A peek behind the scenes

Fran Ostendorf, EditorNew Year’s greetings from The Jewish Voice staff! We wish all our faithful readers a healthy and sweet year.

You’re reading an issue dated Sept. 26. How did that happen when we were supposed to be in shul? Well, as some of you know, the paper is in the works long before the actual issue date. The minute one issue comes out, we start thinking about the next issue … sometimes even before.

Articles are planned, and written, in advance. If you’ve tried to submit one, you know that the due date is 14 days in advance of publication. You also know that we can – and do – push that date for late-breaking news, events that happen closer to our issue date and for a variety of other reasons. Our advertising deadline is well in advance of publication date as well.

The paper is produced Monday through Wednesday of the week of publication. By that time, we usually have all the articles, ads and everything we need to put the puzzle together. A decision is made, based on advertising and content, about how large the paper should be. The ads are then mapped out, based on content, paid position, size and where the color is in the paper. Once the ads are in place, the content is roughed in. Certain pages are themed, such as community, news, food, seniors, etc. This process really does take several days. The paper has to go to the printer by the end of the day Wednesday. Sometimes, that means a late night.

But on this short week, we tried to get the paper done Tuesday. Nobody could work erev Rosh Hashanah. In fact, our offices were closed. That pushed the whole process ahead a day. As I write this, I have no idea exactly how this will turn out or how late the staff will end up working Tuesday. But it’s safe to say that if you are reading the paper, we made our deadline!

You also probably noticed that your paper this week has some heft to it. Inserted in the middle is our annual Guide to Jewish Living. That publication is also completed well in advance of this week. In fact, we’ve been working on it all summer. Our summer intern checked and rechecked all the listings. Our advertising sales staff did a great job of reaching out to advertisers to be included in the 2015 edition of this guide to all things Jewish in our area. We hope you’ll keep the guide around and refer to it often. And don’t forget our advertisers. They help keep us going. Let them know you saw their ad in The Voice or in the Guide to Jewish Living.

As always, if you see something in the paper or the Guide that you want to comment on, let us know. We’re always happy to hear about community news and events. The inbox is always open even when the office is closed.