As submission deadlines approach, yearbook teams often focus on finishing pages as quickly as possible. After months of writing captions, collecting photos, and designing spreads, it can be tempting to upload the files and move on. But the final review stage is one of the most important parts of the production process.

If sales feel slow, it’s easy to assume families just aren’t interested. But in most cases, that isn’t true. Students care. Parents care. Seniors especially care. What’s usually missing isn’t interest, it’s strategy. Here are the most common reasons yearbook programs stall and exactly what you can adjust right now in March.

No adviser ever says, “I wish we included less.” But every year, schools look back and think: “We should have covered that.” “I can’t believe we didn’t document that.” “I wish we had asked students about that moment.” By late February, most books are well underway, which makes this the perfect time to pause and ask: Are we capturing everything that matters? Schools often regret not including these 5 things: