• DM News, Thursday, February 9, 2006 10:45 AM

Kate White, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, this week told a Direct Marketing Association audience that although covers are but one component of a magazine, she spends half of each month working on cover lines and images. She noted, for example, that she retains control of the dress worn by the cover model, and that she focuses much of her attention on the background color for the cover shoot.  White emphasized the importance of cover lines for a populist magazine such as hers:  "If Jay Leno isn't talking about the cover every four or five months, then I know I'm doing something wrong." In an introductory wisecrack, White said, "If I wasn't here, I'd be working on cover lines like 'Mattress Moves So Hot His Thighs Will Go Up in Flames.'" Among the other choice bits dispensed by White:  Based on past newsstand history, Cosmo now puts only blondes on its cover; preferably, they pose in the butterfly position, which seems to appeal to newsstand shoppers.  Noting that Cosmo, with its circ of two million, has far outpaced Glamour and In Style at the newsstand, White concluded by saying, "They're not our competitive set anymore.  Our competition is In Touch and Us."

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