I love this column Jo. It takes me right back. The interesting thing for me was when i went from editing a 'mass' magazine like Cosmo to a 'luxury' magazine like ELLE. On Cosmo so few celebrities would do our cover (namely because of all the sex content- who wants 10 Ways To Blow next to their head? Even though I NEVER used that coverline) that we were rarely fighting with anyone. The fight was to get someone. And fashion houses would never lend us any clothes. But at ELLE, as you so perfectly capture, it was a jigsaw puzzle of fashion/photographer/publicist being on your side ..with often one pice of the jigsaw missing. I miss a few things about my magazines days but not this. Bring back the models was what every editor really wanted...but even then that gets complicated with the bigger girls!
I have always wondered how a particular cover was determined and chosen. So interesting to read your article Jo. I too seek out the articles identified on the front cover over the cover photo, however, I am drawn to the cover photo first.
So great to get a clear understanding on this, thanks so much Jo! Most of it sounded familiar to me (I’m a journalist and previously interned years ago on the consumer side / women’s mags - loved it), but I don’t think I realised how the “higher ups” (your bosses) integrated into that set up.
I think my assumption was that it would be collectively agreed who the celeb was and why, so your monthly meeting with them would be to show the final product (or three options to make a final decision), not quite a a critique of what was produced.
Did you ever have any situations where they totally hated the end product and you were basically told no, do something else?
LOL Loved reading this. It really gave a true insight into the business aspect of magazines. It shows how important the relationship with advertisers are and how crucial PRs and agents are to landing that coveted celebrity on the cover. Then there is the actual magazine and the writers. A lot to deal with.
I love all this behind the scenes information! Are stars and their publicists usually aligned and / or who is the ‘boss’? Meaning do you think stars might have done covers / creative directions their publicists turned down or vice versa? Was it hard sometimes to tell where the pushback came from?
i am 30 now, i dont buy any magazines anymore but i must have bought every copy when you was the Editor at Glamour. i used to dream of being a intern or anything there! lol ❤️ xx
As a reader of UK Glamour from beginning to end, I feel a bit used finding out about all this!!! But what about the times you had more than one cover for an edition? Was that 4x as hard? Or 4x easier?
Really?! I was going more for, ‘Look what they all went through to bring us the mag every four weeks’ 😂❤️ And yes 4x as hard. And usually those multi covers were linked to the Glamour Awards. Those of us who worked on those for 15 years would all look so much younger and prettier if we never had.
Most of the time, once you actually made it to the actual shoot day, it could be quite jolly and fun. But all the conversations beforehand are just the realities of the business. It wasn’t always nasty at all, just the mechanics of what will happen when competition for celebs is fierce.
I enjoyed reading this. I used to work in Insight at Natmags and we would sometimes test covers there - assume you would have done some of that too, how did you feel about research?
Thanks Katy! We rarely focus-grouped covers, like most editors I know, I’m not a fan. Sorry! I think it’s dangerous to try and apply too much ‘science’ to what makes a cover sell. It becomes a box-ticking exercise which makes a magazine stale. Mags need to take risks, surprise and excite readers as much as possible. ‘Different’ rarely tests well in focus groups and then that just adds the pressure put on editors to just keep doing the same thing. In my view, anyway. X
I watched a documentary (YouTube) on Tatler, and Nicholas Coleridge was talking about the magazine a lot. He's very posh as is the people who work at Tatler, but what an eye opener of what goes on in a magazine. Very interesting. You look at a magazine cover and buy it based on that. I did so much of that based on Linda Evangelist, Cindy Crawford etc. To me those were beautiful covers. I always felt bringing in celebrities was the beginning of preaching their way in interviews etc. if you know what I mean! Also, a lot if not all magazine covers these days are heavily filtered. I don't know why but I didn't think that with models but obviously it happened. With celebrities absolutely nothing is real. I will only get a magazine now if it has an interesting article/s or Kate Winslet is on the cover. So interesting, thanks Jo!
Really interesting Jo! I had no idea about the Publicists role or that the Celeb’s had such high demands. I always just assumed they’d be grateful for being a cover star! Out of interest, if a celeb was say, in a TV role, would it be part of their contract with the tv production company to take as many print press opportunities as possible, or is it just whoever is hot at the moment who gets the offer?
Thank you! Yes contractual obligations to do press are usually a factor for celebrities but it would be very rare for them to be forced to do any press they didn’t want to. Usually the contract, as far as my experience bears out, would stipulate that they must do press but then the publicist would still be guiding exactly what outlets they’d do. X
I can only imagine someone like Charlize Theron being a nightmare. I don't know why and also Rihanna. She's beautiful but her entourage. I watched a Vogue video with her and the amount of people she brings is staggering.
I love this column Jo. It takes me right back. The interesting thing for me was when i went from editing a 'mass' magazine like Cosmo to a 'luxury' magazine like ELLE. On Cosmo so few celebrities would do our cover (namely because of all the sex content- who wants 10 Ways To Blow next to their head? Even though I NEVER used that coverline) that we were rarely fighting with anyone. The fight was to get someone. And fashion houses would never lend us any clothes. But at ELLE, as you so perfectly capture, it was a jigsaw puzzle of fashion/photographer/publicist being on your side ..with often one pice of the jigsaw missing. I miss a few things about my magazines days but not this. Bring back the models was what every editor really wanted...but even then that gets complicated with the bigger girls!
I vote bolognaise for the cover!
I have always wondered how a particular cover was determined and chosen. So interesting to read your article Jo. I too seek out the articles identified on the front cover over the cover photo, however, I am drawn to the cover photo first.
Thank you.
So great to get a clear understanding on this, thanks so much Jo! Most of it sounded familiar to me (I’m a journalist and previously interned years ago on the consumer side / women’s mags - loved it), but I don’t think I realised how the “higher ups” (your bosses) integrated into that set up.
I think my assumption was that it would be collectively agreed who the celeb was and why, so your monthly meeting with them would be to show the final product (or three options to make a final decision), not quite a a critique of what was produced.
Did you ever have any situations where they totally hated the end product and you were basically told no, do something else?
This is so fascinating! Really interesting to hear from the inside what goes into a cover, I’ll look at mag covers so differently now! X
This is amazing Jo! x
LOL Loved reading this. It really gave a true insight into the business aspect of magazines. It shows how important the relationship with advertisers are and how crucial PRs and agents are to landing that coveted celebrity on the cover. Then there is the actual magazine and the writers. A lot to deal with.
I love all this behind the scenes information! Are stars and their publicists usually aligned and / or who is the ‘boss’? Meaning do you think stars might have done covers / creative directions their publicists turned down or vice versa? Was it hard sometimes to tell where the pushback came from?
i am 30 now, i dont buy any magazines anymore but i must have bought every copy when you was the Editor at Glamour. i used to dream of being a intern or anything there! lol ❤️ xx
As a reader of UK Glamour from beginning to end, I feel a bit used finding out about all this!!! But what about the times you had more than one cover for an edition? Was that 4x as hard? Or 4x easier?
Really?! I was going more for, ‘Look what they all went through to bring us the mag every four weeks’ 😂❤️ And yes 4x as hard. And usually those multi covers were linked to the Glamour Awards. Those of us who worked on those for 15 years would all look so much younger and prettier if we never had.
Used by the celebrities, not the poor magazine team!
Most of the time, once you actually made it to the actual shoot day, it could be quite jolly and fun. But all the conversations beforehand are just the realities of the business. It wasn’t always nasty at all, just the mechanics of what will happen when competition for celebs is fierce.
I enjoyed reading this. I used to work in Insight at Natmags and we would sometimes test covers there - assume you would have done some of that too, how did you feel about research?
Thanks Katy! We rarely focus-grouped covers, like most editors I know, I’m not a fan. Sorry! I think it’s dangerous to try and apply too much ‘science’ to what makes a cover sell. It becomes a box-ticking exercise which makes a magazine stale. Mags need to take risks, surprise and excite readers as much as possible. ‘Different’ rarely tests well in focus groups and then that just adds the pressure put on editors to just keep doing the same thing. In my view, anyway. X
I watched a documentary (YouTube) on Tatler, and Nicholas Coleridge was talking about the magazine a lot. He's very posh as is the people who work at Tatler, but what an eye opener of what goes on in a magazine. Very interesting. You look at a magazine cover and buy it based on that. I did so much of that based on Linda Evangelist, Cindy Crawford etc. To me those were beautiful covers. I always felt bringing in celebrities was the beginning of preaching their way in interviews etc. if you know what I mean! Also, a lot if not all magazine covers these days are heavily filtered. I don't know why but I didn't think that with models but obviously it happened. With celebrities absolutely nothing is real. I will only get a magazine now if it has an interesting article/s or Kate Winslet is on the cover. So interesting, thanks Jo!
Really interesting Jo! I had no idea about the Publicists role or that the Celeb’s had such high demands. I always just assumed they’d be grateful for being a cover star! Out of interest, if a celeb was say, in a TV role, would it be part of their contract with the tv production company to take as many print press opportunities as possible, or is it just whoever is hot at the moment who gets the offer?
Thank you! Yes contractual obligations to do press are usually a factor for celebrities but it would be very rare for them to be forced to do any press they didn’t want to. Usually the contract, as far as my experience bears out, would stipulate that they must do press but then the publicist would still be guiding exactly what outlets they’d do. X
I can only imagine someone like Charlize Theron being a nightmare. I don't know why and also Rihanna. She's beautiful but her entourage. I watched a Vogue video with her and the amount of people she brings is staggering.
Such a great piece of writing!
Thank you! X