Publishing a 36-page cover article called “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us†certainly didn’t seem like a shameless attempt to bolster newsstand sales for Time magazine.
But the 25,000-word article that Steven Brill wrote for the magazine’s March 4 issue appears to be on course to become its best-selling cover in nearly two years. Ali Zelenko, a Time spokeswoman, said the issue sold more than double the typical number of copies.
It was outperformed only by Steve Jobs, Osama bin Laden and special issues of Person of the Year and the royal wedding. It also broke online records, selling 16 times more than an average week for digital single copy sales and digital subscriptions and becoming the most viewed magazine cover article on Time.com.
The managing editor, Richard Stengel, expressed relief at the response.
“Was I worried it would not be the world’s greatest it Yeah. It’s really struck a nerve and captured lightning in a bottle,†he said. He added that the response also indicated that long-form journalism was still in demand.
The most surprising attention came from younger readers on social media who are less immediately concerned with medical bills. The article was shared 100 times more often on social media than the average Time article in 2013, and the #BitterPill hashtag was mentioned nearly 6,000 times on Twitter.
One reader wrote on nytimes.com, “This is the only time in my life that I have been interested in buying Time magazine. I’m 30. I’m unsure whether this bodes poorly for them, or well. Maybe I’ll find something I like and give it a chanceâ€
Mr. Brill said he was still receiving 50 e-mails a day from readers, and that many of those readers were in their 20s. His appearance on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,†he said, seemed to help increase his readership among a younger audience.
“These people in! their 20s really care about this stuff,†said Mr. Brill, who added that at least one reader disclosed the costs of his hospital bills when he was injured riding his bike in New York City.
