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50 reporters, 32 articles, 24 pages, 20 editors, 18 graphics, 14 photos, 7 artists, 5 graphics managers, 4 photographers, 3 ad vendors, 2 exhausted editors-in-chief…and a partridge in a pear tree.
Welcome to an issue of The Lion’s Roar.
It seems overwhelming at first, a flurry of questions and edits and deadlines, but there’s a method to our madness. It all starts with the timeline, a master document shared with every student involved with the paper.
Next comes The Tracker. This glorious spreadsheet is your one-stop-shop to find out an article’s status, angle, author, artist/photographer, editor, and page number. Part of my job is to create and maintain The Tracker for each issue, making sure to update it and reach out to those who are falling behind.
Then, our proof cycle. Each member of senior staff edits every article and page of the issue. With four of us, four sections, and four proofs, we rotate so that all edits get to their recipients as soon as possible.
A proof consists of text edits and page edit. Text edits are in-line comments, suggestions and comments on the article google doc. Page edits are drawn onto the designed pdf and sent back to the responsible editor. Now matter what, we always make sure to leave a long form comment that explains our edits and identifies what the reporters are doing well and where they can improve. We hold the paper to a high standard, so edits can appear harsh at times. These comments are crucial for retaining writers and remaining kind.
Finally, send-up, the two-day marathon when we put the paper together, fix any mistakes, and finish everything that needs to be done. To stay organized within the 3 AM pre-deadline delirium, we write out all our tasks on a whiteboard. We cheer when one of us crosses off a task which boosts morale when we’re in the trenches.
Finally, paper day! After admiring the product of all our hard work, we split off into groups to distribute the paper to our assigned portion of the building.
Beyond the actual paper, I’ve made spreadsheets after spreadsheet to manage the logistics of running the Volume. A spreadsheet for staff applications, a spreadsheet for ads, a spreadsheet for NSPA planning, a spreadsheet for formatting extra pages — you need it spreadsheeted? I got you.
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