publish-series

name	publish-series
description	Coordinated deployment of multi-part investigative series. Sequential editorial gates (each article passes independently). Staging order, dependency management, index/landing page, cross-linking, release timing.

Publish Series Skill

Overview

Publish Series handles the coordinated deployment of multi-part investigative series, where articles are interdependent but must be published as a coordinated package.

Key difference from Publish Article: Series articles are sequenced and gated independently, but they're released together to maximize impact.

This skill ensures:

• Sequential editorial gates (each article approved independently)
• Dependency management (Article 2 can't go live if Article 1 has issues)
• Landing page/index coordination (series hub links all parts)
• Cross-article linking (readers navigate from part to part)
• Coordinated release timing (all articles published at agreed moment)
• Archive protection (intermediate drafts preserved; no data loss)

---

Series Planning Phase

Before deployment, define the series structure:

Series Definition Document

series:
  title: "Procurement Breakdown: A 6-Month Investigation"
  slug: "procurement-breakdown"
  description: "How municipal contracts worth $5M went to a single vendor with no competitive bidding. An investigation into broken oversight."

articles:
  - article_id: 1
    title: "How One Vendor Got 94% of City Contracts"
    slug: "how-one-vendor-94-percent"
    publication_date: "2025-04-01 10:00 AM"
    status: "approved_for_publishing"
    wordcount: 2100
    dependencies: []  # First article; no dependencies

  - article_id: 2
    title: "City Council Ignored Its Own Procurement Rules"
    slug: "city-council-ignored-rules"
    publication_date: "2025-04-02 10:00 AM"
    status: "approved_for_publishing"
    wordcount: 1800
    dependencies: [1]  # Depends on Article 1 being live

  - article_id: 3
    title: "Where Is the Oversight? An Audit Trail Goes Missing"
    slug: "audit-trail-missing"
    publication_date: "2025-04-03 10:00 AM"
    status: "approved_for_publishing"
    wordcount: 2300
    dependencies: [1, 2]  # Depends on Articles 1 & 2

landing_page:
  title: "Procurement Breakdown Series"
  slug: "procurement-breakdown-series"
  description: "Read our full investigation into municipal procurement failures"
  featured_image: "images/series-hero.jpg"
  publication_date: "2025-04-01 09:30 AM"  # 30 min before first article

cross_linking:
  - article_id: 1
    teaser_for_2: "Next: How the city council ignored its own rules"
    teaser_for_3: "Coming tomorrow: Where did the audit trail go?"

  - article_id: 2
    teaser_for_3: "Read tomorrow: The missing audit trail"
    previous_link: "Part 1: How one vendor got 94% of contracts"

  - article_id: 3
    previous_link: "Part 2: City council ignored its own rules"
    series_link: "Read the full series"

publication_dates:
  landing_page: "2025-04-01 09:30 AM"
  article_1: "2025-04-01 10:00 AM"
  article_2: "2025-04-02 10:00 AM"
  article_3: "2025-04-03 10:00 AM"

social_strategy:
  day_1_hook: "We spent 6 months investigating. $5M in city contracts went to one vendor. Zero competitive bids. Here's how."
  day_2_teaser: "Part 2 tomorrow: Did city council deliberately ignore procurement rules? Documents suggest yes."
  day_3_teaser: "Final part: The missing audit trail reveals more unanswered questions."

---

Editorial Gates (Sequential & Independent)

Each article must pass editorial review independently, but gates are sequenced by publication order:

Article 1: Editorial Gate

Timeline: 7 days before publication

• Final-editor-review complete (libel check, fact-check, verification)

• Copy-review complete (readability, SEO, accessibility)

• Social marketing hooks drafted (3 options provided; editor chooses)

• Images finalized (1200×628px social card created)

• Metadata complete:

  • Meta title (50–60 chars)
  • Meta description (155–160 chars)
  • og:image (1200×628px)
  • Structured data (NewsArticle JSON-LD with series info)
  • Series canonical link: <link rel="canonical" href="https://newsroom.org/articles/procurement-breakdown/part-1">

• Editor sign-off: "Approved for publishing"

Article 2: Editorial Gate

Timeline: 1 day before publication

• Article 1 is live (prerequisite; if Article 1 has issues, Article 2 is delayed)
• Final-editor-review complete
• Copy-review complete
• Cross-reference to Article 1 verified (links work, teasers accurate)
• Metadata complete (including series designation)
• Editor sign-off: "Approved for publishing"

Article 3: Editorial Gate

Timeline: 1 day before publication

• Articles 1 & 2 are live
• Final-editor-review complete
• Copy-review complete
• Cross-references verified (links to Part 1 & Part 2 work; teasers accurate)
• Metadata complete (including series designation)
• Editor sign-off: "Approved for publishing"

---

Landing Page (Series Hub)

The landing page is the central hub for the series. It publishes first and links all articles as they go live.

Landing Page Structure

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Procurement Breakdown: A 6-Month Investigation</title>
  <meta name="description" content="How municipal contracts worth $5M went to a single vendor with no competitive bidding.">
  <meta property="og:title" content="Procurement Breakdown Series">
  <meta property="og:image" content="https://newsroom.org/images/series-hero.jpg">
  <meta property="og:url" content="https://newsroom.org/series/procurement-breakdown">
  <meta property="og:type" content="website">
</head>
<body>

  <header class="series-header">
    <h1>Procurement Breakdown</h1>
    <p class="subtitle">A 6-Month Investigation</p>
    <img src="images/series-hero.jpg" alt="Municipal building">
  </header>

  <section class="series-summary">
    <h2>What We Found</h2>
    <p>Our investigation reveals how municipal contracts worth $5M were awarded to a single vendor over four years with zero competitive bidding. We obtained internal documents, interviewed officials, and traced the decision-making process that bypassed procurement oversight.</p>
  </section>

  <section class="series-articles">
    <h2>Read the Series</h2>

    <article class="series-part">
      <h3>Part 1: How One Vendor Got 94% of City Contracts</h3>
      <p class="date">Published April 1, 2025</p>
      <p class="summary">We analyzed four years of municipal spending and found that one vendor dominated city contracts while others were barely solicited.</p>
      <a href="https://newsroom.org/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent" class="read-more">Read Part 1</a>
    </article>

    <article class="series-part">
      <h3>Part 2: City Council Ignored Its Own Procurement Rules</h3>
      <p class="date">Published April 2, 2025</p>
      <p class="summary">City council procurement policy requires competitive bidding for contracts over $50K. Internal documents show the council deliberately bypassed this rule.</p>
      <a href="https://newsroom.org/articles/city-council-ignored-rules" class="read-more">Read Part 2</a>
    </article>

    <article class="series-part">
      <h3>Part 3: Where Is the Oversight? An Audit Trail Goes Missing</h3>
      <p class="date">Published April 3, 2025</p>
      <p class="summary">We requested audit records documenting the decision-making process. The city's response: records don't exist, can't be located, or were never created.</p>
      <a href="https://newsroom.org/articles/audit-trail-missing" class="read-more">Read Part 3</a>
    </article>

  </section>

  <section class="series-methodology">
    <h2>How We Did This Investigation</h2>
    <ul>
      <li>Obtained 4 years of municipal contract records via FOIA</li>
      <li>Interviewed 12 current and former city officials</li>
      <li>Reviewed city procurement policy and audit records</li>
      <li>Analyzed vendor bid patterns and contract awards</li>
    </ul>
  </section>

</body>
</html>

Landing Page Pre-Deployment Checklist

• Landing page title, meta description, og:image set correctly
• All article links stubbed (article_id references; articles don't exist yet on first publish)
• Series metadata complete:
  • <meta property="og:type" content="website">
  • <meta name="series-title" content="Procurement Breakdown">
  • <meta name="series-parts" content="3">
• Images present and optimized (series hero, etc.)
• Methodology section accurate (matches what was actually done)
• Links tested (once articles are live, retest all links)

---

Cross-Article Linking

Each article links to others in the series, creating a web that keeps readers engaged.

Article 1 (First in Series)

Bottom section:

<section class="series-navigation">
  <h3>This is Part 1 of a 3-Part Series</h3>

  <div class="series-teaser">
    <h4>Coming Tomorrow: Part 2</h4>
    <p>City Council Ignored Its Own Procurement Rules</p>
    <p>Internal documents reveal how decision-makers deliberately bypassed competitive bidding requirements.</p>
    <a href="/series/procurement-breakdown">Read the series hub for updates</a>
  </div>

  <div class="series-teaser">
    <h4>Coming Friday: Part 3</h4>
    <p>Where Is the Oversight? An Audit Trail Goes Missing</p>
    <p>City records show decision-making documents were never created—or destroyed.</p>
  </div>
</section>

Article 2 (Middle in Series)

Top section (navigation bar):

<nav class="series-nav">
  <a href="/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent">← Part 1: How One Vendor Got 94%</a>
  <span class="current">Part 2: City Council Ignored Rules</span>
  <a href="/articles/audit-trail-missing">Part 3: Missing Audit Trail →</a>
</nav>

Bottom section (teaser for Part 3):

<section class="series-navigation">
  <h3>Read Part 3 (Publishing Tomorrow)</h3>
  <p>Where Is the Oversight? An Audit Trail Goes Missing</p>
  <p>The city's response to our request for audit records: they don't exist.</p>
  <a href="/series/procurement-breakdown">Check the series hub for updates</a>
</section>

Article 3 (Final in Series)

Top section:

<nav class="series-nav">
  <a href="/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent">← Part 1: How One Vendor Got 94%</a>
  <a href="/articles/city-council-ignored-rules">← Part 2: City Council Ignored Rules</a>
  <span class="current">Part 3: Missing Audit Trail</span>
</nav>

Bottom section (link to series hub and summary):

<section class="series-wrap-up">
  <h3>You've Reached the End of the Series</h3>
  <p><a href="/series/procurement-breakdown">Return to the series hub</a> to read all three parts.</p>
</section>

---

Dependency Management

Series articles are published in sequence. Each article's publication is blocked if prior articles have issues.

Dependency Matrix

article_1:
  blocks: [2, 3]  # If Article 1 fails, Articles 2 & 3 are blocked

article_2:
  blocked_by: [1]  # Can't publish if Article 1 is not live
  blocks: [3]

article_3:
  blocked_by: [1, 2]  # Can't publish if Article 1 or 2 is not live
  blocks: []

Publication Order

Timeline:

Day 0 (April 1):
  09:30 AM - Landing page goes live
  10:00 AM - Article 1 goes live (no dependencies)

Day 1 (April 2):
  10:00 AM - Article 2 goes live (Article 1 must be live and working)

Day 2 (April 3):
  10:00 AM - Article 3 goes live (Articles 1 & 2 must be live and working)

Blocker Resolution

If Article 2 can't publish on schedule:

1. Identify blocker (broken link in Article 1? metadata issue?)
2. Fix offline (edit Article 2 locally or fix referenced Article 1)
3. Delay announcement (notify readers that Part 2 delayed)
4. Communicate timeline ("Part 2 publishing Friday" → "Delayed to Monday; we're verifying all links")
5. Reschedule publication (update landing page with new date)

---

Staging Workflow

Stage 1: Pre-Publication (Landing Page Live, Articles Staged)

Landing page is live; articles are linked but not yet published.

Step 1: Deploy landing page

# Landing page links to article stubs or coming-soon pages
# Each article has placeholder: "Coming April 1"
gsutil cp landing_page.html gs://bucket/series/procurement-breakdown.html

Verification:

# Landing page is accessible
curl -s https://newsroom.org/series/procurement-breakdown | grep -q "Procurement Breakdown"

# Article links are valid (point to draft or coming-soon page)
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent | grep -q "Coming April 1"

Stage 2: Article 1 Deployment

30 minutes after landing page goes live, Article 1 is published.

# Deploy Article 1
gsutil cp article_1_final.html gs://bucket/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent.html

# Update landing page (change "Coming April 1" link to actual article link)
# OR landing page already had correct link; just verify it works
curl -s https://newsroom.org/series/procurement-breakdown | grep -q "how-one-vendor-94-percent"

Verification:

# Article 1 loads
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent | head -20

# Article 1 references to Part 2 are present (teasers)
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent | grep -q "Part 2"

Social announcement:

Hook: "We spent 6 months investigating. $5M in city contracts went to one vendor. Zero competitive bids. Here's the story."
Link: https://newsroom.org/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent

Stage 3: Article 2 Deployment (Day 2)

If Article 1 is live and working, deploy Article 2.

# Deploy Article 2
gsutil cp article_2_final.html gs://bucket/articles/city-council-ignored-rules.html

# Verify Article 1 -> Article 2 link works
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent | grep -q "city-council-ignored-rules"

# Verify Article 2 -> Article 1 link works
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/city-council-ignored-rules | grep -q "how-one-vendor-94-percent"

Social announcement:

Hook: "Part 2: City Council ignored its own procurement rules. Internal documents obtained by our reporters show exactly how."
Link: https://newsroom.org/articles/city-council-ignored-rules

Stage 4: Article 3 Deployment (Day 3)

If Articles 1 & 2 are live, deploy Article 3.

# Deploy Article 3
gsutil cp article_3_final.html gs://bucket/articles/audit-trail-missing.html

# Verify all cross-links work
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/how-one-vendor-94-percent | grep -q "audit-trail-missing"
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/city-council-ignored-rules | grep -q "audit-trail-missing"
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/audit-trail-missing | grep -q "how-one-vendor-94-percent"
curl -s https://newsroom.org/articles/audit-trail-missing | grep -q "city-council-ignored-rules"

Social announcement:

Hook: "Part 3 (final): The missing audit trail. City officials tell us decision-making documents don't exist. We explain what that means."
Link: https://newsroom.org/articles/audit-trail-missing

---

Coordinated Release Timing

Time-Zone Aware Publishing

Key decision: What time zone for publication?

• Local newsroom time: Easier to coordinate internally
• Reader local time: Complex if audience is distributed
• UTC: Ensures consistency; readers convert as needed

Recommendation: Use newsroom's local time zone; announce time clearly.

Publication Announcement

Announce schedule to readers (before Day 1):

<section class="series-announcement">
  <h2>Coming This Week: Procurement Breakdown</h2>
  <p>We spent 6 months investigating municipal contracts. Here's when you can read our findings:</p>
  <ul>
    <li><strong>Tuesday, April 1 at 10 AM</strong> – Part 1: How One Vendor Got 94% of Contracts</li>
    <li><strong>Wednesday, April 2 at 10 AM</strong> – Part 2: City Council Ignored Rules</li>
    <li><strong>Thursday, April 3 at 10 AM</strong> – Part 3: The Missing Audit Trail</li>
  </ul>
  <p><a href="/series/procurement-breakdown">Subscribe to be notified when parts are published</a></p>
</section>

Email Notification (Optional)

If newsroom has subscriber list, send notification on publication day:

Subject: New: Part 2 of Our Procurement Investigation

We just published Part 2 of our 3-part series on municipal procurement failures.

Part 2: City Council Ignored Its Own Rules

City council procurement policy requires competitive bidding. Internal documents show the council deliberately bypassed this policy.

Read Part 2: [link]

(Or start with Part 1: [link])

---

Common Mistakes & Red Flags

Series Planning Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's Bad	Fix
No landing page (articles published independently)	Readers can't find the series; no central hub; feels scattered	Create landing page first; design as series hub before individual articles
Unclear dependencies (Article 3 published before Article 1)	Confuses readers; breaks narrative; defeats investigative build	Document dependencies in series definition; enforce sequential publication
Cross-links not tested (Article 1 links to non-existent Article 2)	Broken links frustrate readers; poor UX; low trust	Test all cross-links before publication; stagger publishing to avoid broken links
Metadata doesn't identify series (no series-title meta tag)	Search engines don't recognize series; articles rank independently instead of as package	Add series metadata to all articles; link landing page to all parts

Editorial Gate Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's Bad	Fix
Article 2 approved before Article 1 is live	Article 2 might reference things Article 1 doesn't say; broken logic	Gate Article 2 approval on Article 1 publication; stagger editorial review
No cross-reference check (Article 2 links to wrong URL for Article 1)	Links broken; readers can't navigate series	Cross-reference check must happen 1 day before publication; verify all links in staging environment
Dependencies ignored (try to publish Article 3 when Article 1 has issues)	Article 3 goes live with broken navigation; readers see error	Enforce dependency checks; block publication if dependencies are not met

Timing Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's Bad	Fix
All articles published same day at same time	No narrative build; loses momentum; no buzz over multiple days	Stagger publication: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 (different times if possible)
Publish Friday, then Saturday, then Monday (days scattered)	Readers miss middle installment over weekend; lose momentum	Publish consecutive days (Mon-Tue-Wed or Tue-Wed-Thu); avoid weekends
Social announcement goes out before article is live	Readers click link; see 404 or old content; frustration	Announce right when article goes live (within 5 minutes of publication)
No announcement; series just appears	Readers don't know series exists; low traffic on Part 1	Announce schedule 1 week before; remind readers day before each publication

Rollback Mistakes

Mistake	Why It's Bad	Fix
Roll back Article 1 after Article 2 is published	Breaks Article 2's references; confuses readers; all links broken	Before rolling back, assess impact on downstream articles; may need to roll back entire series
Article 2 has issues; roll back without fixing Article 1	Leaves article 1 orphaned; readers confused	If rolling back, document why and when Part 2 will re-publish
No record of what was rolled back	Can't explain to readers why content disappeared	Document rollback reason, date, time, and article(s) affected; add note to homepage

---

Landing Page Metadata Checklist

• Series title set (og:title, meta title)
• Series description set (meta description, og:description)
• Series image set (og:image, 1200×628px, unique per series)
• Series URL set (og:url, canonical URL)
• Article count documented (<meta name="series-parts" content="3">)
• All article links present (once articles are live)
• Methodology section complete (explains how investigation was done)
• Publication dates clear (readers know when each part publishes)

---

Post-Series Workflow

After All Articles Published (Day 4+)

1. Update landing page (remove "coming soon" teasers; all articles now live)
2. Cross-link to related stories (tag similar investigations; build topic authority)
3. Archive intermediate drafts (preserve all versions in version control)
4. Analyze performance (which article got most traffic? best social engagement?)
5. Plan next series (lessons learned; apply to future investigations)

Archive Protection

NEVER delete intermediate drafts or working documents:

# Keep all versions
series-procurement-breakdown/
  ├── article_1_draft_v1.html
  ├── article_1_draft_v2.html (copy-reviewed)
  ├── article_1_final.html (published)
  ├── article_2_draft_v1.html
  ├── article_2_final.html (published)
  └── article_3_final.html (published)

# Store in version control or backup storage
git add series-procurement-breakdown/
git commit -m "Archive: Procurement Breakdown series (all versions)"

Why: If a claim in the series is challenged, you need to show the editing process, fact-checking notes, and decision-making trail.

---

Escalation

If a series article has legal issues post-publication:

1. Assess severity (factual error vs. defamatory claim)
2. Decide: roll back or correct? (editor + legal decision)
3. If rolling back: Remove article; note reason on landing page ("Part 2 temporarily removed for review")
4. If correcting: Add correction notice to article; update social posts if necessary
5. Notify downstream (if Article 1 is updated, does it affect Article 2's logic?)