Basic HTML Version
All in A dAy
’
s work
Anniversary special |
10 years in the field
Many things have changed over the last decade for
the DDN team – staff, premises, and even the
introduction of canine office mascots. But after ten
years, everything still comes together on the
magazine’s press day.
It’s half past eight in the morning on the last Thursday of
the month – the lights go up, the kettle goes on, and things
are kicking off for another
DDN
press day.
Throughout the last month, the team has been pulling together the different
strands of the magazine, all the while juggling a number of other projects – some
related to
DDN
, and some completely distinct from it.
Claire, Kayleigh and David have been working on the editorial features, Ian and
Annie have been pinning down advertising leads, and Jez has started the
designing process for the upcoming issue.
Today is the culmination of all of this effort – but there’s still plenty of work to
be done. Jez prints out the features he has already created on Quark Xpress, and
David gets to work proofing them for grammar, factual errors and anything else
that is out of place.
Claire uses the morning to read and edit any editorial that has come in past the
deadline, as well as summarising her thoughts on this month’s issue for her editor’s
letter. There is always some zero-hour fact to be checked or author headshot to be
chased in – and Kayleigh’s morning is usually spent tying up loose ends.
Meanwhile, Annie updates the mailing list – removing addresses that no longer
need the magazine, and adding new subscribers. After ten years,
DDN
is still a free,
self-funded publication, but we do ask that organisations pass copies around and
share the magazine to help us keep costs down.
When Jez isn’t creating editorial pages, he and Ian work together to set adverts,
so that our advertisers can see a proof before we publish the magazine – we want
to offer everyone who advertises with
DDN
the best customer care we can provide.
Lunchtime arrives, and we’ve still got a long afternoon ahead of us – what’s on
the menu can make or break the day. Publishing pups Ziggy and Bella go for a
much-needed run (they’ve had an exhausting day of supervising the office, after
all) and owners Claire and Ian pick up the team lunch order from the local
sandwich shop on their way back. The team dig in to well-deserved sandwiches –
the only quiet part of the entire day.
The afternoon rolls on, and Jez prints out the last few pages of the magazine
to be proofread by David. Kayleigh is the next in line for the proofing process,
making any changes that need to be made to each article, and giving them a
second read-through.
Amendments to adverts are made – occasionally we get a last minute booking
that we weren’t expecting, which is always a good problem to have. Ian creates an
ad list for every issue, so that he knows what advert will go on what page. He
works with Claire to decide what size each issue will be, depending on how much
advertising we get and how much editorial there is, and finally Claire creates a
flatplan for each person to work from.
We’ve always been a small team, so press days usually entail a fair bit of multi-
tasking for everyone. No hands are left idle, and it’s important that we keep our
channels of communication open so that, even with several plates spinning at the
same time, no mistakes are made.
When all the editorial pages have been proofed and corrected, Claire has her
final check through them before she signs off the editorial – Jez can then prepare
them to be sent to our printers.
The day draws to a close, and the
DDN
team breathe a sigh of relief... until the
next morning anyway, when the advert pages of the magazine are also finalised
and prepared to be printed. Ian will take adverts right up until the end of
the day – we depend on advertising to fund every issue, so every advert
counts. Our accounts whizz Chrissie will then create invoices for all of our
advertising clients, and get them out of the door with a hard copy of the
magazine.
In the afternoon, Annie makes recruitment and tender adverts live on
the website – being featured online is part of the package when someone
buys a print advert. Kayleigh prepares the editorial features to go up on
the
DDN
website after the weekend – along with the virtual magazine –
just in time for when the printed magazine will start landing on the desks
of our faithful readers.
And just as you’re opening up your latest issue, we start thinking about
the next.
Let us knowwhat youwant fromyourmagazine!
Visit www.drinkanddrugsnews.com to complete
our readers’ survey – and for your chance to win
a £50 Amazon voucher.
26 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| November 2014
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
‘The DDN
bunch has
always been
a small team,
so press
days usually
entail a fair
bit of multi-
tasking for
everyone.’