17 Tips for Publishing Better, Faster and Cheaper

Looking back, 2006 has been a relatively good year for many publishing companies. If you review the ongoing Publishers Information Bureau reports, it appears overall consumer-magazine ad revenue is up over previous years, and digital revenues continue to climb to help offset print losses of the last few years that for a number of business-to-business and consumer publications have yet to be recovered. Smart publishers, however, aren’t relying solely on revenue to drive profits. Rather, they’re continuing to focus on best practices in publishing processes and technological implementation to become more efficient and cut costs. Publishing Executive found leaders in the industry to share their advice to help you advance your organization’s efforts in these areas. Control the creative processWorkflow bottlenecks are often caused in the earliest worklfow stages. Steve Shinnick, vice president of sales, All Systems Integration, Inc.—a systems integrator that specializes in printing and publishing technologies, Woburn, Mass.—says publishers can forgo many workflow glitches with a few preparatory steps. Address seemingly “minor” problems. “Control versions of your assets and fonts. Eighty percent of workflow slowdowns are caused by image-version and font-access issues,” Shinnick explains.Treat content creation as you do other workflow components. It’s a smart idea to schedule content creation—setting milestones and deadlines for the creative process just as a publisher would for the production process, suggests Nicole Anastas, production manager, Taunton Press, Newtown, Conn.“It is crucial to maintain your internal—and external—design and production schedule, for cost, efficiency and sanity,” she stresses.Invest in tools to help communication.Communication is essential to any workflow. Fortunately, there are some great tools available to enable electronic communication. For example, Bob Wiemers, operations director, magazine division, Boy Scouts of America, Irving, Texas, suggests employing publishing platforms—such as Adobe Creative Suite or Quark’s QPS (Quark Publishing System)—that allow editors to input copy while designers work on the layout. Rely on some simple, non-tech tools.While Wiemers is a big proponent of technology, he says that sometimes technology isn’t necessary. For example, the creative and production teams at Boy Scouts of America rely on a simple imposition printout to ensure that creative and production teams are on the “same page” when it comes to an issue’s status.“We print out a very simple chart of the issue, with a brief description of the elements and indicating the versions. Every time there’s a change, we e-mail a revised chart to all concerned. Outside the production manager’s office, there’s a printed copy posted. As each page is completed, it’s highlighted,” Wiemers says. “It is an easy visual reference showing where pages are missed ….”Put workflow on auto pilotWorkflow problems can be like bad habits—you try, but you just can’t break ’em. Often, the problem is a “symptom” of the overall process, and when the whole process is not examined, kinks never get worked out. Workflow should be a work-in-progress that is regularly reviewed by the publisher. Map out your workflow.Kathy Sandler, associate director of premedia technologies, Hearst Magazines, New York, suggests charting the workflow to shed light on bottlenecks and redundancies. Create a steeringcommittee.“Every magazine should have a steering committee made up of the heads of departments—such as the managing editor, executive editor, production director … and the appropriate people from corporate,” Sandler explains.“This team should have an annual review to determine the best way to streamline the workflow,” she adds. “At Hearst, we do this whenever we implement automated tools, in order to determine the best use of the investment. If you bring in technology to the same old workflow, you’re just automating a manual process, and won’t [fully] realize the benefits of the new technology.”Seek help from yourpartners. Publishers shouldn’t go it alone when revamping the workflow. Rather, they should turn to their print suppliers for important guidance. “[At RR Donnelley], the most relevant and important advice we have for publishers is for the publisher and printer to collaborate in a close partnership to develop—and follow—a cohesive, comprehensive manufacturing plan. Approach this as an end-to-end workflow, which includes the upstream activities, since each major component … impacts the rest of the production process,” suggests Rick Marcoux, president, magazines, RR Donnelley, Chicago.A publisher’s print supplier can be a major ally when it comes to streamlining the workflow and cutting costs. Mark Potter, vice president of eastern sales, Brown Printing, Waseca, Minn., recommends, “Rethink your proofing requirements and workflows. Consider soft proofing, virtual contract proofing, or even print-to-the-numbers solutions as a means to save time and money, and even improve quality.”Automate, automate, automate.The best way to build a cost-effective, time-conscious workflow is to automate it, says Gina Sigmon, director, technical sales, Quebecor World, Charlotte, N.C.—“from insert information through creative and file preparation. Providing the printer with a file that is prepared properly and on time can save both time and money, and also give the publisher flexibility in accepting ads later in the process …” David Zwang, principal, Zwang & Company, a print and publishing consultancy, Danbury, Conn., says that standardization, as well as automation, is key. “These two very important practices work together to ensure that you are working in an optimized workflow—standardization, because it forces you to utilize the best processes that have been developed by best-of-practice companies and a team of standards experts,” Zwang explains. “Once you have standardization, you can further optimize your processes by automating the tasks that make sense.”Control your content. “Bring all that you can in-house—prepress, digital photography, proofing, edit and ad archiving,” suggests Gregory Captain, manager of The New York Imaging Center, New York. It’s a strategy that’s worked well for The New Yorker and other Condé Nast publications, says Captain. Strive to be error-free.Captain also suggests, “Deliver to your printer and Web [services] company finished files that need no intervention after they are transmitted.”Marcoux says, “Last-minute changes are obviously difficult to avoid in any business today. Publishers may need to expedite changes to accommodate their advertisers’ needs. However, by minimizing those unscheduled changes and ensuring the job information is provided in accordance with the schedule, publishers can help prevent problems.”Nurture people and partnershipsDespite all the focus on publishing technology in the past decade, the printing and publishing industries continue to be very people-driven market places. Put a priority on your biggest asset: your staff.“Spend money on staff before software,” suggests Alex Brown, principal, Printmark, a print consultancy primarily for magazine publishers, Burlington, Vt. “All the productivity improvements latent in imposition, editorial tracking and ad-traffic software can only be unleashed with a smart staff. These software tools are valuable, but they can’t take the place of people who build the collaborative bridge to connect departments with them,” says Brown.Hire smart.“When you’re hiring,” Brown notes, “hire first for intelligence and curiosity, second for experience. While seasoning will give your employees perspective and background in manufacturing and workflow … an interest in learning is the best credential for mastering the next technology.”Tap your CSRs and other contacts. Angelo Rivello, senior vice president, manufacturing and distribution for Newsweek, New York City, says publishers can benefit by keeping their relationships with suppliers fresh and challenged. “[Maintain] constant discussion with your salesperson, printing-plant key manufacturing and distribution people, and the senior or owner of the printing company. The more you talk about your concerns for lowering your costs, the lower your costs will be.”overlooked cost centersSometimes, however, even the most cost-conscious decisions can end up costing you money if you’re not careful. Don’t diminish theimportance of paper. Paper, according to Marcoux, “is too often perceived as a commodity, even though it can significantly impact the performance and the quality of the resulting magazine, and can even have a negative impact on pressroom costs.“As paper is likely to be the most expensive component in the manufacturing of a magazine, we recognize there is a trade-off between paper costs and manufacturing performance and cost. The resultant impact to the printer can be significant. The largest single delay for an offset pressroom is web breaks, which may be caused by lower-grade or less-expensive paper,” Marcoux cautions.Optimize distribution processes.“Many publications seem to focus on pinching production pennies while [they are] wasting distribution dollars,” according to Mark W. White, vice president, manufacturing, U.S. News & World Report, New York. “The first step in creating efficient mailings is to get the various domestic mailing lists presorted together. For example, many publishers still mail their comp copies separately, guaranteeing high postage costs and slow delivery for these high-profile copies.Commingle. “The next step is to commingle as many copies as possible into the same mail stream with such tools as co-mailing or selective binding,” White adds. “Our research indicates that, for a nationally distributed magazine, every doubling of the mail stream typically reduces piece-costs by more than 8 cents per piece. For example, putting a publication with 100,000 pieces into a co-mail pool of 1.6 million pieces should reduce the publication’s piece costs by about $3,300, not to mention additional savings via discounts for drop-shipping, palletization and co-palletization.” Embrace changeThe most successful publishers of the future won’t be afraid of change. Rather, they’ll embrace it. No longer is the process of publishing synonymous with putting ink on paper. Change your thinking. With new media impacting the way magazines are delivered—compounded by increasing pressures to produce better, faster and cheaper—it behooves the publisher to think in new terms, to redefine the paradigm.“Treat magazine publishing as ‘distributed just-in-time digital manufacturing,’” suggests Shinnick. “Why? Because it is.”Gretchen A. Peck is a freelance author who writers about the international printing and publishing industries. She welcomes comments at GretchenPeck@Verizon.net.

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17 Tips for Publishing Better, Faster and Cheaper

Gretchen A. Peck

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