What's a good Magazine Cover Theme?

Whats involved in deciding what goes on the cover of a magazine ?

• I would think it would have to go through an approval process and that it's not a just a "lets just put that on the cover this month " and is probably throughly thought out

• Answer:

  Obviously it is going to be a subject that is relevant at the time, if it is a news magazine like Time, Newsweek or even a hybrid mazagine like People which is celebrity-oriented but also features current events as they happen. The more serious "news" magazines are all pretty much covering the political race right now, and People at the momenty is pretty much sticking with the 'baby boom" in Hollywood, light fare, but believe me, if anything earth-shattering happened in the next few days, all these magazines and more would scrap their covers at the last minute to cover the crisis. Happened with the tsunami, happened with Katrina. These decisions are all made by the editor on down based on what story is more newsworthy and important...i.e. the Katrina story or a story about Katie Holmes' new marriage and lifestyle? Obviously the Holmes story would get put aside for a later date. Now, when you're talking magazines like Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Parents', there is less pressure on them to follow current events so their cover issues are probably decided months in advance (again, tho, depending possibly on who has a new movie coming out (for example, Kate Hudson may be on the cover of, say, 3 womens' magazines in a certain month because she is featured in a hot new movie just being released). Just as celebrities seem to make the rounds of the evening talk shows when they have something in their carreer to promote, that also seems to be the time when they show up as the feature story on a magazine cover. These magazine covers would be more pre-determined as their subscibers are not so into "current events" But even in the fashion industry, movie industry, publishing industry, fitness industry, their covers tend to reflect whoever and whatever is trendy at the moment.