writes:
Now it's the prime course - time to determine tomorrow's headlines.
(Back when I started TMP, I never dreamed that there would be enough news in the hobby to publish news daily. Then it slowly started building up, from 2-3 stories per day, to 5-6 stories per day, and now I actually receive more news than I have time to publish!)
On a normal day, I publish between 5 and 8 news stories - limited by my available time, and the format of the homepage (which shows a maximum of 10 photo items, generally speaking - fewer if you're not a TMP Basic Member, or are but have your bandwidth setting turned down).
What submissions do I have? First I check the submissions in the online database (these are the ones which come in from the website, and are pre-processed), and then I look at the ones which have come in through email. And don't forgot the two magazines which just arrived. (In the old days, I had time to check manufacturers' websites for news - not any more.)
Turns out I have 25 "good" news items in the queue. I've already put three items to the homepage (On the Internet and Manufacturers Directory items), and my goal is ten photo-items per weekday, so I have to pick the Top 7 from today's 25. (The others will be held over for the weekend.)
Picking (and ranking!) the "top" news stories is never easy. Tomorrow's Friday, and most companies want their stories to appear before the weekend (when TMP viewship drops by about 25%). Some companies particularly want their stories in the Top Three (which show up as photo-items even for non-members). I try to balance between reporting the "big" news (from major companies) and "small" companies, between historical and non-historical, and I try to do at least one convention-related story if one is in the queue. And of course, anything time-sensitive needs to go sooner (such as sales announcements).
For instance, today I have 3 Games Workshop stories held over from yesterday. But there's a lot of news today, and two of the stories relate to "fringe" interests (game fiction), so I push them off for another day. However, I decide the story about the new White Dwarf gets in for Friday.
I'm also influenced by a good picture - and today, it's the Darius Chariot from Battlestandard. In fact, I'm flagging that for the #1 spot.
I add the Cold Wars story to the final set - it's time-sensitive (event deadline).
The Uniformology story seems important, so I also put it for Friday. (I'm reluctant to give them any publicity, as I've seen some of the email they send out in response to consumer complaints, and I just don't like them. On the other hand, this is a sign they're trying to make things right...though reading between the lines, maybe it's only because they've had too many PayPal complaints? Anyway, they're in.)
I'll put Mo-Fo's story in, since they're a new company - or are they a new line from an old company? Their press release isn't clear. And that name! What are they thinking? Surely they realize what it means in American slang?
The Graf Zeppelin story also gets in - I don't run enough naval stories at TMP, and Thomas has been waiting patiently for several days.
And the story from Superfigs - haven't run anything from them for a while, always good to cover superhero gaming.
It takes about half an hour for the news selection process.