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