| It's interesting to look back at the | | | | weeks more then 20,000 people signed up. |
| origins of Cosmopolitan Magazine, seeing | | | | Cosmopolitan magazine was later sold to |
| their first subscription numbers (in the | | | | William Randolph Hearst in 1905. He |
| 25,000) range, into what it has become | | | | began to expand the magazine by |
| now--a modern day success. Its almost | | | | employing top writers, and investigative |
| amazing how the content has evolved over | | | | journalists. Some of the best articles |
| the years--from a one-time family | | | | written came from the recruiting sense |
| magazine back in the late 19th | | | | of William Hearst, he employed Alfred |
| century--to what is now a demographic | | | | Henry Lewis, David Graham Philips, Ida |
| exclusive to females. | | | | Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis |
| Before cosmopolitan magazine experienced | | | | and George Bernard Shaw, all who went on |
| world wide success, the initial founders | | | | to write some of the most famous |
| and editors (Schlicht & Field) went out | | | | articles for their time. |
| of business only 2 years after the | | | | As decades past, the magazine changed |
| company's launch. Only after E.D. | | | | from strictly articles to short novels |
| Walker, an ex editor for Harper's | | | | and stories, sales soared (1.7 Million |
| Monthly purchased the rights to | | | | copies in circulation) and over 5 |
| Cosmopolitan magazine did the business | | | | million in advertising revenues in 1930. |
| really take off. He didn't settle for | | | | Cosmopolitan magazine proved to be an |
| the old way of doing things, with an | | | | unbelievable success, after the Second |
| innovative sense he introduced book | | | | World War magazine sales topped the 2 |
| reviews, serial fiction, and color | | | | million mark. Unfortunately demand for |
| illustrations to the magazine. | | | | the magazines content decreased in the |
| Only 1 year later after Cosmopolitans | | | | 50s, circulation numbers crippled to |
| booming popularity, E.D. Walker sold the | | | | just over a million, despite the reduced |
| company to John Brisben Walker, who | | | | revenue cosmopolitan magazine |
| quickly employed some of the nation's | | | | subscriptions were still a profitable |
| top writers. He went on to open a free | | | | venture, even today Cosmopolitan is one |
| correspondence school, which he had to | | | | of the most subscribed to magazines in |
| retract almost immediately after only 2 | | | | the world. |