ABSTRACT
The periodical business has remained relatively robust by constantly reinventing itself. It is highly responsive to fads and trends while at the same time supportive of titles that have published continuously for decades. Spurred in the 19th century by higher levels of literacy, as well as the twin steam-driven technologies of gravure for printing and railroads for distribution, magazines reached further into the population. Rising standards of living helped the advertising-driven business model take hold, keeping prices for readers well below the cost of production.
