Some covers are instantly iconic, as is the case with the July 27th–August 9th cover of New York magazine.

This bold, risk-taking cover has gained the magazine tons of free media exposure both on social media and has been covered widely on TV, Radio, and newspapers.

Kudos to New York magazine for the courage to publish such an important story.

This may be the cover of the year.

We will report back later in the year to see how it performed on newsstands.

Esquire has some of the most amazing covers year after year.

Let’s have some fun.

Test your knowledge of Covers That Sell.  I’ll show you 4 of Esquire’s 11 covers in 2014.  Using Canadian sales data, your task is to rank them from best to worst.

Guess in which order they ranked:  #1, #2, #3 and #11 worst.

Here are the 4 covers (no peaking, pan down slowly, as answers are provided at the bottom.


July 2014 (Fatherhood)

December 2014 (Channing)

January 2014 (Meaning of Life)

November 2014 (Sexiest)

And the Answers Are:

#1 Seller in Canada…Jan 2014, Meaning of Life,  sold 9,912  (Meaning of Life annual theme in this time slot works)

#2 Seller in Canada…Mar 2014,  Channing,  sold 9,300  (Proving Studs still sell)

#3 Seller in Canada…Jul 2014, Fatherhood, sold 7,245 (In 2013 this theme in this time slot featuring Brad Pitt was #3 too)

#11 Worst Seller in Canada…Nov 2014, Sexiest Women Alive, sold 4,658 (This annual theme bombed when moving away from typical background template…too understated…see examples of standard background template below).  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Esquire has some of the most amazing covers year after year.

Let’s have some fun.

Test your knowledge of Covers That Sell.  I’ll show you 4 of Esquire’s 11 covers in 2013.  Using Canadian sales data, your task is to rank them from best to worst.

Guess in which order they ranked:  #1, #2, #3 and #11 worst.

Here are the 4 covers (no peaking, pan down slowly, as answers are provided at the bottom).

March 2013 (The Man)

Oct 2013 (Obama)

Jan 2013 (Penn)

July 2013 (Pitt)



And the Answers Are:

#1 Seller in Canada…Jan 2013, Penn,  sold 11,319  (Meaning of Life annual + Bad Boy+ White background = Success)

#2 Seller in Canada…Mar 2013,  The Man, sold 8,859  (Proving that Black and All Type covers can work if the subject matter has appeal)

#3 Seller in Canada…Jul 2013, Pitt, sold 8,443

#11 Worst Seller in Canada…Oct 2013, Obama, sold 5,133

Vanity Fair has some of the most amazingly beautiful covers year after year.

Let’s have some fun.

Test your knowledge of Covers That Sell.  I’ll show you 4 of Vanity Fair’s 12 covers in 2014.  Using Canadian sales data, your task is to rank them from best to worst

Guess in which order they ranked:  #1, #2, #3 and #12

Here are the 4 covers (no peaking, pan down slowly, as answers are provided at the bottom).

July 2014 (Next Wave)

March 2014 (Hollywood)

January 2014 (Amy Adams)

August 2014 (Prince George)



And the Answers are:
#1 Seller in Canada…March 2014, sold 37,918
#2 Seller in Canada…January 2014, sold 34,681
#3 Seller in Canada…August 2014, sold 31,967
#12 Worst Seller in Canada…July 2014, sold 20,338

Vanity Fair has some of the most amazingly beautiful covers year after year.

Let’s have some fun.

Test your knowledge of Covers That Sell.  I’ll show you 4 of Vanity Fair’s 12 covers in 2013.  Using Canadian sales data, your task is to rank them from best to worst

Guess in which order they ranked:  #1, #2, #3 and #12

Here are the 4 covers (no peaking, pan down slowly, as answers are provided at the bottom).

April 2013 (Taylor Swift)

January 2013 (Comedy)

September 2013 (Dianna)


And the Answers are:
#1 Seller in Canada…September 2013, Dianna…sold 49,058
#2 Seller in Canada…May 2013, Audrey…sold 41,906
#3 Seller in Canada…January 2013, Comedy…sold 39,414
#12 Worst Seller in Canada…April 2013, Taylor Swift…sold 26,690