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Your magazine cover: how to design it

Your Magazine's Cover Lines

Do not underestimate the importance of cover lines. They are among the most important elements of your cover. For many newsstand publishers, they have proven to be more important than the image or any other design element other than the logo. The image might (possibly) be what catches the readers' eyes and makes them approach the newsstand. It is the cover lines without a doubt, however, that make your reader pick up your publication, start thumbing through it, and take it through the checkout.

1. Choose Your Cover Lines. How many will you have? The answer is: the more the better—within reason. Don't turn your cover into a table of contents, wherein it is difficult to read any one line or focus on it. It shouldn't be difficult, however, using your cover space wisely, to easily get at least half a dozen cover topics on it. Have a cover line for each of the key features in the magazine. For example, for a fitness magazine you might have a feature on exercise, one on diet, one on lifestyle, and one on health. Each of these features should be highlighted with a cover line each and every issue. The newsstand browser who is not interested in your lead article might be drawn in by your second lead, or your third. Each new feature highlighted on your cover is one more opportunity to draw in a potential reader.

Remember that your lead cover line should tie in to your cover image. You cannot afford to confuse the reader. Clarity is your goal. Part of the process of achieving that clarity is to have your lead cover line and primary image tell the same story, speak in one voice.

2. Your Cover Lines are Copywriting. Remember this: your cover lines are not editorial. They are ad copy. While they must reflect what is inside the cover, their job is to get the newsstand shopper to want to read the article. You are selling each article, and your magazine itself, with each cover line. Don't think of them as anything else. In three or four words, you need to intrigue, to fascinate, and to create desire in the newsstand shopper to know more, to learn more. To do this, use some of the standard tools at your disposal:

a. Numbers: People want to know what they are getting, how much they are getting. Tell them! The number doesn't have to be huge—in fact, an overly-large number can be overwhelming. Seven great getaways; 12 holiday recipes; 21 easy patterns. The numbers tell the people precisely what they are going to get, and whet their appetites for what is to come.

Odd numbers tend to work better than even ones: seven secrets might be more intriguing than eight or ten. And you don't have to have numbers on all your cover lines—one or two of them are plenty.

b. Effective Words: Copywriters in different media have found certain words to be powerful and effective. Those words retain their appeal year after year, cover after cover. They include:

i. New

ii. Hot

iii. Best

iv. First

v. Big

vi. Win

vii. Anniversary

viii. Premiere

ix. Plus!

x. Bonus

You will identify words that are effective for your particular category. A business magazine might find that words such as leadership, innovation, inspiration pull. A do-it-yourself publication is likely to find that words like fast, easy, or simple do the trick. A cooking magazine might find homemade, country, fresh, or light are key. Email your subscribers; insert a survey in your magazine for your newsstand readers; do newsstand splits to test cover lines; or just track the effect of your choices on newsstand sales year in, year out. However you go about it, find your key words and phrases and use them issue after issue.

c. Benefits: What will your readers get from this purchase? What benefits will they carry away? Will they learn a new skill, acquire must-have knowledge, mqke better buying decisions? These benefits must be conveyed in your cover lines.

d. Practicality: The benefits offered should have a practical value in the reader's life. Most effective for the newsstand buyer:

i. Free

ii. How To

iii. Tips

iv. Tactics

v. Do's and Don't's

vi. Guide/Buyer's Guide

e. Specificity: The benefits conveyed in your cover lines, the information promised, must be very specific as well. Your readers might respond to tips; they are more likely to respond to 100 Gardening Tips. The number provides some specificity, the modifier more. Let them know what they are going to get. With this in mind, avoid the too-clever puns or plays on words. Save them for inside the magazine! If you are offering special section on small homes, that should be your line. Another, less specific line—say, "Get Cozy" can be used as the sub-lead, not as the main lead. Too often publishers forget this principle and bury the lead. Remembering that you are writing ad copy, not entertaining, should help.

f. Excitement: At the same time, do not let your specificity become pedestrian. Create excitement with your cover lines! Use them to create a sense of urgency in your newsstand browsers, a sense that they must not miss out on whatever it is that you are offering. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of ways of doing this—with slanted lines, with exclamation points, with colors and fonts—and one way that should not be overlooked is the use of effective words. Some examples:

i. Special

ii. Exclusive

iii. Ultimate

iv. Spectacular

v. Must-have

vi. Extra

About the Author

Linda Ruth helps publishers with audience development online and at retail. Her books can be found at
www.bookdojo.com.

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