Half million print run for new Wimpy Kid

30.08.11 | Katie Allen - The Bookseller

Puffin is to release an initial print run of half a million copies of the new Wimpy Kid title, Cabin Fever, published on 16th November.

The print run is the largest in the history of the children's publisher, and will be Penguin's largest initial UK print run this autumn, exceeded only by Jamie Oliver.
"I am very excited to be pressing the button on this unprecedented initial print run," said Penguin Children's Books m.d. Francesca Dow. "The publication of Cabin Fever in November will be unmissable and will amount to a spectacular autumn for Puffin and for the Wimpy Kid series."
Puffin is also planning a marketing and PR spend of £210,000 for Jeff Kinney's latest, launching on publication date, dubbed Wimpy Kid Wednesday.
Marketing plans include: pre-order messaging around the DVD release of "Rodrick Rules" in September with 85,000 inserts in DVDs; Wimpy Kid character masks and Wimpy Kid Wednesday event packs to download and available in bookshops and libraries nationwide; TV advertising and a "major" outdoor consumer advertising campaign.
Online promotion includes activity on wimpykidclub.co.uk; updates and newsletters to 130,000 Facebook fans; a Cabin Fever internet trailer; plus a schools campaign to promote interactive webcast Jeff Kinney Virtually Live.
Puffin is also launching a competition to meet Kinney plus a UK tour in November including an appearance at Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland.
According to the publisher, close to four million Diary of a Wimpy Kid titles have been sold in the UK alone. The fifth book in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth topped the children's book chart on publication in November 2010.