what works on the cover of wired
From his comments on Cindy Royal's post about the latest Wired cover, Chris Anderson on what actually works on the cover...
We have trouble putting *people* on the cover. It’s the same reason: they have to sell, and what sells for us is either big ideas (sans people) or well-known, likable people with interesting things to say. The problem is that there aren’t enough geek celebrities, so we often end up going with celebrity geeks instead. Our Gates and Zuckerberg cover didn’t sell as well as our Will Ferrell cover.
Two words: airport bookstores.