Pages vs. packages

Anyone using our site has noticed we no longer sell paginated special sections but that doesn't mean we can't produce the pages you need. When we decided to re-invent our service last year, we talked to numerous clients and decided that a package of stories and photos was more beneficial to you because of the added frequency and flexibility: we produce more content, you can use what you want without having to pull it apart. In the past, we put out 26 special sections a year. This year, we've easily tripled that number, meaning you have more choices for special sections, not to mention the various pieces — stories, photos, graphics — that can be purchased and used individually.
Still, we know some papers have a need for complete layouts and we're more than happy to help. Our designers have produced pages for newspapers across the country, including the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald and numerous others. If you need a single page or a complete section based on the content on our site — or if you'd like us to write some local stories for that section — we'd love to help. And it won't cost you much money. Promise. Just drop me an e-mail at mbuscaglia@tribune.com and we'll get the process started.
-Marco

Happy holidays?

It's kind of hard to start thinking about Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's Eve in the middle of September, but anyone who is in charge of special sections knows those holidays sneak up on us, whether we're ready or not. Well, we'll help you get ready. Next month, we'll release three of our four holiday packages, beginning on Oct. 1 with our first holiday gift guide. On Oct. 15, we'll release our holiday entertaining package. Our second holiday gift guide, which will focus on gifts within various budgets, will be available on Oct. 29. Finally, our last-minute gift guide will be ready on Nov. 17. In the meantime, you can grab our Halloween package, which was posted earlier today.
-Marco

Photo ideas?

This week, we'll begin adding more stock photos to our service, thanks to our provider, jupiterimages. If you're looking for any specific photos, let us know. For now, we'll begin adding to the images in the wedding, employment, green living and real estate sections of the site.
-Marco

Back to work

 Here's hoping everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. The TMS Specialty Products crew spent part of it engaged in a little summer outing on Friday afternoon, complete with lunch at Chicago's Superdawg, a round of miniature golf at the Bunny Hutch and ice cream at The Chocolate Shoppe. And yes, we traveled everywhere by minivan. Pictured above are TMS-SPers, from left to right, Todd Rector, Matt Maldre, Lisa Schryver, Jason Lee, Erin Vidales, Kristi Elliott and Marco Buscaglia.

Fall home improvement

OK, summer's not over yet, but now that school's back in session for most students, it feels like the end of something. Your readers may want to take a breather before the holiday rush begins after Halloween, so give them and your advertisers some ideas on renovating their homes this fall with our latest home improvement package.
-Marco

Candice's last day

Candice Gora's last day with TMS Specialty Products is today, August 22. Candice is moving a few floors up in Tribune Tower for her new job with Tribune Media Net.
Since we launched earlier this year, Candice has been a huge part of our service, lining up new customers for the Web site and for our custom products. She's also a great person to work with, always full of energy and new ideas. We wish her the best of luck with her new job and thank her for her help with our launch.
-Marco

This dog's life

TMS Specialty Products designer Erin Vidales has a new puppy, Gracie, who's seen in the accompanying photo sleeping on the way to the vet. Gracie is a eight-week-old golden retriever who's now living in Chicago with Erin and Erin's husband, Mike. (Obligatory tie-in to follow) While we're on the subject of pets, don't forget to check out our pets section, which is filled with stories about dogs, cats, birds, hamsters and all the other animals we invite into our homes (as opposed to those creatures we don't invite into our homes,  which we cover as well).

-Marco

New categories

Beginning today, tmsspecialtyproducts.com includes four new categories on our main page: Education, Green Living, How-to Guides and Legal. We're doing what we can to make sure you can find the advertorial subjects you need on our Web site. You'll see more stories added to each of these categories each day. However, if you can't find what you're looking for, feel free to e-mail me and I'll do my best to help you out.

-Marco

After hours

Continuing our emphasis on employment stories, we've posted a package focused on workers who do their jobs while the rest of us are fast asleep. Anyone burning the midnight oil on the job has to deal with more issues than most workers, including sleep deprivation, loneliness and separation from friends and family. Check out this series of stories to help your readers and advertisers make sense of the late-night worker.

Back to school already?

Who thinks about heading back to the classroom in the middle of summer? Your advertisers, of course. We've just posted our second back-to-school section of the month, which focuses on private schools. Our first package emphasizes grade-school students. Both packages are perfect for a back-to-school special section or individual pages. We're also working on packages for students attending high school and college, which will be posted soon.