How to Get on a Magazine Cover as an Entrepreneur
- ▸There are four routes onto a magazine cover: an editorial cover story, a list or award cover, a paid cover feature, and a designed cover graphic.
- ▸Only editorial and list covers are chosen by editors; major national magazine covers cannot be bought.
- ▸Almost every cover route starts with earlier published features.
Entrepreneurs get onto magazine covers in four ways: a cover story the magazine's editors choose, a cover that comes with a ranked list or award, a paid cover feature from a smaller or independent magazine, and a designed cover graphic made for marketing. Only the first two are editorial. The covers of major national magazines cannot be bought.
A cover is the single biggest editorial decision a magazine makes each issue, which is why it carries so much weight and why so many offers to "put you on a cover" are not what they sound like. Here is how each route actually works.
Route 1: an editorial cover story
The magazine's editors decide your story is the one that should sell the issue.
What editors look for:
- A story at the scale of the magazine. A national business title needs a story national readers care about: a major raise, a company with a real market position, a founder at the centre of a trend.
- A reason it is happening now. A milestone, a launch, a list, a turning point.
- A record of earlier coverage. Editors rarely put an unknown name on the cover. Features in other publications show there is a story worth telling at length.
- Access. Cover stories take interviews, photo shoots and time, so the subject has to be available and willing.
How it happens: usually through a publicist or an existing relationship with the magazine's editors, and usually months after the first conversation. It costs nothing to be chosen, and nobody can sell it to you.
Route 2: a cover that comes with a list or award
Some magazines put honourees from a ranked list or award on the cover of that issue.
Lists such as Forbes 30 Under 30 are editorial projects. There is no fee to be nominated or to apply, and no one can pay for a place. Being on the list does not guarantee the cover, but it puts you in the small group the cover is chosen from.
How to approach it: find the lists in your industry, note their nomination windows and criteria, and build the evidence they ask for well before the deadline.
Route 3: a paid cover feature
Many smaller, independent and digital magazines sell cover features as a package, often bundled with an interview and social media promotion.
This is a legitimate product when it is sold honestly. Sponsored magazine features in general range from around $500 at small trade publications to $200,000 or more at major national outlets, and cover packages at smaller titles usually sit toward the lower end of that range.
What to check before paying:
- Who actually reads it. Ask for real readership or distribution figures, and whether there is a print edition or only a digital one.
- Whether it is a real issue. Is the cover part of a published issue readers can find, or a standalone image?
- How it is labelled. Reputable publications mark paid content as sponsored or partner content.
- Who else has been on the cover. A cover shared with recognisable names means more than one that anyone can buy every month.
A paid cover on a small magazine can be a good marketing asset. It is not the same as an editorial cover, and treating it as one in front of journalists or investors tends to backfire.
Route 4: a designed cover graphic
Some services create a magazine-style cover image with your photo and a headline. It is a design, not a magazine.
Used honestly, it is a useful piece of marketing for social media, a website or a speaker kit, especially alongside a real article. Used dishonestly, by implying a real magazine put you on its cover, it damages credibility the moment someone checks, and people do check.
Which route is right for you
- You have a genuinely big story and time: pitch for an editorial cover, ideally with a publicist.
- You qualify for a list in your field: enter it. It is free and it is the most credible shortcut there is.
- You want a cover for marketing now: a paid cover on a real, well-read smaller magazine, labelled honestly.
- You want something to share alongside press you already have: a designed cover graphic, presented as exactly what it is.
What usually comes first: the feature
Almost nobody lands a cover without earlier coverage. Editors, list judges and readers all look for a trail of published articles before they take a cover seriously.
That is the part you can control today. A feature in a recognised publication gives you something credible to show when people search your name, and it is the foundation every cover route builds on. If you want to start there, see how features work or ask us which publications fit your story.
Related reading: how to get featured in Forbes, sponsored vs branded vs advertorial, and why AI engines cite listicles.
Sources: Forbes on how it makes the 30 Under 30 list, SWAGGER Magazine on sponsored feature costs, and DPReview on a magazine charging for its cover.
