Are you a content or a cover girl?

Do you buy magazines for their content or their cover?

I started thinking about content versus cover when browsing through my pile of long overdue reading. The June and July issues of The World of Interiors were sitting side by side on the coffee table and as I had not had time to flick through either I inadvertently started comparing them in order to choose the one I wanted to look at. I am fickle....I immediately went for the bright colour and more whimsical image and if I tell the truth only briefly looked at the other issue. Am I being harsh? I found myself wanting to scan the 'red' cover for every detail - I checked out the ticking mattresses, the details and colours of  the two painted chairs, registered the gilt corona and thought about putting a bird cage in my guest room before I could blink. The other magazine with the 'brown' cover I put aside.

In order to be fare I examined both the magazines for content and found that the less inspiring cover had equally good articles and photographs, if not better. A visual extravaganza called, Fringe Theatre - all about pompoms tassels and frills; who doesn't love a bit of trimming? Those images would have made a wonderful cover... Castilian Collective, a rural retreat in northern Spain and Blind to Beige were two of the other features that had me swooning. The cover story, The Kit House Refigured was actually a fascinating read about a house that can be built in 4 days by 5 laymen. This issue is packed full of goodness from beginning to end. So why did the editors choose such a bland cover? If I were a monthly buyer and not a subscriber I would not have picked this issue up and bought it. It is tough for creative people to come up with a winner every month and I do not envy them that job; I understand the pressure they must feel to 'get it right'. If magazine sales are declining as the internet's tentacles claim their readership, then how they present themselves to the world takes on a much greater importance. As headlines are to the tabloids, covers must be to the magazines. 

I think the same can be said for books. That old saying, 'don't judge a book by it's cover' is no doubt wise and true (and not entirely meant to reference book buying) but don't we initially judge a book by it's cover? Hands up who is guilty? I am...Photographic, fiction and non-fiction - hard or soft bindings - it is the cover that grabs my attention in the first place. Books do have the advantage of author following and subject specifics and this can save a less than interesting cover, but whether it be in airports or book shops or simply online at Amazon, we are seduced by cover. If magazines are to retain their market share then they must follow suite. 

A cover is a promise of things to come. What do you think - do you buy by cover or by content alone? xv