The End of Pom Pom Quarterly - A Letter From Our Founders + FAQ

Dear beloved friends of Pom Pom, 

It is with great sadness, and yet full hearts, that we must announce that the next issue of Pom Pom Quarterly will be our last.

We started Pom Pom in 2012 in our mid-twenties, with £600 and next to no publishing or business experience. From the very first issue, our readers were our biggest champions, and the feeling of having the creative project that we were passionate about be encouraged, cherished, and uplifted by the making community is one of the proudest accomplishments of our lives. 

Our team grew as we moved forward, and we have been honoured to have incredibly talented people spend years of their lives working as hard and as passionately as we have on Pom Pom. We have also worked with some of the most talented craft professionals in the world, without whose innovative designs and thoughtful writing we would be nothing. 

Pom Pom grew beyond our wildest dreams: offices in the UK and US, over 700 stockists around the world, and thousands upon thousands of our magazines and books in your hands.

Pom Pom was founded during a renaissance of printed magazines, when many believed print was dead. We knew that makers are tactile people, and our readership appreciated the beautiful paper and lithographic printing that has always been a hallmark of our publications. We have always sold more in print than digitally. The world has changed unimaginably since our foundation. The cost of paper and printing has more than doubled in recent years, as has the cost of shipping. Though we tried many, many ways of continuing to make Pom Pom work as a print publishing company, we cannot continue without compromising the values on which we were founded. It has been an incredibly difficult struggle but we can safely say we gave it our all. 

Our last issue, #48, will be published in January 2024. It is among the best issues we’ve ever produced. We have many costs to cover in the coming months, not least supporting our incredible staff and freelance collaborators. If Pom Pom has been a meaningful part of your crafting life over the past twelve years, we would like to humbly request that you help get us through this difficult stage of our beloved small business by pre-ordering our final issue, buying back issues or books, or even just sharing this call for support. It hasn’t been our style to ask for help in the past, but any small or large purchases you can make at this time mean the absolute world to us. 

We love you, dear Pom Pom readers. Thank you for believing in us from the start. Here’s to one more issue we can’t wait to share with you this spring. 

All our love, 

Lydia + Meghan

Everything in print except our final two issues is now 50% off in our online shop. The discount is automatically applied when you add to cart. We hope you find something you love.

We know you probably have a lot of questions about what this news means for you, and we appreciate your patience as we navigate these new waters. We've done our best to answer your questions below. 

What happens to my subscription?

• We have now reached out to all subscribers whose cycle was supposed to end with either issue 49 or issue 50. If you have not heard from us, please check your spam folder. If you still need assistance, email contact@pompommag.com.

I have placed an order, when can I expect it to arrive?

• Pom Pom is now operating as a very small team from our Austin base, working hard to get your orders out as soon as possible. If you have placed an order with us on or after 1 February 2024 you can expect your order to be packed and shipped within approx 5-7 working days.

I missed out on a print copy of Issue 48, where can I buy this last issue?

• Issue 48 is available to pre-order in digital-only form. The digital copy will be emailed to you on 18th January and will remain available in digital-only form for the foreseeable future.
• Thanks to the incredible support of our readers of this final edition, print copies are sold out. If you missed out please check out our stockists - print copies will be in store at our wonderful stockists around the globe on 18th January, many of them are running pre-orders.

Will my digital files still be available?

• Yes, for the foreseeable future, we plan to keep digital files available, as well as digital versions of our publications for sale via our website and Ravelry.

• We were overwhelmed with support in the form of orders from around the world. Our very small team has been hard at work every day processing these, but the volume meant this took several weeks. Thank you for your patience. If your order has not arrived yet please check the below updates:
• Subscription and pre-order copies of Issue 48: Shipped late Dec/early Jan from the UK via an untracked service to all locations.
• Some U.S. customers may experience a delay in their copy of Issue 48 arriving due to an error at our shipping partner's warehouse. If you are affected, you will have received an email from us with more information. Rest assured, your copy is now on it's way to you and you do not need to take any further action at this time.
• For all other orders to US customers: Check your inbox for shipping confirmation and tracking links (no tracking available for Issue 48). Items showing as pre-shipment/label created are in the USPS system and should show movement soon.
• For all other orders to UK/EU/ROW (not US): If your order was placed on or before 8th January 2024 this has shipped. Orders to these locations are untracked (2-4 days UK, 2-4 weeks ROW).
• Don't forget that once you've placed your order you have immediate access to the digital version of all publications (excluding Interpretations).  

Is the business closing?

• Pom Pom will no longer publish our quarterly magazine, and we have no current plans for future books. However our online shop will remain open to sell whatever printed stock remains as well as digital versions of our publications. 
• If you would would like to collaborate in some way on future projects, please do reach out.

I have a gift card, until when will I be able to spend it?

• Though we do not currently have a set date through which existing stock will be available, we encourage anyone with a gift card to use it by December 31st as we can not guarantee beyond that date that print copies will be available to purchase.

I have a shop and would like to continue to sell Pom Pom’s books.

• Our books and back issues of the magazine are still available wholesale. Please reach out to wholesale@pompommag.com with any questions or place an order as you normally would.

I am looking for staff for my craft-focused and/or publishing business.

• You’re in luck! We would love to place one of our amazing staff members with your company. We can recommend them wholeheartedly and would love to provide a reference.