So you say you want to be an editor?

FW: STATUS OF PUBLICATION!! - urgent

That's the header on the e-mail I just got from the publisher about NCCNM (the business mag I edit). The rest of her e-mail is below, and farther down is my response.

We laid out a production schedule back in May that called for the graphic designer (a freelancer) to have the issue laid out by July 15. That's in three days. And I find out at 10 o'clock tonight that he hasn't even started! He hasn't even started! We just signed a distribution agreement with Ingrams to distribute our magazine and have orders from nearly 40 bookstores in the state of NC alone - AND HE HASN'T EVEN STARTED!

I can not hit the keys hard enough as I type this. I am absolutely seething...

STATUS OF PUBLICATION!! - urgent
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 01:47:14 +0000

Dear Ed,

XXXXX needs from us direction on how to lay magazine out....THE MANIFEST....so he has not laid out anything for us to see.

I know we are all deeply concerned and DO NOT want to fall into any RUSH situations....I am going to attach what I have and suggest that we have a conference call tomorrow.

XXXXX do you have three-way??? I would be available anytime after lunch...what about you ED?


OOOOO, PublisherNorth Carolina Career Network Magazine



To which I replied (with a GREAT deal of restraint):

This is infuriating. We agreed to use the last issue as a template so we don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. The finance column goes in the same place it did in the last issue; the wellness-at-work column goes in the same place it did in the last issue; the networking column goes in the same place it did in the last issue; etc. etc. etc. For him to have nothing is aggravating beyond words! And why are we only hearing about this now! He asked for articles back in the third week of June so he could start laying this issue out. Yet today, suddenly, he's telling us he hasn't done ANYTHING because he doesn't have a manifest? If I had a gun and this guy in the same room...