Editorial Schedule

Sample Editorial Schedule

Following is a sample editorial schedule (using fictitious data for a possible Xbox competitor) that would be used to identify publications with features that we might participate in.

Publication	Editorial Highlight	Issue
Red Herring	Games	April 9th
	Digital Hollywood	August 6
	Telecom	October 8
Newsweek	Technology	April 2
	Technology	May 28
	Technology – next frontiers for families	June 25
Business Week	Telecom	May 27
	Telecom industry	October 21
Tech Week	Digital Dreams – Games	March 6
PC Magazine	Consumer Broadband, Business Broadband	February 20 (missed)
PC Magazine	PC vs. Console Games	March 6
PC Magazine	Developing for Wireless	April 17
	Ultimate Game Library (pitch online)	June 26
Broadband Week	Rollout report: Telecom	June 4
	Broadband Abroad	September 7
Communications Solutions	One Box – Multiple Services…	May 1
Telecom Business	Consumer Broadband	March 6
Electronic Design	DSL / Broadband Technology	April 30
Global Telephony	Converged Services	July 7
Electrical Contractor	Smart home – residential automation	August 6
Electronic House	Bringing Internet to home theater	June 4
Computer Graphics World	New Gaming Platforms	March 11
Telephony	Broadband video content	August 6
ABC Today	Focus: Future Technology	October 20

We can find the editorial schedules at the websites of the publications we are targeting. For example, we find the editorial schedule for PC Magazine HERE. We can also lookup targeted editorial schedules within databases from MyMediaInfo and others. Their service is called MyEdcals. Has since been purchased by another company.

This company compiles information from over 400,000 story opportunities from ALL categories. Their prices used to be about $500/year (which I would split with several of my consulting companies), but they shot up to over $2,000 once the company was acquired. The database is updated every single day. They are also happy to add a publication if it is missing.

Pitch Dates

Once you have your editorial calendars you will compile them and then sort by the editorial due dates. You will then calculate the apx pitch lead time so you can pitch your product/service toward the topic of the editorial calendar. Following are typical lead times according to the publication distribution schedule:

Monthly – 3 months
Weekly – 1 month
Daily – 1 week

Note: Be cautious about signing up for newsletters at MediaMap, I was averaging three e-mails from them a day before I had to unsubscribe.

Resources

Following are a few documents that will help you further.

Pitch Lead Time Calendar (Excel). Download a simple pitch lead calendar that helps you understand the variables that determine when a pitch should be attempted.
Editorial Calendar Sample – Kit (Zip). Sample calendars, sample edi cals and a sample calendar, etc.
PR Plan of Action (PDF). View the PR Plan of Action. It contains detailed instructions on how to sort your database.