Magazine's Editorial Calendars
Tin Shingle has been hunting and gathering the Editorial Calendars from magazines for years now. You all have always wanted them, and we are happy to provide.
But we noticed something that's causing you to miss out on some opportunities: Magazines release these Editorial Calendars in January. That's fine for advertisers, who want to buy ad space, which can happen very close to the print date.
But for you - the business owner, artist, maker or communication director - you need to start sooner. So if you wait for an Editorial Calendar to come out in January for the year, you are behind the 8-ball for 6 months or more. In January, the very big print magazines are working on their July issues.
Finding the Editorial Pattern
We can't leave you in the dark like this. So we have begun looking for patterns. We are studying the Editorial Calendars for 2018 and 2019, and predicting 2020.
For example: At Allure Magazine, The "Anti-Anti Aging" Issue happened in November for 2018, and 2019. Therefore, we are predicting that it will happen again for 2020.
Timing Is The Most Important Tool
The most important tool you have for pitching magazines - or TV or blogs - is timing. What is relevant for what the editors, writers and producers are working on right now. And you don’t need to read their minds or know what is on their desks or what their editors or producers assigned to them. You need to think of what is relevant in the world for the time period they are working on now.
Tin Shingle's Editorial Calendar Collection will be showing you the future dates - so the 2020 dates - of when a magazine will go on stands. But the most important part for you is the "Pitch No Later Than" date that you see in our database. That is your present. That is happening much earlier. Like now.
For example: If you want to get into Holiday issues in December, those writers are starting to source ideas. July is often a hot month for pitching magazines if you want to get into December issues. Starting earlier doesn't hurt, especially for big magazines like O, The Oprah Magazine.
But Don't Wait For An Editorial Theme
If you want to get featured in magazines, don't wait for their grand editorial theme. There are SO many ways to tell a story from any angle.
Gift Guides Tip
Gift Guides can be made at any time, for any reason. If you don't see an official "Gift Guide" listing in an Editorial Calendar item, proceed anyway with pitching a theme of a Gift Guide for what season the magazine is in.
For Example: It's April right now. If your target print magazine is bon appétit, then pitch it 6 months in advance. So if it's April now, think October. What is happening in October food-wise that would apply to your brand?
If your target magazine is Clean Eating, they have a shorter lead time, about 5 months, so think September. Back To School! Back To Business! Back To Healthy Dinner! Things like that.
Tin Shingle's Editorial Calendar Collection will do its best to reflect these Lead Times to help you out. We call it the "Pitch No Later Than" date. Gradually we are making our way through our collection to make these enhancements.
Use Tin Shingle’s Community To Bat Around Ideas
You are running your own PR show. And you need people - a sounding board - as well as a confidence boost - as you are pitching your brand out. Use Tin Shingle’s Community Forum or Facebook Group to put something out there - get ideas and feedback in return. If you aren’t in Facebook, no problem! We have our own forum here at Tin Shingle. You can participate in either space.