I am curious as to how other editorial staffs develop their cover lines (we have had some problems in this area). Do you have a staff meeting to discuss the cover or how does this process happen in other companies?

It's always best to have the writer give you a headline. This helps you see if the writer really "gets" what the story is about. Then you can take that headline and others your staff develops, and share it with your editors and artists to develop the best one. Yes, work together.

Headlines should always tell the reader what's in it for him or her. What is the take-away? What is the benefit for the reader? Will they save money? Become more efficient? Make money?Don't use labels (strong verbs and active voice grab readers) and don't be cute (not everyone "gets" it; you NEVER want to leave people scratching their heads wonmdering what a story is about and what they will learn by reading it.

Good points R Sherman.

I am still interested to hear how different staffs deal with this. My prior experience was that we would go over the whole issue before deadline and work on headlines and other entry points. My current magazine groups do nothing of this sort. It strikes me as peculiar.