.”Becky Yerak,“Editors Turn to Readers for Cover Choices,”USA Today(September 15,2000),7B.
To insure that the right cover is reaching the right buyer,TV Guide has published as many as 24 versions of the same issue.Ibid.,7B.Magazines as varied as Jane and Fortune also have published multiple options of the same cover topic,urging readers to buy all of them as a special set.
Anniversary issues often feature miniatures of previous covers.Advertisers like such special issues because they have longer shelf lives on the newsstands than the regular weekly or monthly magazine.Readers like them,too,saving the anniversary issue and referring to them weeks,months,and even years after their purchase.Magazine researchers find special collector's editions that highlight covers to be valuable resources that save time and money.The following magazines have published either special collector's editions or anniversary issues that included all or almost all of their covers(as miniatures):Town&Country(150th anniversary,October 1996);Popular Mechanics(100th anniversary,March 2002);Outdoor Life(100th anniversary,Summer 1998);National Geographic(100th anniversary,September 1988);Time(75th anniversary,March 9,1998 and 60th anniversary,October 5,1983);Life(60th anniversary,October 1996);Ebony(45th anniversary,November 1990 and 40th anniversary,November 1985);Sports Illustrated(35th anniversary,March 28,1990);and People(25th anniversary,March 15,1999 and 20th anniversary,Spring 1994).Other magazines have periodically featured all their covers to date or a representative sampling of their best covers:Texas Monthly(all 200 covers,September 1989);TV Guide(50 greatest covers,June 15-21,2002);Life(2,000 covers,May 1988);and The New Yorker(variations of the Eustace Tilley covers and others that established the magazine's look and spirit,February 21&28,2000).
Books that feature pages upon pages of covers tend to be expanded versions of the special collector's issues,with an introductory essay and little to no discussion of the individual covers.Carolyn Kitch's The Girl on the Magazine Cover,however,focuses on the cover as a research entity,offering insight into the portrayal of women from 1895-1930 in Saturday Evening Post,Ladies'Home Journal,and other magazines.See“Books Focusing on Magazine Covers”for an annotated bibliography of some key titles.
Industry Research About Magazine Covers
Magazine professionals have a lot of information available to them from trade journals and industry reports.Until recently,Advertising Age's“Cover Story”offered a“monthly ranking of celebrities popularity as reflected by their appearances on the covers of more than 30 of the nation's leading publications.”Jon Fine,“Cover Story,”Advertising Age(December 10,2001),With the January 2002 redesign of Advertising Age,“Cover Story”no longer appears on a regular basis.Folio's ongoing critique of magazine redesigns,a staple since 1998 that is now called“Face Lift,”includes the cover as a critical discussion point.Other professional publications,such as Columbia Journalism Review,American Journalism Review,The Quill,Editor&Publisher,Media Week,and Adweek,periodically discuss cover trends or changes to magazines'faces.Most of the trade articles about magazine covers stress the marketing aspect,offering tips on how to create a cover that sells out on the newsstands.In recent years,this emphasis has come to include advice on how to“brand”the cover as a way of creating consumer loyalty and increasing opportunities for product or franchise extensions.
Even the consumer media may pick up on cover changes,particularly when a well-known magazine is redesigned or repositioned.Cover and editorial design changes to Atlantic Monthly,Harper's Bazaar,New Republic,and Scientific American resulted in stories in The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,USA Today,and other media.