Hello there questionable deadlines

Publications are the main part of my business and the clients regularly ask me if I can place an ad after the final pdf files have already gone to the printer. Sometimes as late as 2 days after - when the pub is printed and done.

then can you tell me what the publications usually have as a deadline? say one month prior to publication?

Working at a newspaper we have the following daily deadlines. You may be able to work something out from this.

We have space reservations which means a client must arrange to have an ad placed within the paper by a certain date. They must decide on an ad size by that time. Anything after and it's too late as the complete ad layout has already been dummied and is off to editorial for them to flow the copy around the ad spaces.

An ad to appear in the paper on Sunday needs to be booked by the end of day the Wednesday before.

An ad to appear in the paper on Monday needs to be booked by the end of day the Thursday before.

An ad to appear in the paper on Tuesday needs to be booked by the end of day the Thursday before.

An ad to appear in the paper on Wednesday needs to be booked by the end of day the Friday before.

An ad to appear in the paper on Thursday needs to be booked by the end of day the Monday before.

An ad to appear in the paper on Friday needs to be booked by the end of day the Tuesday before.

An ad to appear in the paper on Saturday needs to be booked by the end of day the Wednesday before.

All ads "Link" at noon the day before publication with the exception of ads appearing in Sunday and Monday's editions. Because most of the advertising department is closed on Saturdays and Sundays, no one is available to "link" ads on those days. Thus, ads appearing in the publication on Sunday and Monday all "link" on Friday at noon.

Link means that is the time that the pre-press department starts pulling the ads into their templates to be prepared to merge with the editorial content which comes later that same day in the evening. Because of this, all ad copy must be proofed and approved by the client before link, otherwise, it's going in as is.

We very RARELY ever allow an ad to go in after space deadline. It creates havoc, otherwise, with the person dummying the paper, the production department and the editorial department.

You should decide how much time you feel you need to flow the editorial copy of your magazines from the date you need to have it sent to the printers. You also should decide how much time you need to give yourself to work out the placement of all the ads if you're the one having to dummy the publication. And, finally, if you're the one having to design most of the ads on top of all it all, you need to determine how much time you need in order to build and proof the ads before the whole shebang needs to be sent off to the printers.

If you can build and proof ads in the middle of flowing editorial copy, then you can have your "link" a day or two before you send it all off to the printers. But, if that gets too distracting for you, then you should have your ads' "link" deadline the day before you start flowing the editorial copy. Have your space reservation deadline set back a couple days or a couple weeks (however much time you think you need) from the "link" deadline.

Hope that was understandable. It can get confusing at times.

We DO have a couple monthly publications. One of them we put a LOT more time into the production as it's more of a coffee-table type of publication than something that would be thrown out quickly.

That publication, our space reservation is on a Thursday one MONTH prior to publication.

The big key to it all, which I think is what would help you most, though, is having a SPACE reservation and sticking to it. Space just means the advertiser has made a final decision on what size ad they're going to run and have committed to it. The person dummying the paper takes all those ad spaces and lays them out in a blank template with a bunch of empty image boxes that will be later filled by the ads once they've been designed and approved. The editorial content flows around those blank spaces. This way it's clear how much space you have available for editorial and you don't have to worry about drastically cutting back text or support images in order to fit in a last-minute ad.

If you want the business, sometimes you have to make ridiculous exceptions.

Ah yes, but if the publication is something an advertiser really wants to be in, they'll learn to make a decision in a timely manner, or will be on time for the next publication if they're late for this one.

when I was working for a local free (ad funded) publication, it was quite normal to have advertising space snapped up in the 48hrs running up to print deadline, for a bargain price, just to fill the pages. There would be no source files, a rough brief, and an account exec on your back expecting you to read their clients mind.

Bosh out the work and don't make any plans for the evenings running up to the deadline. Getting proofs signed off is a bitch when working to a tight deadline.

My guys are selling remnants the last couple days before publication (the empty ad space). The massive pubs with corporations behind them can have the luxury of hard deadlines (although every single one of them will break those rules if you wave a little cash in their face) - but most smaller pubs are very flexible. Last night I had to take one of my editions off the printer's server to place a last second obit in the paper. All was said and done - wrapped up, bagged and tagged, then some industry honcho decided to pass away at the last minute. So we had to open everything back up and insert a new story. It's very common for me.

But to answer the question - our ad deadlines are generally the first day of production (so let's say it's Monday for the "deadline" and Friday the paper goes to the printer. I expect at least a couple ads / major corrections in between.

You do all of that work? you're an important employee for them, at most agencies they have teams doing what you do on your own!

Hi, I am Tracy . I am a new member of forum. Would a newcomer be warmly welcome here? Good day you guys!!!

__________________
http://moviesonlinefree.biz

Sometime it can be quite off putting.