What do roast dinners and publishing have in common?

Each month I oversee the publication of two digital magazines clocking in at 100+ pages per publication.

There are multiple moving parts to juggle in the publishing cycle and keeping all the plates spinning successfully is a fine art.

I think of the process like coordinating a delicious roast dinner. Bear with me…

Planning: Work backwards

Whenever I cook a roast dinner I write a timeline on a scrap bit of paper or in a notebook.

I work backwards from the intended eating time for each component of the meal, longest to shortest, so I know when each part of the meal needs to go into the oven or onto the hob.

Juggling the various moving parts of publishing a magazine is very similar.

Working backwards from the intended date of publication, you can set yourself deadlines for each component of the magazine – and who doesn’t love a clearly defined deadline?

Depending on the projects involved and the publication timelines (my bias here is our magazines’ monthly release cycle), you might aim for these time frames:  

• Four to six weeks before the magazine releases you might aim to have all interviews conducted and transcribed
• One week before conducting an interview you share the preparation document with the interviewee and request their headshots or supporting photos
• Three weeks before publishing, you request all adverts have been submitted
• A week before go-live day you endeavour to have all interview features approved and signed off from a design perspective
• Two days before publication you commence final proofing and link checks

I always err on the side of caution and give myself slack in the scheduling since certain aspects might run over: project partners who take longer to submit adverts or interviewees wanting to amend copy, for instance.

With a clear timeline in place, you set yourself up for success to keep things on track for publication with as few headaches as possible.

Preference: Serving your guests

As you plan a roast dinner, the tastes and inclinations of your guests are important considerations.

Your vegetarian aunty might need an alternative main meal. Your dad’s preference for borderline burned roasties may affect your cooking timelines. If your sister always takes more than her fair share of brussels sprouts, you might make extra to accommodate.

The same consideration goes for your readers.

Knowing your audience is a crucial component of any editorial strategy.

Who are they? What are their interests? Where do they consume your content – mobile, desktops or on social media platforms? What time should you publish for maximum engagement depending on the distribution channel?

Here you can create ideal reader profiles to serve as handy reference points. Whenever you plan, create and distribute your content – keep these outlines in mind at every step of the way.

When serving your readers, think of them as guests to your publication.

Presentation: Elevate the experience

Picture a roast dinner where everything is dumped on the plate haphazardly. Contrast this image with a neatly presented meal where there’s been consideration in the serving.

Sure, ultimately it’s the same food and ingredients. But it’s only natural to enjoy the well-presented meal more than the school dinner slop version.

The same applies to creating and publishing content.

You can write the exact same article, feature or even entire magazine.

But if you pay care and attention to the presentation of the words and visual materials, you transform the experience for your readers.

Here, key considerations include:

• Reader-friendly devices like sub-headings, bullet points (see what I did here) or numbered lists
• Visuals like graphs, data comparisons, timelines etc
• Striking photos and images dotted throughout to break up the text
• Embedded videos
• Paragraph length – depends on the type of content, but today’s reader love a short para
• Contrast light text on dark backgrounds or dark text on light backgrounds
• Emphasise key takeaways or sentiments with pull quotes
• Embrace design elements to benefit the reader like negative space, logical reading flows, etc

What are some of your go-to strategies for planning, creating and publishing content?

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