Editorial Calendar - Editorial Calendar Structure and Elements

Editorial Calendar Structure and Elements

Whether the publisher uses a paper calendar, a spreadsheet, or software integrated with their publishing tool, the calendar usually tracks publishing activities grouped into these sections:

• Story Ideas
• Content Production Calendar
• Published Content
• Glossary of Terms/Style Decisions

Content then moves from one section to the next, from story idea to published content. The glossary and style decisions section contains details editors and authors need to ensure the publication retains a consistent style and tone. If a spreadsheet is used for an editorial calendar, each section would be a tab. If paper is used to track publication, a page for each section in a file folder with notes about style decisions and glossary might work.

Within each section of an editorial calendar, these elements might be tracked:

• Story Title
• Author
• Publication Date
• Media Outlet (e.g. Blog, Print Magazine, Email Newsletter)
• Theme (or Section)
• Priority
• Status (e.g. Active or Inactive)

There also might be columns to check off whether or not micro-content has been created, for example, story blurbs, sub headings, and search optimized descriptions for HTML links and tags. Or there might be columns to check off whether or not a legal review has been passed, images have been created for the story, or other parts of the actual publishing process.

Finally, when using a spreadsheet for an editorial calendar, it is important to use the same column order and titles to track elements across tabs. For example, the first three columns in all tabs of a spreadsheet calendar might be Story Title, Author, and Publication Date. Ordering columns consistently makes it easy to copy and paste rows of entries from one spreadsheet tab to another without having to update the column order on a specific tab.