Cover pics

[doug maverick]

i was looking at some of the past cover pictures and from like 95-02 u guys had some great covers now its like once in a blue. more good cover please

[GeneChing]

Our next cover was shot by National Geographic photographer. I hope you like it.

[doug maverick]

is that the one i'm looking at when i come to the site up in right hand corner if so thats awesome i really like it.

[GeneChing]

That's the work of Justin Guariglia, from National Geographic. I've discussed him a bit already here and here. He's got this new book from Aperture. You'll read all about it in the new issue. It's phenomenal. We have more to come on this. Stay tuned.

[doug maverick]

thats cool, i think thats what attracted me to the mag in the first place your cover were defferent from other mags like IKF, as you know i'm in film and theatre so i'm a very visual person, so good pics are always attractive to look at. also i'm glad you guys have still kept your intrigrity and not just print mags about hot girl in the ma world(even thou one or two would not be bad ya digg )

[GeneChing]

You know, we get a fair amount of professional advice on our cover. In the mag industry, it's a huge factor, of course, so there's a lot of research on what works and what doesn't. The hot girl is huge, obviously, but our mag is an anomaly. In general, putting a woman on the cover of our mag will cut our sales by 5-10%, which is devastating on today's competitive newsstand. That's why you'll see a dearth of hot girls on our cover. We did run Helen Liang (with her dad, Liang Shou-yu) on our May June this year. Helen is an anomaly within an anomaly. She sells. In fact, she graced our last female cover, which was all the way back in July/Aug 2003.

You know what sells well on our cover? Guys with beards. I kid you not. It's another reason why I'm very excited about our most recent cover.

[doug maverick]

it all has to do with kung fu movies and the kung fu tv series, believe it or not. people like to see old master poe types doing cma when their old as dirt spouting wisdom like master poe. it is the quentessiential image of a kung fu master, so i can see why that sells, also my idea on helen(i have both copies with her) you get a sence that this someone who knows her stuff, and is just not some wushu hottie put on to sell mags. its weird i think and totally interesting.