It’s Christmas in July! As you plan ahead and look at what the rest of the year holds for your magazine, consider how to ask for gift subscriptions. Christmas is often a good time to solicit gift subscriptions.

There are multiple ways you can do this:

• A package insert is a card or brochure enclosed in a package sent to potential customers. Often, package inserts are enclosed in packages mailed by book publishers. However, some fliers are inserted in a clear plastic bag inside the mailer containing the subscribers magazine.
• Gift subscription renewals must be handled differently from normal subscriptions. Publishers normally notify the donor first. If there is no response, they may then notify the gift subscription recipient.
• Issue wraps are a second cover on a magazine. They are not usually put on magazines to be displayed for single-copy sale. However, they are sometimes used on magazines mailed to subscribers. They provide extra protection for the cover, and serve as a tool to advertise special offers to subscribers, to welcome new subscribers, or to announce subscription expiration.
• Many magazines have traditionally relied on direct mail solicitations as a primary means of building circulation. These may take a variety of forms.

• Blow-in cards are inserted in magazines either by hand or by a machine which “blows” them into the magazines. Publishers may sell these cards to advertisers or use them to advertise their own magazine. They are one of the most effective methods of gaining new subscribers.

See samples of Christmas-related solicitations.