Hello Bec,
I am the Managing Editor of our college yearbooks, of which there are four – one for each of our three campuses and one for the Year 12 graduating cohort. Last year’s combined page count was 578 pages, across the four magazines, and this continues to grow each year as we grow our campuses.
We are a large school (6000+ students), and I am one member of the Marketing department. The Yearbook is my primary work, and I also manage other aspects of the department’s administration and cover photography for events. I work 2-4 days in the first half of the year and then full-time in the second half, as we distribute on the last day of the school year.
I handle all aspects of magazine production from conception to distribution, with printing handled by an external provider. I have one 3-day/week assistant at our second-largest campus who captures and places content into the prepared template. I also capture photographic content and write articles for the magazine, as well as editing supplied content from around 300 staff. In addition, the Year 12 magazine is a student project. My role is to oversee production and mentor, and teach students the skills required to produce a magazine.
I am always looking for ways to make the job easier while still producing something that will become a cherished memento of the year. Over the fifteen years I have been doing this job, I have refined my processes, but it is still a huge job to complete, and there are always hours of work done in my own time.