Starting a new paper?

[mudduck]

There's so much talk here on the bad in this industry and how papers are becoming irrelevant.

But what about Small Town USA? Say you're from a Microtown and that town lost its paper. Everyone misses the paper and wants it -- or a suitable replacement -- back.

You know the inside story and know that a paper could succeed there.

Would you do it? Why or why not?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

They all miss the malts at the drug store and the big department stores, too. Problem is the people that miss them are the problem -- they stopped going in the first place, which is why they went out of business.

 

[txsportsscribe]

smalltown papers can be very profitable if managed correctly but sometimes there's a reason other than bad management that closes down a paper. there may be people who say they miss it and want it back but that doesn't always translate into advertising revenue.

that said, my heart says i'd do it. fortunately, my head (and lack of financing because even a small paper ain't cheap, especially a startup) says no at this time.

 

[Barsuk]

smalltown papers can be very profitable if managed correctly but sometimes there's a reason other than bad management that closes down a paper. there may be people who say they miss it and want it back but that doesn't always translate into advertising revenue.

that said, my heart says i'd do it. fortunately, my head (and lack of financing because even a small paper ain't cheap, especially a startup) says no at this time.

Hit the nail on the head. When a small-town paper folds, its usually not because of circulation problems, but a lack of advertising base. In really small towns, there are only a handful of businesses, and they're usually well-established and don't need to advertise in The Daily ****rag to stay afloat. That's often the problem with small papers.

 

[BYH]

I've always said if I win the lottery, I'll **** it away by starting a daily paper in my hometown.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

They all miss the malts at the drug store and the big department stores, too. Problem is the people that miss them are the problem -- they stopped going in the first place, which is why they went out of business.

Reminds of this scene in Seinfeld:



George and Jerry's favourite pizza joint is closing. They go back for one last slice. Listen to the owner's response when they show up.

 

[Clever username]

I've always said if I win the lottery, I'll **** it away by starting a daily paper in my hometown.

I'd buy the one I'm at and do some, um, restructuring of the staff.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

There's so much talk here on the bad in this industry and how papers are becoming irrelevant.

But what about Small Town USA? Say you're from a Microtown and that town lost its paper. Everyone misses the paper and wants it -- or a suitable replacement -- back.

You know the inside story and know that a paper could succeed there.

Would you do it? Why or why not?

I would. But then again, I know that the nearby regional paper, for some unknown reason, really doesn't do much in the area.

I'm from a town/small city (depends on one's perspective) that desperately needs a competitive paper run by someone with a clue. If one of the bigger chains were to go in there and offer some competition, I really think the established publication would be in big, big trouble.

But the days of the two-paper towns are over, at least in anything other than a major metro area. And if I win the lottery, I'm doing a lot of other things besides starting up some competition at home, no matter how confident I am about smoking the competition.

 

[The Last Boy Scout]

We take things for granted and then they're gone. Just the way of the world.

Also, people are cheap and want something for nothing. I sit close to circulation, and most of the reps have to explain to people why they can't have the paper for free or half off. I have a friend in accounting, who spends most of his day calling delinquint advertisers. They want a deal, don't get one, buy an ad anyway and just don't pay.

But, make no mistake, papers make plenty of money. We all know about those profit margins, don't we? If it wasn't for the greed, those papers wouldn't have shut down to begin with because they WERE making money.

 

[wickedwritah]

I've always said if I win the lottery, I'll **** it away by starting a daily paper in my hometown.

Would Bob Jelenic be invited to the office ribbon-cutting?

 

[Write-brained]

There's so much talk here on the bad in this industry and how papers are becoming irrelevant.

But what about Small Town USA? Say you're from a Microtown and that town lost its paper. Everyone misses the paper and wants it -- or a suitable replacement -- back.

You know the inside story and know that a paper could succeed there.

Would you do it? Why or why not?

How much do you really know? You may know how to publish one but what do you know about advertising and circulation? Who's going to sell ads and distribute it - those questions are much more important to your financial health than what's actually in the paper.

If you don't have someone you trust working those aspects you're SOL.

 

[wickedwritah]

I started my own weekly rag because I thought it was needed. It also was a move of stupidity to compete against a former employer of mine. My knowledge of sales and circulation (and at that time, design) was nil, and it bombed, even though people said they liked it.

If you are gonna do this, you must do three things:
a.) Draw up a business plan.
b.) Start with a nice nest egg.
c.) Get an experienced sales person on board long before you start.

You can do everything else but sell the ads. You need someone who's main deal is to sell, sell, sell, otherwise you will fall flat on your face.

 

[Bob_Jelloneck]

I've always said if I win the lottery, I'll **** it away by starting a daily paper in my hometown.

Would Bob Jelenic be invited to the office ribbon-cutting?

Oh goodie, I certainly hope so.

 

[lapdog]

I've always said if I win the lottery, I'll **** it away by starting a daily paper in my hometown.

Would Bob Jelenic be invited to the office ribbon-cutting?

Oh goodie, I certainly hope so.

See you there. I can't wait.

 

[STLIrish]

What about starting a serious online paper? Not a blog or a "community journalism" site. But a professional, as-near-to-full-service-as-you-can-get newspaper that only publishes online? No printing costs, no circulation hassles. Just journalists, ad sales, a good web guy or two and a solid advertising budget to drive traffic to your site.
You'd probably need to be in a decent-sized market to make it work, but seems like that sort of thing could make a run in a college town or some small cities, or sections of big ones. I've thought about it a few times. But alas, no capital.

 

[SixToe]

Everyone misses the paper and wants it -- or a suitable replacement -- back.

Oh, you know that's not true. They're just saying that because they have forgotten how often they said, "This paper sucks" and "I don't buy it, I just look at it if there's one laying around the coffee shop."

I would love to win the MegaMonsterPower Lottery for $392 million, take my cut and buy a small paper somewhere.

 

[Idaho]

I've always said if I win the lottery, I'll **** it away by starting a daily paper in my hometown.

For me, the problem with that is I'd have to live in my hometown. The town isn't terribly bad, but I think the school system there is as bad as it gets in my neck of the woods and I'd be afraid my kids would turn out like me or worse.

But I'm positive I could do it better than the folks running the current paper.

 

[Cansportschick]

My publishing boss actually commissioned someone to find out what people in the Nova Scotia community felt wasn't getting enough coverage. High school sports and news was the one big thing that did not get coverage. So four years ago, boss applied to get money to start the publication and now it's alive and well.

At first the publication was just sports but in the last three years, it has branched out to cover all high school issues and I have been there since the publication's inception. Our readership has flourished to 10,000 readers and many more online. My boss goes out and gets the advertising to pay for the paper, while I am in charge of recruiting writers, setting up each issue and troubleshooting (I do write predominately sports, but do major news stories when needed)

The last four years had been hard labour for my publisher and I to make this publication a viable one in the province, and I am happy to say that the publication is here to stay.

The advice I would give you is if you are going to get into this, make sure you have funds secured, advertising secure, good management, get the word out and make sure you have a great writing and editing staff.. With small town papers, it is hard to survive, but if you do things right and give it an honest go for at least a couple of years, you will see the dividends of it.

I am sure my boss would be more than willing to talk to you if you want.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Get funded by a Venezuelan billionaire... **** it all away in 18 months...

 

[Songbird]

Do it the right way and it'll work. I just came from a start-up weekly. First five years circ went to 9,500, and the paper won back-to-back state weekly of the year as well as getting several sports, arts and entertainment, and stories and photos awards. You need money, though, or a great crew of ad getters.