Livelihood through local newspapers

Earn a Living And Provide an Important Service for Your Area

Weekly and monthly publications exist in many small towns, subdivision communities and other "local" regions. Every large city has many such publications. Many small towns have at least one. Then there are the county-wide papers, the business papers, the special "trading posts" and advertiser papers.

Some small papers target homeowners while others are aimed at apartment dwellers. Some are intended as business-to-business news and advertisements, while some are strictly neighborhood announcements and gossip. The most successful know their market and don't try to accomplish more than they can do well.

But I Really HATE Newspapers

Join the crowd. Newspaper subscriptions have been declining for decades. That's why many cities that once enjoyed two or more strong daily newspapers have only one today. And many dailies that once offered more than one edition a day now only produce one.

If you find run-of-the-mill newspapers boring then you may be better suited to starting and running a successful local paper. You won't be as tempted to make it boring. You'll be more likely to strive to fill it with information that actually means something to your readers.


Facing the Facts

Ok, let's face a few facts. In the previous and following pages, I tell you how it's possible to start and operate your own local newspaper. I do my best to give you good reasons to seriously consider throwing yourself into such an adventure. I give you advice and ideas, examples and facts. I draw your attention to useful books and other publications, so that you can improve areas of understanding and skill. I point you to other online resources, many of which are free.

But let's face it, the newspaper business is not for everyone. In fact business itself is not for everyone. Writing is not for everyone. Publishing is not for everyone. And news gathering, page layout, photography, personal interviewing, and ad sales are not for everyone.

Owning and operating a local paper is hard work. It requires some long days, and sleepless nights. It requires hard work (did I already mention that?). And long days. I personally have put in some 40 and 50 hour days, when circumstances shoved me up against deadlines. But I never put a paper out late. I always made the deadline — even when it meant driving up mountain passes packed with snow and ice in the dead of winter to get to press on time.





Hard Work Should Be Fun

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Life should be fun. I fully believe that. And work should be meaningful, satisfying, and challenging. No one should work all week, every week, just to make ends meet. Work to make a difference. Work to accomplish things you really believe in. Work to make sure the little guy gets his day in the sun. And work to encourage your community in the right directions.

For me, everything about doing a paper is fun. Reporting, picture-taking, selling ads, interviews, covering high school sports — everything. I even enjoyed telling big city lawyers that they had no authority over the local free press. I told them to either sue me or shut up. Thankfully, they shut up. (Whew!)

What If I'm Too Lazy?

Everyone has a lazy side. When life becomes really boring, many of us tend to get lazy about things that really matter. That's why we need to be challenged. We need to be climbing mountains that scare us to death. We need to be crossing rivers that no one can cross. We need to be pushing to win prizes that no one has ever won before. All of us need to be challenged, so that we can have a good reason to face each day. At least, that's how I see the world.

Maybe the newspaper business is not for you. If so, that doesn't mean that anything is wrong with you, or that anything is wrong with running a successful newspaper. Maybe your purpose in life is to discover a cure for some form of cancer, or to bring an end to global hunger, or to create a new toy that every child in the world can afford to own.

Whatever your dream is, whatever drives you forward, go for it with all your heart. Life is precious and wonderful. Life is to be lived. Life is to be loved, appreciated, and never wasted. No matter how many wrong turns you may have made (or think you've made), or how dark the days ahead may appear, just jump in with all your might, and give it all you've got and then some. Make every day and every hour count.

To be successful in starting and running a newspaper, you must be willing to work hard for something you care about. Do you care about people, about the environment, about justice and meaningful progress?

To be a great newspaper publisher you must be willing to sacrifice long hours and many days to help make your community a better place. Your paycheck won't always be very big — especially at first. But it'll keep growing if you're doing the right things. Even so, the real motivation must be to provide a means by which your community is allowed to speak clearly and openly to and for itself.



The Next Step

Still here? Great!

If you think that running a newspaper just might be your thing, then go on to the next step. If you can make it through all the pages that follow, you just might have what it takes.