Seven Sisters (magazines)

The Seven Sisters are a group of magazines which have traditionally been aimed at married women who are homemakers with husbands and children, rather than single and working women. The name is derived from the Greek myth of the "seven sisters", also known as the Pleiades. A major force in 20th century American publishing, five of the magazines are still published:

The sixth sister, Ladies' Home Journal ceased monthly publication in April 2014. Publisher Meredith Corporation stated they would be "transitioning Ladies' Home Journal to a special interest publication".

The seventh sister, McCall's, ceased publication in 2002 after an ill-fated attempt to rebrand itself (under the name Rosie) by teaming up with talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell and the publisher were unable to agree upon editorial decisions, and both parties filed breach-of-contract lawsuits against the other.

After a wave of consolidation and mergers, two companies now own the five remaining sisters: Meredith Corporation publishes Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle; and Hearst Corporation publishes Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and Woman's Day. While their circulation has slipped from their figures in the 1960s and 1970s, they are among the highest circulation magazines in the United States.

While all seven of the magazines were aimed at women, they all had divergent beginnings. Family Circle and Woman's Day were both originally conceived as circulars for grocery stores (Piggly Wiggly and A&P);McCall's and Redbook were known for a text-heavy format focusing on quality fiction; Good Housekeeping was aimed at affluent housewives.Ladies' Home Journal was originally a single-page supplement to a general interest magazine, while Better Homes and Gardens began as a blending of woman's magazine and home design journal.

Through the 1990s, in the face of declining readership and advertising revenue, the Seven Sisters attempted to differentiate themselves from each other and from the rest of the market, relying on either incremental tweaks to their formula or wholesale changes in the format of the magazine. In recent years, the focus has been on minor changes, such as updating the visual appeal or improving the paper stock on which the magazine is printed.

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