Lessons From 'People' Newsstand Woes

From Brangelina to Beyoncé, no star is a sure bet

Once upon a time, People magazine was one of the newsstand’s most reliable titles, rarely selling fewer than 1 million copies per issue. But the first six months of 2012 were troublesome for the Time Inc. cash cow, whose single-copy sales tumbled 18 percent versus the first half of 2011, proving that there's no foolproof recipe for newsstand success.

While the magazine had a few wins, including a Feb. 27 Whitney Houston cover that sold some 1.3

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