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Author Topic: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine  (Read 11591 times)

BGM

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Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« on: May 12, 2019, 10:24 PM »
Every other month I publish a childrens' magazine - about 800 copies with 1200 readers.  I have several authours and illustrators, and I write and illustrate, too, but I'm having a hard time keeping track of what should be in future issues, who is doing what article, and what needs to be done.  I've tried doing it in all sorts of ways.

I also have access to full office365, but I'm not sure how to leverage that do do what I need.

Is there an open-source/freeware software that can help handle these things?  Anyone have any good ideas?

mouser

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2019, 10:52 PM »
I don't know the answer but I'd be very interested in hearing what you come up with.

Deozaan

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2019, 11:30 PM »
Sounds like something you could do pretty well with a Trello board.

You could keep all future ideas in a list entitled something like "To do" or "Future Issues" and when you actually follow through with them for an issue you can move it over. For the current/in-progress issue, you could either make a list for each specific issue (e.g., June 2019) or just a list called something like Current Issue, and drag your items from the To Do list onto the current issue list. Then once the issue is published and work begins on the next, you can either move everything from the Current Issue list to the Done or Past Issues list, or if you use a unique list for each issue, you could just create an e.g., July 2019 list and go from there.

It's easy to collaborate with others. You could assign each card to whoever is working on each item, or just keep a note of it yourself in the card details if you or your contributors don't want to or can't join the Trello board for whatever reason.

Here are a couple mockup images I made to show off what I tried to describe.

Kids Magazine - Generic Months.pngSoftware for Managing the Production of a Magazine
This is the generic lists example.

Kids Magazine - Specific Months Extended.pngSoftware for Managing the Production of a Magazine
This uses a new list for each specific magazine issue.

And keep in mind that the basic idea behind Trello is to have 3 categories of lists: To Do, Doing, and Done. Of course you can name them whatever you want and modify the basic structure however fits your needs, but you certainly don't need to use the Trello software to do this.

And if you find that Trello is a bit too simple for your needs, you can find something similar but with a bit more complexity in Hack 'n' Plan.

wraith808

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2019, 05:24 AM »
I'd second Deo's recommendation of Trello, though I actually use something else to keep track of things in sync with my other work- Notion.   It has a lot of features that let me get a great bang for my buck and the ability to expand it with templates and integrates with the browser for clipping and imports Evernote.

They have a free version, but I pay for it so that I don't have to worry about limits and to support the platform, though I'm in no danger of hitting the limits as they're pretty generous. You can see the pricing at https://www.notion.so/pricing.

Deozaan

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2019, 10:47 AM »
As it's so simple to use and making it more convenient to organize than Trello.

I've never heard of this one. I have a hard time imagining anything in a similar vein could be simpler than Trello and still function. Trello is fairly bare bones when it comes to adding and managing boards, lists, and cards.

Anyone else catch a whiff of canned pork-product here?

Shades

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2019, 11:14 AM »
Online-only solution that is intended for teams to collaborate together for a monthly fee. There are a dime a dozen of such solutions. Not even sure it covers the request from the OP.

KanBan (Google search) is similar to Trello and might be of use. To test KanBan I would suggest to test it for a bit with a portable Windows application for it. However, I see that it is not available anymore and the wayback archive also has no download available either.

Think I still have it in my own portableapps repository. Let me know if the tool interests you or not.
 

wraith808

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2019, 02:56 PM »
Anyone else catch a whiff of canned pork-product here?

Maybe.  Not sure considering other factors.

tomos

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2019, 04:38 PM »
You need to know (I quote the first three)
  • what should be in future issues
  • who is doing what article
  • what needs to be done
  • when it needs to be done by
#1 would include knowing how much space need to be filled yet.

I haven't really used Trello:
presumably one be would make a new 'Trello' for each issue of the magazine.
You wouldn't be able to interconnect some of the info though (?) e.g. which articles is Mr.Jones writing etc.

Would some sort of an Information Manager not be better, where you can interconnect all this info. Would initially be more work, but probably a time-saver in the long run.
My IM is InfoQube (IQ), but there are probably many others that could manage this info. (IQ is not freeware but is still in beta so available free for the moment. I dont know if there are good freeware/O.S. options in this direction (?))
Tom

BGM

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2019, 09:37 PM »
I do have Office365 Planner, which is their version of trello and looks similar.  It's a bit simplistic, though.  I don't want a subject board for each part of the magazine, and I don't want a hundred boards when I try to plan ahead for the next one.  Maybe a sharepoint list would work better.  Still, it seems complicated. 

I'm not sure what canned pork has to do with anything.

Wraith, - that Notion software looks interesting, but I don't want to purchase anything else, and don't want to fight with limitations.  Maybe I'll try and use a sharepoint group that comes with it's own lists and conversations or something.

Here are some links that compare Trello to MS Planner:
https://www.computer...365-integration.html
https://www.getapp.c...icrosoft-office-365/
« Last Edit: May 13, 2019, 10:00 PM by BGM »

Deozaan

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2019, 10:48 PM »
I'm not sure what canned pork has to do with anything.

Sorry. That was my subtle way of hinting that I felt that Swift_Man's response could be spam.

EDIT: In the end I was proven right. That user started posting spam links in their later posts.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2019, 03:13 PM by Deozaan »

sphere

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2019, 01:25 PM »
I know this post is from a while ago, but I am curious what you ended up going with. 

I did a quick search for open source magazine software, but it seems that the ones that might exist are buried under the open source magazines  :)

Thinking outside the box, wordpress has a multitude of addons to help coordinate blogs with multiple writers. Many of them are free.  They are all about work flow, meeting deadlines and curating ideas for the future.  You could either selfhost or signup for a free wordpress site. Make the site private and then even use it as a platform for writers to share drafts and contribute to each other's stories and sign up for stories on the docket for the future. 

tomos

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2019, 04:23 PM »
I see in another thread you're looking for something to be coded for this.
You never responded to the suggestion I made above: Why not an information manager (pretty much any one) ?

You do ask for free:
I havent used ToDoList in a long time, but it's an impressive piece of software, and free.
http://abstractspoon.com/
Tom

Dormouse

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2019, 05:40 PM »
You do ask for free:
I havent used ToDoList in a long time, but it's an impressive piece of software, and free.
http://abstractspoon.com/

I think TDL can do it. Came into my mind as I was reading.
I'm sure Trello can do it too.

e.g. which articles is Mr.Jones writing etc.

Simply assign the task to Mr Jones.

The problem I see with TDL is that the interface can be overwhelming to the unfamiliar.
And there's almost the inverse problem with Trello - it looks very simple but is capable of very sophisticated usage.
In both cases, the user needs to put in a lot of time getting on top of them. Good solutions for people who know them inside out; not necessarily so much to new users.

Given 365, my own question would be why not use OneNote? Can be set up to cover all needs (and others). Free. And presumably already familiar.

But my personal choice, if I had the need, would be TDL. Ticks all the required boxes quite straightforwardly.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2019, 03:25 PM by Dormouse »

Dormouse

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wraith808

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2019, 12:05 PM »

tomos

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Re: Software for Managing the Production of a Magazine
« Reply #15 on: November 13, 2019, 05:35 PM »
Trello's real life example of The Telegraph
visually really nice: makes it very easy to see where things are at :up:

Screenshot - 2019-11-14 , 00_34_22.jpgSoftware for Managing the Production of a Magazine
Tom