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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
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.
NEXT:
Yes, You Can Do It
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