The huge initial run of the 60pp magazine, printed at Varnicoat, will launch next Tuesday and will be distributed polywrapped with other publications in the IPC stable.

The launch issue will be polywrapped with sister magazines What's On TV and Now at Polestar Petty, and with Woman and Chat at Polestar Purnell.

Wyndeham Argent is taking care of pre-press on the title.
Justin Beard, group production manager for IPC Connect, said: "Whenever a publishing company does sampling, we try to flood the market to get the maximum response."

Beard declined to reveal the expected print run for the first paid-for issue of the magazine, which will hit newsstands on 20 January. The cover price is also currently under wraps.

Rivals in the so-called real-life market include Take a Break, with a circulation of 1.2m, and the 571,000-circulation That's Life, both published by H Bauer.

Overall circulation within the women's weekly sector stands at 7.9m, with 2.4m of this in real-life titles.

A 6m marketing campaign, including TV advertising, will promote the magazine's launch.

* Express Newspapers and Northern & Shell boss Richard Desmond has earmarked 10m to facilitate the 6 April launch of shopping magazine Happy, according to reports.

The content of the magazine will complement that of the Desmond-owned Express Shopping Channel.

Story by Josh Brooks