Can anyone give me some tips on how to develop content for the paper. It seems like for the past two months I haven't really gotten all the story ideas that I want until like the last week. So, for the first part of the month it's fairly relaxed and then the last week I am scrambling to get all the articles/photos together to my designer in time to have it published. So, anyone have suggestions on how to get stories that are relevant each issue and can come in a timely fashion?
Thanks!
Brandon
2 comments:
My only advice is to back your deadline up a week or so and stick to it as much as possible. That's helped me get things in earlier. A little earlier, anyway.
and another idea: Chunk up your deadline into little bitty pieces. Establish mini-deadines for story ideas, graphics, and drafts. I know that when Real Change came out twice a month, we had intervals of slack time that I didn't use very well, drawing up grandiose issue plans that I didn't, or couldn't, act on.
It's also nice to plan a few issues at once. A rough plan for an issue two months out is better than none.
I also plan issues with a database program that allows me to plug in deadline dates, story details and notes, who's doing what, word counts, and where in the issue the story appears. I use Filemaker for this, and can make a copy to share, but you can probably set something similar up in a spreadsheet.
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