Penguin To Launch Website By Teens For Teens

By Carmen 

The Bookseller reports that Penguin Books UK is to invest a five-figure sum in a book website for teenagers, to be run by a teen editorial board. The site will be launched in September and is aimed at readers aged from 13 to 18. The move follows research by Penguin which showed that three out of four teenagers get their information about books from the internet. “We found that conventional marketing won’t reach them but that we could reach this audience online,” said Puffin publicity director Adele Minchin.

The Penguin-branded website will cover titles from across the group, including Penguin-branded teenage titles from the Puffin list. Teen authors at Puffin include Meg Rosoff, Melvin Burgess and Nick Hornby. Penguin and youth marketing agency Livity are currently recruiting nine teenagers aged from 16 to 18 to form a London-based editorial team, and additional contributors from outside the capital. The team will spend a month developing the website with Puffin and Livity before taking control.