How do photographs on book covers generally differ from photos on magazine covers? I need to know generally and also technically. Are magazine photographs just any editorial photograph as would be taken normally?

Both photo's must convey something what can be found inside. Mostly it's an attention grabbing image. I once made a book cover and chose a photo of a city at a lake, where a good deal of the book took place there.

Not sure about where you live but here one could visit a library and find thousands of books and magazines to make comparisons with.

I think a lot has to dow the type of book and magazine, a romance novel vs a news or sports magazine