Print Advertising Sales Software: A Checklist for Every Issue

Print advertising sales software has one job: carry each ad from the signed order to the printed page and the invoice without anyone retyping it. This checklist follows an ad through five handoffs (issue bookings, material deadlines, artwork handoff, proof of what ran and an invoice for each issue) and gives you a check to run on your own data at every one.

Use it to audit how you sell print today, in a spreadsheet, a CRM or both, or to compare print advertising sales software before you buy. It is vendor-neutral; a box near the end shows what RunMags does at each step and where it stops.

Start with the booking line

Everything below reads from one record: the booking line, which is one ad in one issue. A contract for a half page in four issues is four lines, not one, because each has its own material deadline, its own place on the page plan and its own invoice.

Field	Why you need it
Advertiser and agency	The invoice goes to one and the commission to the other.
Title and issue	Deadlines, the page plan and the invoice all hang from it.
Size and position	What the page budget and the printer need; a cover or a facing-editorial position is often priced and promised.
Net price, discount and commission	What to invoice, fixed at booking so a later rate card change does not rewrite it.
Material deadline	The date the advertiser has to deliver by.
Artwork status	Not requested, requested, received, checked.
Placement status	Unplaced, placed, ran.
Invoice reference	So “what did we bill for issue 3?” has an answer.

Check: pick one ad from your last issue. Can you find all eight fields in under a minute without asking anyone?

1. Issue bookings

A booking is a signed order or contract, not a verbal yes. Write it against an issue rather than a calendar month, because the issue is what the printer, the page plan and the invoice all use. If you do not yet have a standard order document, the free insertion order template covers issues, sizes, rates, discount and agency commission.

• Record the signed order or contract against every booking line.
• Fix price, discount and agency commission on the line at booking.
• Compare the space sold with the page budget before you promise a position.
• Record cancellations and changes on the line, not only in an email thread.

Check: add up the pages sold for next issue. Does the total match what your flatplan shows?

2. Material deadlines

Each issue has its own dates: when bookings close, when artwork is due and when editorial is due. Count them back from the print date; the free magazine production schedule template does the counting. Then tell each advertiser their own date in the reminder, not only in the media kit, and decide in advance who may accept a late booking and what it does to the page plan.

• Store one artwork deadline per issue, where everyone can see it.
• Send a reminder with the deadline and a way to upload the file to every advertiser still missing material.
• Count the reminders sent, so you know who has already been chased.
• Name the person who decides on late bookings.

Check: five days before the artwork deadline, can you list every advertiser who has not delivered without opening a spreadsheet?

3. Artwork handoff

There are two handoffs: advertiser to you, and you to the printer. Receipt is not approval. Record when the file arrived, who checked it against the printer’s specification (trim size, bleed, resolution, colour) and what the result was; the guide to collecting advertiser artwork has an intake worksheet for that. For the printer, send one set of files, sorted so that each file matches a booked ad, and know which version is the current one.

• Tie each file to its booking line, not to a mailbox.
• Keep “received” and “checked” as separate statuses.
• Keep one current version per ad, and keep the superseded ones.
• Pull all the artwork for the issue in one step for the production handoff.

Check: take one ad. Can you show the exact file that went to the printer, and who checked it?

4. Proof of what ran

This is the step that is easiest to skip, and it is the one an advertiser asks about when something goes wrong: did the ad run in this issue, on which page, at the size we bought? You do not need much to answer, but you do need it recorded before the invoice goes out.

• Mark each booking line placed when the page is final, with the page number.
• Keep the finished issue PDF with the plan and check each page against it.
• Record any difference, such as a wrong page or a smaller size, on the line before you invoice.
• Agree your make-good and credit rules in advance, so a mistake does not become a negotiation.

Check: an advertiser asks whether their ad ran on a right-hand page in issue 3. Can you answer with evidence in two minutes?

5. An invoice for each issue

Invoice each issue once its ads have run and any exception is settled, at the price, discount and commission on the order. A three-issue contract then produces three invoices that match what the advertiser saw in print. Each invoice row should keep its issue reference, and a correction should be a credit note against the original invoice rather than an edit. Finally, a payment should be recorded against its invoice where sales can see it, so the rep knows before the next call. Read more about publisher billing and payments.

• Invoice only the lines that ran, after exceptions are settled.
• Keep the issue reference on every invoice row.
• Issue credit notes against the original invoice.
• Register each payment against its invoice, visible to sales as well as finance.

Check: for last issue, count the ads that ran and the invoice rows. Do the two numbers match?

Close the issue: a six-line final check

1. Every booked ad is placed on the page plan, or has a recorded reason why not.
2. Every placed ad has artwork that was received and checked.
3. The files sent to the printer match the plan.
4. The finished issue PDF is stored and each ad has been checked against it.
5. Differences are noted on the booking lines, with the make-good agreed.
6. Invoices and credit notes are ready to go out for the lines that ran.

Choosing print advertising sales software

Do not judge print advertising sales software from a demo. Run one real issue through each system you are comparing, with the same three jobs: book a three-issue contract with an agency commission; get next issue’s booked ads onto a page plan and chase the missing artwork; invoice the first issue with a credit note on one line. Count every place someone has to retype something. Each one is a place where ads go missing.

The right tool depends on how you sell. A general CRM is enough while you sell a handful of ads and invoice from your accounting software. An enterprise order management system suits a publisher with many titles, several media channels and a dedicated finance and IT team. An ad server is the right tool for selling impressions on websites or programmatic inventory, which is a different job. Print advertising sales software suits a publisher that sells its own print and digital advertising directly to advertisers and agencies, issue by issue.

See how RunMags magazine advertising sales software handles bookings, contracts and invoicing, and how the RunMags flatplan puts booked ads on the page.

Frequently asked questions

What is print advertising sales software?

It is software that carries each print ad from the signed order to the printed page and the invoice: the booking by issue, the material deadline, the artwork, the placement on the page plan and the bill for that issue. Its test is whether anyone has to retype the order at the next step.

What should print advertising sales software record for each ad?

One booking line per ad per issue: advertiser and agency, title and issue, size and position, net price with discount and agency commission, material deadline, artwork status, placement status and the invoice reference. Deadlines, the page plan and the invoice all read from that line.

How do you show that an ad ran in the issue?

Mark the booking line placed when the page is final, note the page number, keep the finished issue PDF with the plan and check each ad against it before you invoice. Record any difference, such as a wrong page or size, on the line and settle the make-good before the invoice goes out.

When should you invoice a print advertiser?

Invoice each issue separately once its ads have run and any exception is settled, at the price, discount and commission agreed on the order. A three-issue contract then produces three invoices that match what the advertiser saw in print, and corrections are made with credit notes.

Is print advertising sales software the same as an ad server?

No. An ad server delivers and counts impressions on websites or programmatic inventory. Print advertising sales software manages direct sales by issue: bookings, material, page placement and invoicing. RunMags is ad sales software for publishers that sell their own advertising and is not a programmatic ad server.

Does RunMags check artwork or manage proof approval?

No. RunMags shows on each ad in the flatplan whether material has been received and how many reminders were sent, and lets you download all artwork for an issue, sorted by advertiser. Checking files against your printer’s specifications and approving proofs stay with your production team.