What’s the issue?
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...Have you ever wondered when FAITH Magazine appears in your mailbox every month, how it came into being in the first place? This being the 25th anniversary of the publication, we asked our editor, Sean O’Neill, to describe the process of producing a magazine issue. Here, he pops the hood and explains the nitty-gritty of editing a magazine.
Have you ever wondered when FAITH Magazine appears in your mailbox every month, how it came into being in the first place? This being the 25th anniversary of the publication, we asked our editor, Sean O’Neill, to describe the process of producing a magazine issue. Here, he pops the hood and explains the nitty-gritty of editing a magazine.
We receive all sorts of suggestions as to what we can put in the magazine, but we usually have only 32 pages to fill. The whole process of producing a monthly magazine starts three months before it hits the newsstands. At that point, I meet with the director of communications for the Diocese of Lansing, David Kerr, to discuss what articles should be included. So, for example, we planned out this current issue in April of this year. I will then reach out to one of our regular freelance writers with a description of what we want the article to focus on and give some pointers to the photographer, with suggestions for what kinds of shots we want.
I try to make sure that all articles and photographs hit the deadline for that issue. I then go over each article and correct any punctuation or grammatical anomalies. I will upload both the copy (writing) and photos to our online system, where everyone involved in the process can access them. There are multiple proofreading iterations that are done by various interested parties, and, once we have gathered all the content, I contact our designer at Faith Catholic, Pat Dally, to let him know.
Pat then works on designing the issue and eventually produces an initial layout, which he will send me as a PDF file. I go over the layout and suggest any changes that may be needed. Again, there are several passes back and forward until the final layout is agreed on. Father Dwight Ezop, who has been with the magazine since its inception, proofreads the final layout and adds his own article to its usual spot on page 4. The magazine is then uploaded for printing. I approve each page individually on our online system.
Control of the process is then passed to FAITH Catholic, the organization that provides various services for us, including managing the printing and mailing of the physical magazine. They also add the articles to the magazine’s website, faithmag.com, after which I go in and add audio to each article. This enables anyone to listen to articles, one after the other, like a podcast.
We publish 10 issues per year, and we have some excellent regular writers and photographers.
