What To Expect When You’re No. 1
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

What book that has been out for 20 years has been close to the top of the New York Times best-seller list for the past few months, even hitting no. 1 for several weeks? The answer: “What To Expect When You’re Expecting,” today’s most popular book for mothers-to-be, which has sold 12 million copies. And yes, the book’s title has been an answer to a question on “Jeopardy!”
The first edition of “What to Expect,” written by Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, and Sandee Hathaway, was the collaboration of a mother and her two daughters. Published in 1984 by Workman Publishers, the book came about because Heidi Murkoff had so many questions and concerns when she was pregnant. She asked her mother Arlene Eisenberg, a longtime medical writer, and her sister Sandee Hathaway, a nurse, for answers. Heidi was also a writer and, after giving birth to her daughter, delivered a proposal for a book that would answer the questions she realized most pregnant women also have.
Says Workman’s editor, Suzanne Rafer, “The smartest thing I ever did in publishing, when I saw that proposal, was to say, ‘We ought to buy this book.'” “What to Expect” is now in its third best-selling edition. “It is revised at every printing,” Ms. Rafer says, “because there is so much new information.”
The book has also given birth to a small industry. There is also “What to Expect the First Year,” “What to Expect the Toddler Years,” and “The What to Expect Pregnancy Organizer.” “What To Expect” is now a registered trademark. The series has sold 25 million copies.
A newly revised version of “What to Eat When You’re Expecting” will be out next year with a slight title change. The new guide is called: “Eating Well When You’re Expecting”
“It really is a very good book,” says one pregnant woman I know very well, the managing editor of Seventeen Magazine and my daughter-in-law, Carolyn Noyes Blyth. “It is very clear and very reassuring, and all the medical information appears to be accurate. I just bought my copy of ‘What to Expect the First Year.'”
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Not one, but two new magazines will be soon competing for men’s attention. But they aim at very different kinds of men.
First of all, there is the just-launched Trader Monthly, which was introduced at a lavish champagne and foie gras celebration at the Mandarin Oriental. The magazine is founded by a former London-based trader, Magnus Greaves, who sold his trading business reputedly for more than $40 million, before going into what may be an even more risky business: magazine publishing.
Described by some in the business as “Maxim meets Bloomberg,” the magazine’s motto is “See It, Make It, Spend it.” The launch issue includes a feature on today’s “Highest Earning Traders” and what they are paid. The sums are enormous. The December/ January issue, out in a couple of weeks, highlights the best, worst, and weirdest trades of the year. It also includes a gift-giving guide full of suggestions. For example “For the sister who lives for fashion” and who introduced you to “her super hot bisexual nymphomanical sorority sister” a Tiffany Atlas Bangle ($5,500). Thanks, bro.
Says publisher Wilke Bushby, “Traders are the rock stars of the financial world. They are the peak of the financial food chain. They are high-risk, high-reward young guys between 28 and 35, earning upwards of $450,000.”
The magazine has a $10 cover price but will be given free to a controlled circulation of 100,000. But, Mr. Busby says, they have to be “qualified traders.” Advertising response, he says, so far has been “terrific.” Among the advertisers already on board are Cartier, Asprey, and Blue Star Jets.
But what about the guys who are somewhat lower on the financial food chain? Well, there’s Racing Fan, a magazine which will be published by Time Inc.’s Time4Media unit early next year and is aimed at Nascar Nation, a slightly larger demographic than those high earning, high-living traders. In fact, Nascar racing is the nation’s second most popular sport after football. There are 35 million fans and 22 million are especially avid. One might call them “qualified” Nascar fanatics.
According to the editorial director of Times4Media, Scott Mowbray, Racing Fan will focus on the spectacle of Nascar and its stars. It will have an oversized format, about the size of the very successful ESPN magazine. Some potential stories include “10 Crashes That Shook Nascar’s World.” No. 1, of course, is the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. at the Daytona 500 in 2001.
The newsstand distribution is set for 250,000 copies with a rate of $10,000 for a one-page, full-color ad. I doubt if Cartier, Asprey, or Blue Star Jets will be among the advertisers.
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More good news for Martha: Her company, Martha Stewart Living, and NBC are close to making a deal for a prime-star series that would star the domestic diva and would be produced by Mark Burnett who created “Survivor.” A revival of her syndicated series “Martha Stewart Living” is also in the works.
The details of the new show are being worked out but it will contain a competition element similar to Mr. Burnett’s other hits, “Survivor” and “The Apprentice.” The show will likely be on the air sometime next year and, no, it probably won’t be called “Martha Stewart: Survivor.” Mr. Burnett may also be involved in producing a new version of “Martha Stewart Living” which ceased production after Stewart was convicted of lying to investigators and obstructing justice.
Also, it appears readers of her magazine are willing to forgive and forget. According to a survey conducted by the advertising agency WPP Group PLC Media edge, 70% of the subscribers of Martha Stewart Living magazine plan to renew their subscriptions. The renewal rate is 19% better than magazine industry average claims Capell and Associates, a firm that analyzes magazine circulation.
Most magazines refuse to provide advertisers with their subscription renewal rates, claiming magazines are sold in many different ways and renewal rates vary widely depending on how the subscriber originally bought the magazine. But this up tick shows a definite sign of recovery for Martha’s flagship magazine. According to Capell, at the height of the scandal, renewal rates for Martha Stewart Living fell 10% below the industry’s average.