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How's Your Editorial Calendar?

Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 9:37 AM

What impact has Covid had on your editorial planning?

By William Dunkerley

Covid has confronted editors with many unexpected changes. Work-at-home has become commonplace. Many publications had to cope with a decrease in ad pages. In some cases reader needs and interests have been influenced by the pandemic.

Editors have been quick to adapt their content to today's realities. We asked a few to share their related experiences. Here's what they told us:

--Patricia L. Harman, editor-in-chief, PropertyCasualty360.com: "We create an annual editorial calendar -- usually in early September. The pandemic didn't have a tremendous impact on it, but it did affect some of the events that we try to tie into our editorial. We did have to move around a couple of articles or add some into other issues because events were rescheduled.

"While I like to joke about getting my crystal ball out when it's time to do the editorial calendar, the reality is that conversations with industry leaders are extremely helpful in shaping our calendar. I have off-the-record conversations with executives that are extremely educational and provide me with the broad perspective I need to do my job well.

"With more conferences online, I've been exposed to numerous speakers and then followed up with them either by email or LinkedIn. Those contacts have led to more conversations, some interviews, and even some contributors. I'm always watching for interesting trends and emerging topics, and try to work those into our future calendars."

--Deborah Lockridge, editor-in-chief, Heavy Duty Trucking: "In the industry we cover, editorial calendars are a must.

"We did make some on-the-go changes last year. For instance, we scrapped our cover story for the May issue and pivoted to one on how our readers were affected by and dealing with Covid-19. A loss of ad pages and downsized staff meant we had to drop some planned coverage. (We also cut some regular departments and columns.) When we were planning this year's calendar late last summer, we kept those reduced pages in mind and included fewer planned features.

"Because our sales staff uses the editorial calendar when working with clients on their media schedules, we had to communicate closely with them as we made these changes.

"Not pandemic-related, but just about developing editorial calendars in general: During the year I keep a list of ideas as they occur to me or come up in our editorial meetings or discussions with readers. During the planning process, we ask our Editorial Advisory Board for input. And we have our sales team ask their clients for suggestions -- we get some surprisingly good ideas.

"What we're trying to develop now is a digital editorial calendar and social media calendar. I'd love to see a future article about how other editors are doing that."

--Jenn Fiedler, editor, Township Focus: "I compile a rough editorial calendar, and that was definitely thrown on its head by the pandemic.

"We typically produce 11 issues a year, which are sent to nearly 9,000 readers -- predominantly local township leaders, as well as state and federal lawmakers. When the pandemic broke out, a large part of our editorial content shifted to how our members -- locally elected officials -- could continue to serve their communities, provide information to their residents, and the impact that it could have on their budgets, services, etc.

"In addition, state and federal guidance, orders, and requirements for public gatherings -- including township board meetings -- were coming out constantly, and often changing near daily. We ended up combining several issues, due to last-minute changing guidance (or, in one case, a state supreme court ruling that nullified statewide pandemic executive orders) that required rewrites upon rewrites and pushed back our production schedule.

"It was incredibly stressful, but ultimately, our goal is to provide the best, most comprehensive information for township leaders to serve their residents, who comprise more than half of our state's population.

"I am communications director for the Michigan Townships Association, our publisher. We have heard from our members that our resources and information for them was invaluable throughout the pandemic, so our efforts were appreciated and made a difference in Michigan communities. That is beyond gratifying. I was proud of what we were able accomplish during a wholly chaotic time.

"My best advice is something that has always been true for journalism and communications, but was certainly put to the test over the past year: Be nimble and able to quickly pivot as needed. Remember your audience and what they need from you. With that mindset, I was able to keep our members in mind, which helped me focus on and filter the key information our members needed to know. We hope that it helped to make a difference in Michigan communities and residents to get through this tumultuous time."

--Laura M. Porinchak, editor, Construction Dimensions: "Our publication is written for the essential construction audience. So other than including Covid-19 safety articles in various issues throughout the past year, there has been no interference whatsoever by the pandemic.

"I believe continuing with 'business as usual' gives our readers a sense of normality and security. As we begin to prepare our 2022 editorial calendar, the pandemic is sure to be included as a primary subject in one issue, but the other 11 issues will focus on topics familiar to our audience."

--Dave Fusaro. editor-in-chief, Food Processing magazine: "We have a pretty extensive editorial calendar. It identifies six stories for each issue (72 for the year), and it also promises digital offerings (webinars and ebooks) we will do every month. We have each calendar finished before Labor Day of the upcoming year.

"The pandemic did create two opportunities last year: pandemic-themed stories we substituted for less interesting or timely ones. That's not unusual, no more than in any other year. While I consider the editorial calendar a pretty sincere promise, every year we change at least one story because something timely comes up.

"Much of our ad sales are connected to calendar topics, so we let our salespeople know of a change as far in advance as possible, and leave the door open for debate and pushback."

--Howard Rauch, president, Editorial Solutions, Inc: "The issue that comes to mind for me is the degree to which the calendar shares space between editorial hooks offering only direct advertiser appeal and non-hook, timely topics devoted to high-value, non-commercial content.

"Perhaps there are many cases where non-commercial content is totally ignored. Other times this content is accorded leadership space. I prefer the latter approach."

William Dunkerley is principal of William Dunkerley Publishing Consultants, www.publishinghelp.com.

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