You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Puffin Post, the children's book club magazine originally created in 1967, is being relaunched under the management of The Book People (TBP). The new bi-monthly magazine will include a book offer with each edition, enabling children to choose six books a year.
In its heyday the magazine boasted 200,000 members but it closed in 1982. The Puffin Club, a catalogue-based offer, continued but faced heavy competition and Puffin handed management of the Puffin Book Club to The Book People in January this year. TBP intends to reinvigorate the brand with a new design for the Puffin Book Club and the reintroduction of the Puffin Post in January 2009.
The Puffin Post will target children aged seven to 13 years and will feature exclusive stories written by bestselling children's authors such as Michael Morpurgo as well as interviews with authors such as Charlie Higson and Rick Riordan, alongside jokes, activities and competitions. Madonna will also feature in the magazine's pre-launch issue, published this month.
Editorial will be created by TBP with support from Puffin and the magazine will have a website, www.puffinpost.co.uk" target="_blank" title="puffinpost.co.uk">www.puffinpost.co.uk. TBP c.e.o. Seni Glaister said: "We have a very small team working on Puffin Post, affectionately known as ‘Ptolemy's Pteam'. Puffin is very involved and has been amazingly supportive. It feels like a very healthy collaboration."
An annual subscription for the magazine is £38 (£45 from January 2009). A key feature is that subscribers will be able to choose a Puffin title from each issue, said Glaister. "Children will be able to read the reviews, make an informed decision and then place their order online without any parental intervention. This will encourage children to take responsibility for their reading choice and engender—we hope—a life-long love of books."
Initially, Puffin Post will be marketed to TBP's own mailing list before being extended later this month. Glaister added that the Puffin offering remained distinct from the Scholastic-backed Red House Book Club. "Puffin Post is driven completely by the editorial and doesn't feel like a catalogue. The content is amazing and the magazine feels very substantial, so I think children will feel like they're getting something very worthwhile before they even get their hands on their free books."