Reader's Digest is a monthly general interest family magazine cofounded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally Lila Bell Wallace (b 25 December 1889, Virden Manitoba, Canada - d DeWitt Wallace ( November 12, 1890 &ndash March 30, 1981, also known as William Roy) was a United States Magazine Although its circulation has declined in recent years, the Audit Bureau of Circulation says Reader's Digest is still the best-selling consumer magazine in the USA, with a circulation of over 10 million copies in the United States, and a readership of 38 million as measured by Mediamark Research (MRI). The Audit Bureau of Circulations ( ABC) of North America is a not-for-profit circulation-auditing organization The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This is a list of magazines by overall circulation. A Magazine 's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on average for each issue According to MRI, Reader's Digest reaches more readers with household incomes of $100,000+ than Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and Inc. combined. Fortune is a Global Business Magazine published by Time Inc's Fortune|Money Group BusinessWeek is a business Magazine published by McGraw-Hill. Inc is a monthly Magazine based in New York City targeted towards entrepreneurs and small businesses Global editions of Reader's Digest reach an additional 40 million people in more than 70 countries, with 50 editions in 21 languages. It is also published in braille, digital, audio, and a version in large type called Reader's Digest Large Print. The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write
Reader's Digest is owned and published by The Reader's Digest Association, a privately held company based in Chappaqua, New York (the mailing address is actually Pleasantville, New York). The Reader’s Digest Association Inc is a global publisher and direct marketer based in Pleasantville New York, best known for its flagship publication founded Chappaqua is a hamlet and census-designated place in northern Westchester County, New York. Pleasantville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States.
The magazine is compact, with its pages roughly half the size of most American magazines. Hence, in the summer of 2005, the U. S. edition adopted the slogan, "AMERICA IN YOUR POCKET. " In January 2008, it was changed to "LIFE WELL SHARED. "
The first "It Pays to Increase Your Word Power" was published in the January 1945 edition. [1] The author's name, Wilfred Funk, was disclosed in the February 1945 issue. [2]
Contents |
Although Reader's Digest was founded in the U. S. , its international editions have made it the best-selling monthly magazine in the world. The magazine's worldwide circulation including all editions has reached 21 million copies and over 100 million readers.
The first international edition was published in the United Kingdom in 1938 and was sold at 2 shillings. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Reader's Digest is currently published in 50 editions and 21 languages and is available in over 61 countries. In 2006, the Reader's Digest continued to expand, marketing three more new editions in Slovenia, Croatia and Romania. Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania As from October 2007, Reader's Digest expanded in Serbia. Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country
Its 49 international editions, which account for about 50% of its trade volume, are controlled from the American headquarters. Except for 2 or 3 articles in each local issue, they are entirely composed of articles taken from the US and other editions, creating a mix of articles from many regions of the world. The local editorial staff comprise an office of people who select from the US and other editions and commission local content pieces, subject -- in rare cases -- to the approval of the American headquarters. The selected articles are then translated by local translators and the translations edited by the local editors to make them match the "well-educated informal" style of the American edition.
The first Readers Digest publication in the Arab World was printed in Egypt during Gamal Nasser's (1950s) regime. The license was eventually terminated. The second effort and the first Readers Digest franchise agreement was negotiated through the efforts of Frederick Pittera,in 1976, an American entrepreneur , who sold the idea to Lebanon's former Foreign Minister, Dr. Lucien Dahdah, then son-in-law of Suleiman Franjeh President of Lebanon. Dr. Dahdah partnered with Ghassan Al Tueni,( former Lebanon Ambassador to the United Nations,and publisher of Al Nahar newspaper, Beirut), in publishing the Readers Digest in the Arabic language. It was printed in Cairo for distribution throughout the Arab world under title 'Al- Mukhtar'. In format, Al-Mukhtar was the same as the U. S. edition with only 75% of the editorial content. Dr. Philip Hitti,Chairman of Princeton University's department of oriental languages and a team of Arabic advisors counseled on what would be of interest to Arabic readers. The publication of Al-Mukhtar was terminated by Readers Digest in the late 1980s.
The Canadian edition first appeared in February 1948, and today the vast majority of it is Canadian content. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page All major articles in the August 2005 edition and most of the minor articles were selected from locally-produced articles that matched the Digest style. There is usually at least one major American article in most issues.
"Life's Like That" is the Canadian name of "Life in These United States". All other titles are taken from the American publication. Recent "That's Outrageous" articles have been using editorials from the Calgary Sun. The Calgary Sun is a daily Newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Efforts are made to give the international editions a local look to make sure the Digest is never seen to be a threat to the local cultural identity, as imported American cultural products often are. Cultural identity is the (feeling of identity of a group or Culture, or of an Individual as far as he or she is influenced by her belonging to a group Previously, all editions featured the table of contents on the front cover, but this practice ceased a few years ago. While the American edition also lists the authors of the articles or the (American) publications they have been taken from, the international editions list only titles, although some editions followed the US format in the past. Advertisement placement in the local editions are entirely managed by the local staff and reflect local products.
Many American articles are integrated within the local context. For instance, in an article on air travel, John F. Kennedy Airport will be replaced by a local airport and references to American airlines with information on local companies. John F Kennedy International Airport is an International airport located in Queens County on Long Island in southeastern New York City about 12 miles (19 Local statistics may be added, currencies and measures will be adapted. Local names, quotes or pictures of local sights will sometimes replace the original ones. All those operations are called "adaptation" by the Digest editors: they are performed by the local editors and writers according to general central rules but without specific US control.
Another, similar intervention is to complement the numerous sections featuring short anecdotes (such as Quotable Quotes, Points to Ponder, Humor in Uniform, etc) with local anecdotes.
Local editions also avoid reprinting articles which may touch on sensitive spots in the receiving culture; for instance, the Italian edition may decide not to select articles which are critical of Catholicism. In general, the local editions will also avoid selecting texts which are too closely linked to very specific American (or too foreign) situations. The few articles written by local authors always deal with local topics.
Reader's Digest also publishes a series of softcover anthology books, published bi-monthly and available by subscription named Reader's Digest Select Editions (previously known as Reader's Digest Condensed Books) such as 700 Years of Classical Treasures: A Tapestry in Music and Words. A series of hardcover anthology books published bi-monthly and available by subscription from Reader's Digest. Reader's Digest Condensed Books were a series of anthology books available by subscription and originally published quarterly (the frequency of publication went through several 700 Years of Classical Treasures A Tapestry in Music and Words is a Book with eight Compact discs inside by Reader's Digest Music. During the 1970s, there was also a Reader's Digest Press which published full-length, original works of non-fiction. Reader's Digest Press was a United States Publisher of the mid-1970s to early 1980s owned by The Reader's Digest Association.
In 1952 the magazine published a series of articles that linked smoking with lung cancer. Smoking is a practice where a substance most commonly Tobacco, is burned and the Smoke tasted or inhaled Lung cancer is a Disease of uncontrolled Cell growth in tissues of the Lung. [3] This was the first serious examination of the health effects of smoking. The most immediate effect was to prompt the tobacco industry to market filter cigarettes.
Reader's Digest offers many mail order products included with "sweepstakes" or contests implying that one would have a greater chance of winning if they bought from the company. In 2001 32 states reached an agreement with the company to settle allegations that the company tricked the elderly into buying products because they were a "guaranteed winner" of a lottery. The settlement requires the company to:
Reader's Digest Word Power section sponsors a US National Vocabulary Contest.