Which Stars Really Sell Magazines? It’s Not Who You Think

Remember that study about how women's roles in movies are declining, and drastically? Well, it looks like that change may be spearheading a major new movement in magazine publishing. According to a recent article in The New York Times, women's magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour are all moving away from film stars as their go-to covergirls, as musicians and television actors pull in significantly higher sales.

Movie mavens, it seems, are losing their star power, while male actors are still on the up-and-up in the world of men's magazines. Among best-sellers for some of the industry's top titles are Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, and Kim Kardashian. Even Gwyneth Paltrow, an a-lister if there ever was one, found herself side-by-side with her personal trainer and TV fitness star Tracy Anderson.

The current theory, according to editors like Cosmopolitan's Joanna Coles and Glamour's Cindi Leive (pictured here), is that film stars are just too inaccessible. Reality stars and certain musicians gladly open up about their lives through Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram; they're always visible through year-round appearances. On the other hand, flawless beauties with impressive film credits remain isolated and idolized, booking the occasional beauty deal but rarely offering unscripted insights. That's all well and good for a paparazzi photo, but maybe it doesn't make for very interesting reading. And even outside of the reality genre, increasing audience interest in more high-quality, critically-acclaimed television programs like Homeland and Mad Men is changing the game for TV stars.

Does this mean that the gap between celebrities and their audiences is ever-closing? We think so. In the age of social media, the most successful stars — though, to be fair, they're also the ones most vulnerable to prying tabloid headlines — are the ones who man their own Twitter accounts and snap shots for Instagram themselves. (The New York Times)