Publishing best practices

While the ability to self-publish, design your own marketing materials using desktop tools and print shorter runs on the press have all changed the publishing world, there are still best practices that are key to ensuring project success. In fact, with access to these new publishing tools and our fast-paced approach to production, it is arguably even more important that best practices are followed today. Here are some key considerations for your next project:

Own it! Every product should have an owner. This is key to ensure that multiple people aren’t providing direction to the designer…which can quickly become expensive and hinder the production schedule. All staff who have permission to change or approve the product should be identified at the beginning of work on the product. All communication with other departments should go through the product owner.

Launch! All new products, and even repeat large projects, should have a product launch meeting between the content creators and other departments that will work on the product. At product launch share the production schedule, key design considerations and outline any challenges you anticipate. When events occur that cause the schedule to change, communicate the issue clearly and early, as rush schedules tend to lead to mistakes and extra cost.

Good Planning! Regularly review your author support documents, instructions, and forms. Have you updated them recently? During your planning process, settle on one way of arranging content as well as the product design. Also, be sure to resolve all queries before send the content into production, as your graphic artist shouldn’t have to track down an answer on a fact or figure from someone. This is also the phase in which you tag the manuscript for style, fix references with Inera EdiFix and collect all graphics you will use so you can hand over all content at once. All staff who have permission to change or approve the product need to approve it (and the images) before it goes into production.

Need some help with your next publishing project? Contact AOE today! We are here to help!