Sydney Stern has freelanced for many publications including the New York Times and has written three books. Toyland: The High-Stakes Game of the Toy Industry (1990, paper 1991) was a Book of the Month Club and Fortune Book Club pick. Her first biography was Gloria Steinem: Her Passions, Politics, and Mystique (1997). She published The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics in October 2019.