Gordon Woolf's Blog

Skating on the Photoshop sliders

I noticed that the occasional mono pages which one of our local newspapers runs had pictures which were very muddy. It's a strong possibility that they are preparing all their pages in colour and just accepting that some of them may be run in black and white but a little time really should be taken to adjust for the lack of colour before it becomes almost a forgotten art.

It's a couple of years since a DTP-er I know was having trouble coping with instructions from a printer that detailed their pic specs as no less than 5% highlight dot, 80% max shadow, and midtones of 35 to 40%. The printer then added that this particular press might want the midtones down by another 10 or 15%.

That seems like a lot of old newspaper presses I know. Though, on second thoughts, they'd be hard pressed to hold a 5% highlight dot. My instructions on one paper were to drag both sliders in Photoshop in significantly, then drag the gamma slider across most of the way: no point in talking numbers, this was like engraving with a chainsaw -- provided you could hardly see anything on screen, there was a chance the final result would be fine.

The really amazing thing is that the final results were quite good.

This is the skill in working without color, and it is a good idea to ask a printer to show you what the original looks like for any black-and-white photos that look good (and maybe to give you the file) so you can see what you have to produce. Once you know what an original should look like on your screen, it is less necessary to work by the numbers. And some of those movements in the sliders within Photoshop can be far more than you would try without seeing an example.

The same principles apply to photocopying. Color is more forgiving than mono, but it is still worth learning some of the old skills. They can produce better color pics too.

And why do some pages have to run in black and white? That is because it does not matter to a large web press whether it is printing one color or many. It is the total number of plates which matter. A press can have the paper run from the reel (web) in many different ways so if fewer color plates are needed then more pages can be printed in the one run. So, some late ads can be accomodated without a second run and collating the two sections if some of the existing pages can be printed in one color instead of four.

What's the production schedule for a publication?

I was asked what a typical production schedule for a magazine would look like.

I doubt if there is actually such a thing as a "typical schedule". Most that I've come across start with a simple list working backwards from the print date to the date on which final ads and editorial have to be with page production.

Then both advertising and editorial section will calculate back from that to have separate schedules.

However this is something which should be considered carefully not only in the planning for a new publication but also at other times by every publication. And schedules all have to bear in mind that only a few final items can be prepared on that deadline.

In advertising it is normal to set a deadline a day or two ahead of the date required by the production department, and the following wording occurs in many sets of conditions (this is for a weekly published locally on a Friday):

Preferred deadline for the receipt of all advertising materials is Friday, seven days before publication. Materials and space reservations will be accepted, however, until 5 pm Monday, week of publication. When space has been reserved and paid for by Monday, camera-ready materials can be accepted until 4 pm Tuesday, week of publication. Electronically submitted ads for which space has been reserved must be received by 1 pm Tuesday. Cancellations and changes cannot be accepted after 5 pm Monday, week of publication. For advertisers wishing to approve a proof, the deadline is noon Wednesday, nine days before publication. Major holidays that are celebrated on weekdays generally cause the deadlines to fall one business day earlier.

You will find many such schedules in the online conditions of publications.

There are also likely to be earlier deadlines on small display ads and perhaps later ones on classifieds which are just run in automatically by system software.

In editorial, magazines will tend to work in production runs even though all the runs may be on the press at the same time. So there will be perhaps on a 64-page magazine deadlines each day for perhaps 16 pages. The deadline given for editorial submissions would normally be a week or more ahead of the earliest of those dates for regular contributors who can be relied on to meet deadlines, a week or two further ahead for contributors who are not yet trusted, and then another couple of weeks further ahead for anything which is being considered at an editorial conference or on which the editor has yet to make a decision.

All these dates will normally be indicated by marks or stickers on a wall planner -- I have come across publications using computer scheduling but it is too easy to ignore something that is not constantly in the face of the actual users.

A production run which is a physically separate run on the press, even if only a day earlier, will usually be regarded as a separate production process to be completed before the final section, and so will most likely have a deadline at least a week before the rest. It can almost be regarded internally as a separate publication.

It basically comes down to ensuring there is a steady flow of work for each person in the process, so not only does the person setting the schedule have to consider what amount of work is possible in the time, but also what those people will be doing at other times. That is why it is common for feature pages of daily newspapers to be scheduled for all work to be completed two to three days ahead of the news pages. News pages will also have a succession of deadlines -- and the only pages actually prepared on deadline for a daily newspaper are likely to be the front page and the main sports page.

Despite the common impression that publications are a frantic hive of activity on deadline, any publication which is like that other than when a disaster occurs just ahead of that deadline, has a production schedule which needs work. I've worked on magazines where final deadline day can be very quiet, a time for long lunches because those in charge of checking final proofs just need to know where everyone is in case there is a query. A newspaper may be very quiet after midnight with just a late copyeditor watching the wire service.

On the other hand, if unexpected news breaks just as the deadline approaches, then real life may resemble the newsrooms of the movies.

Errors in newspapers: there should be fewer

Much as I enjoy stories of errors in newspapers (one of the best I've seen was out local newspaper which had "headline in here" in 144pt - 2" - type, an error that I caused to be seen on TV and in the book Type & Layout), they are not happening *just* because of new systems. They have happened even in manual days because of the rush to get the first edition on the streets.

It has always been one of the benefits of living in a country area or one distant from the production point. (The UK newspaper the Guardian became known as "The Grauniad" by Private Eye because of all the spelling errors there was no time to fix.) What should be noted is that most such errors are soon fixed and the vast majority of the readership will have seen nothing odd.

When I was a subeditor on one of Murdoch's newspapers I recall the deputy editor looking at the first edition and shouting at the copy desk: "Well we got it out, now let's turn it into a newspaper". And that was in hot metal days.

The normal setup for newspaper staffing is that galleys, or their equivalent, are read either in printed proof form or on screen, originally by proofreaders, now more likely as part of the copyediting process.

At this stage the copyeditor should take out rude words in the slug because they too often get through to print. The slug is the abbreviated text used to identify a story, originally one word, now more often a kind of suggested headline. As a newspaper editor and chief of staff I banned this kind of dummy head; even if the person writing it would not want it to be the final one it should be something which makes sense and helps clarify what the main point is of the story. If the writer can't write any kind of headline, then it often idicates that the writer is confused.

The headline itself is usually added on the page layout so may be seen only by the person doing the layout of the page. In the past, errors and questionable headlines were often picked up by the compositors, i.e. those who put the page together in metal or phototypesetting, but those people no longer exist. It is therefore most likely the end of the compositor which leads to more errors getting through -- they'd even take a hammer to the plate on the press if necessary since it was sometimes preferable to ensure that no one could read it rather than let an error go through. You can't effectively take a hammer to a digital press, though I'm sure there are many who would have liked to.

The proofreaders who were reading the page proofs might still have been reading the proofs when the press started. On a newspaper with a large or growing circulation, the plate with those changes might then sit by the press until there was a paper break and the press had to be stopped unless there was some danger of legal action. There were trucks, trains, buses and sometimes even aircraft waiting for the newspaper bundles. A little embarrassment for a journalist or editor was not a consideration.

We may actually see fewer errors as newsrooms change over from a print first attitude to one of web first, so the more carefully researched and probably longer print version would have already appeared in two or three versions on the web. Any errors which get through to print will have happened in the final rewrite stage.

The future of news stories is seen in a quote from the consultant brought in by Vance Publishing chief Peggy Waker (even though that's a magazine group): "Instead of researching and writing a lengthy print article, then repurposing it for the Web, the new process would run in reverse: posting a first take of breaking news at 200 words, following with an update at 400 words, then producing a longer second-day story, which would subsequently be repurposed for the print publication." See http://bit.ly/3dDiBU

Ms Walker also tells of expecting an outcry when the web and press editing teams were merged, and not just for single publications but for the whole group. Unexpectedly the large open editorial room was popular -- as it used to be when most publishers were like that.

I'm also pleased to see that computers are now significantly quieter. When I first changed from paper editing the increase in noise level and the size of the monitors meant there was a massive divide between editors. No longer could you read out a questionable phrase to no one in particular, confident that if something was wrong you'd get a shout from a fellow editor nearby. I suspect that as editors get physically closer once more, those co-operative days which caught so many errors will be back.

How long does writing take?

When I was chief of reporting staff for a local weekly newspaper I used to tell reporters they should get a column inch of copy from every minute they spent on the phone. Columns were narrow so it worked out about 25 words to the inch, so a 500 word item should never take more than 20 minutes on the phone and about the same to write it from their notes.

Only one reporter on the newspaper was given the time to do in-depth research which could involve contacting many people in the hope of a snippet of information. But even he would keep several stories on the go at any one time so he always had a backup lead story for the paper which could be ready in half an hour or so if a planned story failed to come through.

Later, as a freelance I got 5 cents an inch from the same paper, so it would only pay if I cc'd the local radio news, and the State dailies plus a rewrite or two for farming newspapers and/or magazines.

The killer is the research time, but, as prolific author Isaac Asimov maintained, the key is to do your research once and then write it many times. Research into a period of history could produce a factual article for adults, a similar piece for children, a short historic story and maybe even a piece of present day or science fiction based on the same events and reactions transposed to a different time.

Do-it-yourself publishing

"I've just got a price for laying out my new magazine/book/other printed project and it is a lot of money. Should I buy InDesign or QuarkXPress to do my own layout?"

That's the kind of email I get directly or see on email lists and forums just about every week. I'm an enthusiastic user of InDesign but the last thing I'm going to do is tell such a potential publisher is to rush off to the Adobe web site and buy it.

The first thing I'll ask is: "Have you costed in the time and training (either personal or by means of reading and practising)?"

I'm all for such a person learning to use InDesign if he or she will take the time to learn to use it and, in the case of a book, will use it for many other tasks in future.

After many years of using Ventura, then PageMaker, I did not do a book in InDesign until I had worked on a number of smaller jobs to make sure that I could work efficiently in the program. It is a very powerful program, but that makes it very easy to do a bad job.

There is also the likely situation that a newcomer will get quoted a lot more for a layout job by a designer than an experienced publisher would be charged for the same work. The book layout jobs I take outside of my own books, I do only for experienced publishers and know that, most times, I will only have to do the job once, so can quote lower prices. As an extreme example, when I did tabloid newspaper layouts I quoted $20 a page for work from newspaper publishers -- and $100 a page for anyone else. Subsequently I just stopped doing the $100 a page jobs as they were not profitable, whereas the $20 a page was.

Yes, the would-be publisher should by all means buy InDesign but should also realize that this involves learning yet another skill. Do you have the time for that? In general the answer has to be "no" unless you can find a skilled person who is prepared to charge you on a basis that they are also teaching you to do the job. That designer will expect and deserve a high fee -- but it may be the cheapest long term solution for the publisher.

Journalism at its best

As someone commented on an email list for copy editors, the the big difference at a smallish weekly is that just about anyone can march into the editor-publisher's office and take him to task for anything in the paper. They also collar him at the supermarket, on the street, or at a high school hockey game. "There is no statute of limitations. Accountability, up close and personal", stated the writer.

And for those reasons, in my view, it is the best form of journalism there is! My first experience of it (after having been an editor of a couple of magazines, including one with a worldwide circulation) was on a country town paper with an editorial staff of two (the owner/manager and me). It came out at 11am on a Thursday morning and if it was a few minutes late there would be a queue stretching down the street. Even the bus to the next town waited on the opposite side of the street though there was no official stop there -- the driver knew his passengers would be in the queue, as well as having to face the people in that tiny town if he arrived without the supply for the general store.

You very quickly get to know how to spell every family name in town, and you are working every hour that you are awake. Sometimes there are national stories too and you see the difference in the care which has to be taken to get things right. Getting the little facts right is also the key to acceptance as an outsider, especially when you print the things they'd rather were not said.

City newspapers used to send young reporters for spells of a few months on small country newspapers but that is a tradition which seems to have disappeared, though it helped many borderline publications to survive and gave the bigger newspapers much better journalists.

Where does news come from?

That's a question we really all know the answer to but which many of us have decided to forget or disregard.

News in its original form comes from two sources:

1. People who want the information to be known (i.e. businesses, groups, politicians, individuals).
2. People who ask questions of businesses, groups, politicians, individuals.

The first group, whether they know it or not, are publicists. The second group, again whether they know it or not, are journalists.

The second group are people who mostly have to be paid for doing their job by the people who read what they write. In some cases this direct payment can be separated by their work being paid for by the first group, usually indirectly by paying for space or time in the media which then has funds to publish output from the second group.

Group 1 knows that unless there is an acceptable quantity of material from Group 2, then Group 1's output will not be read as avidly and in extreme cases may not be read at all.

This was understood by the men of commerce who started the first trade magazines. By including at least some independent information in their catalogs, those catalogs were read more widely and more thoroughly.

But now news stories from the people in Group 2 may be so widely disseminated that the originators are forgotten. Google News Alerts can tell you what is happening, and of course they quote sources. A page of "old media" national news in a local online "webnews" is briefs which quote and link to earlier sources, not even necessarily to the publication which published the original story first.

There have been union battles to ensure that print journalists may receive a few cents extra if the story appears online for the first time, but who gets the benefit from a level of syndication where even the original syndicators may lose control.

The Murdochs are right in saying that the consumer must pay for online content, but the problem is working out just where the payment point is on a tortuous route from originator to the last consumer in the line.

Keeping to deadlines: How is it done?

How do editors budget their time to ensure that all deadlines get met? That was an interesting question on an email list. The question continued: What techniques/tricks do you find helpful?

I'm a former editor, chief sub-editor, sports editor, news editor, chief of reporting staff, publisher etc of various magazines and newspapers, and the prime technique I've seen is to ensure that the person outsiders are happy to deal with as the senior person is not the one who has responsibility for production and meeting deadlines.

Hence the many terms - managing editor, production editor, senior editor, editor in chief, and the sometimes junior position of just plain editor.

Then of course there are the positions which relate the to actual job being done, so, while I have been night editor on a morning newspaper, I was that for several hours on certain nights only.

Thus, the main technique is to not have the person responsible for deadlines being in a position to have time stolen.

When someone gets through those barriers, what is the next protection? As a normally quiet person, I've found shouting quite effective.

Plan for disasters, then only the details are "unforeseen". For example, on the production side, know who you can call to say -- "I need our paper printed tonight".

When someone else misses a deadline, you need to know which writers you can ask to get a major story written in a couple of hours? But don't allow deadlines to be broken in the first place. And always have backup material.

There will be deadlines which have to be met and deadlines which are set for those who are unable to meet deadlines. Telling a writer "You're too late; we may use it next issue," usually works.

The most difficult situation is when you are editor/publisher/owner and the only staff writer on a weekly newspaper. To help overcome that I had two offices -- the second one with entrances from back and front of the building.

For the editor to have a second desk in the main editorial production area was another trick I learned from the editor of a major daily and it can be easier to work in a busy, noisy office than in the quiet of the management offices where receptionists are loathe to tell anyone that you are in, but can't see anyone. At least they could look and truthfully say "he's not in his office".

On another paper, a long time ago, one of the linotype operators was infallible in knowing when I was in their area for a legitimate reason or when to say "Who are you hiding from?"

I love Douglas Adams' comment (you know the one: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by"), but unfortunately it doesn't work.

In search of funding

Maybe it's a little out of the normal run of production problems, but I had a reader recently point out that one of the major production problems for a small newspaper can be to have the funds to go on producing the paper.

That's a good point. I have come across newspapers that have received arts council and local education grants for things like running an arts page or a page (and sometimes a lot more) for one or more local schools -- especially if they involve the students doing most of the preparation work (I've been paid a few times to go along to schools and explain how a newspaper is put together).

I've also seen schools and other organisations divert funds they used to produce a newsletter to a newspaper which agrees to run a regular column.

However, in general, appeals for "support" don't seem to work in the long term -- much better is to encourage people to show their support by placing paid classifieds whenever they have something to say, something to sell, or someone to thank.

For a local publication, or one which serves a very specialised field where a number of people agree that they would lose substantially (either economically or socially) if the publication ceased, there could be an argument for a "Friends of ..." organisation that maybe gives some benefit such as discounts of some kind that don't cost the publisher anything.

You can also chase local politicians for inclusion on government advertising budgets, though this money seems to be getting much harder to get.

I have to admit that this isn't covered in any great depth in my book How to Start and Produce a Magazine or Newsletter although that does cover  much about setting ad rates, selling ads and considering the general economics of publishing.

Rich blacks

I was asked this question a while ago "concerning black color in CMYK printing". The questioner said: "I know that black process color doesn't give you 'real' black from the print, and you have to mix it with others to get darkest possible black. Can you tell me which combination gives the darkest possible black color (extra black) without any 'light' points?"

There's no easy answer to that...

The black you get via CMYK (100%K) is as black as you'll get from just using black ink in any other way (though genuine process black ink is somewhat more transparent than the more normal spot black), but it is true that you get a richer looking black from mixing in a little of the other colours.

The problem comes with small text -- if you have 6 or 8pt text printed in more than one of the CMYK colours and the registration isn't perfect, you'll get a blurred effect that will look far worse than any improvement you'll get from the richer colour.

The compromise for many is to use a small proportion of yellow (say 10%) which won't show up badly if you get a slight yellow edge to the text and to use a small percentage of the background colour.

Another way is to create a "rich black" with a small proportion of say Y and M and apply this only to larger text sizes. The most common combination seems to be 100% K with 20% Magenta to give a warmer black, and maybe 20% Y. Using Cyan instead of Magenta gives a cooler black.

It's also possible to use higher proportions of the other colours, but then you come up against the problem of the total amount of ink you are putting on the paper -- and this will depend on the paper and the press. It can be as low as around 250% for uncoated papers (taking 100% as the equivalent to printing one colour solid). Overprinted black on solid colour need to be watched especially for this danger.

So, it comes again, as with so many such problems, to needing the advice of an experienced press operator, who will have a good idea from experience of what works in specific circumstances.