Native Peoples is a niche arts and culture title, published out of Phoenix, Arizona.

CoversSell.com recently completed a comprehensive data scan on ten years (60 issues) of covers and sales data.
The findings helped the Publisher, Editor and Art Director, jump start a new cover consultation methodology.

One thing that emerged from the data scan was that whenever any type of jewellery appeared on the covers (even in the absence of a story relating to jewellery) sales spiked. The same results occurred whenever the words Santa Fe appeared. So, amongst other things, we decided to push both aggressively on this cover.

    “Scott’s meticulous cover study has been eye-opening and we are very excited about the outcome,” said Stephen Phillips, Publisher.

The September 2010 issue is the first cover that robustly embraces many of the fundamental findings from our database. Look for it on Canadian Newsstands August 16th and in the United States August 17th.

Fly Fusion is a quarterly magazine focused on fly-fishing addicts, both in Canada and the United States.

We approached the cover design on this issue almost as if it were an SIP (Special Interest Publication).

You will note that the word “Steelhead” appears four times:  First in the drop down box, secondly as the main selling feature, third with a supporting sell line and fourth with the bottom reference to Trey Combs, steelhead author.  And in case you were wondering, yes that is a monster Steelhead that you are making eye-contact with emerging from the depths.

   1. Radical Clarity
   2. Committing to the Cover
   3. The 3-Second Rule

These were the guiding rules used.  The Fall 2010 issue goes on sale August 23rd.  Cover price $7.95.

Cottage Life has done a “Peel and Reveal” cover featuring Corona Beer on their Summer 2010 issue (for both subscriber and newsstand copies).
It is seamlessly executed.



“This was an idea that our sales team presented to the client about a year ago. It was expensive to produce, and required five additional days to print, glue and die cut. This is a first for Cottage Life, but the creative was executed easily. We were able to work with the client while sharing cover and creative at early stages with each other. Positioning of the peel worked well along the edge, and our cover lines were not compromised. This isn’t for everyone, but the concept was a success and everyone was happy.”

The creativity demonstrated here illustrates just how exciting the magazine medium can be. It deserves high praise. Clearly the entire team, from advertising, editorial and art, circulation and production worked in collaboration to achieve this success.

I’ll drink to that.