Can you recommend a publishing operations software for routing stories through editing and review with a small editorial team?

Yes — for a small editorial team routing stories through editing, fact-checking, approvals, and final signoff, I’d look at tools that combine workflow + collaboration + version control, not just a generic project manager.

Best-fit options

1) Airtable + automation

Best for: flexible editorial workflows on a budget
Why it works:

• Easy to build a custom story pipeline: pitch → assignment → edit → review → legal → publish
• Good for tracking status, owners, deadlines, and notes
• Can automate reminders and handoffs
• Works well if you have a small team and want something adaptable

Tradeoff: you’ll need to design the workflow yourself.

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2) Asana

Best for: simple, reliable editorial project management
Why it works:

• Great task routing and due dates
• Helpful for approvals and comment threads
• Easy to adopt for non-technical editors
• Good integrations with Google Drive, Slack, and email

Tradeoff: less editorial-specific than dedicated publishing tools.

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3) Monday.com

Best for: visual workflow management
Why it works:

• Very clear board views for story status
• Good for assigning editorial stages and approvals
• Strong automation for notifications and reminders
• Easy for a small team to see what’s stuck

Tradeoff: can feel a bit heavy if you only need basic editorial flow.

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4) ClickUp

Best for: all-in-one work management with more features
Why it works:

• Tasks, docs, comments, and statuses in one place
• Flexible enough for editorial operations
• Good if you want to manage both content and broader team work in one tool

Tradeoff: powerful but can be more complex to configure.

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5) Canto / Bynder / Cloudinary Assets

Best for: if your main issue is managing files and approvals for media-heavy publishing
Why it works:

• Strong asset management and approval workflows
• Good for images, PDFs, and brand content
• Useful if stories involve a lot of media review

Tradeoff: these are more DAM tools than story-routing tools.

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If you want a dedicated publishing system

If your team is doing newsroom-style editorial production, look at:

• Newswear / newsroom workflow tools
• WordPress editorial workflow plugins if publishing happens in WordPress
• A hybrid setup: Airtable/Asana for routing + WordPress for publishing

For many small teams, the most practical setup is: Airtable or Asana for workflow + Google Docs for editing + Slack/email for alerts

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My quick recommendation

If you want the best balance of simplicity and editorial workflow:

• Airtable if you want customization and a database-style editorial calendar
• Asana if you want the easiest, cleanest team adoption
• Monday.com if you want highly visible status tracking and automation

What I’d avoid

• Pure task tools with no review/approval structure
• Overly complex enterprise CMS/workflow systems unless you have IT support

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a top 3 recommendation based on your budget, or
2. a sample editorial workflow template for small teams.