By writing a book himself, Stern said that "it will at least be my words." Stern added that he wanted to write a book that dealt with honest opinions because it was something that people "don't deal with honesty any more." He cited honesty as the reason why audiences respond to him, yet thought the book would reveal a side to him that his fans were not familiar with. A major factor for Stern to write a book was due to his dissatisfaction with the number of times he had been misquoted or paraphrased in print or television, itself a reason why he resisted in granting press interviews. On March 23, 1993, Stern held a live press conference on his radio show to announce the deal and aimed for a release in October of that year.
Stern accepted, partly for the "great advance" that was offered, which was estimated to be worth over $1 million, and that Simon & Schuster was a prestigious company. He believed that they wanted him following the success of The Way Things Ought to Be, the first book by popular conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, which generated strong sales and became a success on The New York Times Best Seller list. Stern was approached by the publisher and found the project an attractive one as it would help strengthen his self-proclaimed title of "King of All Media". In February 1993, the press reported that Stern had entered talks with publisher Simon & Schuster to write a book. However, development for a feature film with New Line Cinema based on his Fartman character was delayed and ultimately fell through in 1993. Stern had also landed success in television as the host of The Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV and The Howard Stern "Interview" on E!. In January of that year, the show was syndicated to ten markets and had become the first to be number one in New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia simultaneously. This release was supported with a second paperback print of the book.īy 1993, Stern had been the host of his morning radio show, The Howard Stern Show, at WXRK in New York City for over six years.
The autobiographical chapters of the book were adapted into the 1997 feature film Private Parts, which starred Stern and his radio show staff playing themselves. A paperback edition with extra material was released in 1994. After five days, it became the fastest selling title in Simon & Schuster's history.
It debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained there for five weeks. Private Parts was an instant commercial success upon release. After development on a feature film for New Line Cinema fell through, Stern secured a deal with Simon & Schuster in early 1993 to write a book. By mid-1992, Stern's radio show The Howard Stern Show had become the number one morning program in New York City and had hosted the Saturday night television show The Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV, since 1990. It was released on Octoby Simon & Schuster and edited by Larry "Ratso" Sloman and Judith Regan. Private Parts is the first book by American radio personality Howard Stern.