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How
to Make Good Money with a Small Newspaper |
Rule Number 1: The money made in newspaper and magazine
publishing is not made by selling subscriptions. All the
serious income comes from advertising. Now you know why your
favorite magazines are so loaded down with ads. The concept
is seen in television. Without ads, there is not much money
in publishing. That's not a real secret, and it is not true
of every single publication. Some manage to exist and even
prosper without ads. But it is the general rule. And
it is certainly true of small publications and those with a
limited number of readers.
So why do newspapers and magazines bother to spend
so much time, trouble and money selling subscriptions? And
why should you, with your small newspaper put forth constant effort to
increase the number of subscribers to your paper?
Simple, that's
Rule Number 2: No advertising
is effective without readers, or viewers, in the case of TV,
listeners, in the case of radio, etc. And no readership
statistic is more convincing than the number of paid subscribers.
These are people who want the publication enough to pay for it. And
everyone knows that we tend to value — and actually use — what we pay for.
Newsstand "sales" numbers can be played with, complimentary
subscriptions and other free distribution numbers can
be puffed up, but the actual number of paid subscribers usually
says something more substantial.
|
January 2008: Hillary Clinton
pleased as punch
to "whip the boys"
in New Hampshire.
(NPI) |
The subscription price does not need to pay for
printing the paper. If it pays most or all the cost of
distributing the paper to subscribers, then it's doing well.
The same goes for papers sold on corners and in vending machines.
Acting on this principle, many big city newspapers pay distributors all (or more) of
what they take in for subscriptions and paper sales. The
idea is to increase the total number of papers being sold, so that
advertisers will be willing to pay well for ad space in the paper.
A paper that sells 50,000 copies can (and will) demand much more money per column
inch than a publication that has a total distribution of 200
papers.
From this perspective, then, actual paper sales by
subscription and other means mean more to advertisers than mere
claims that a publication produces so many copies or reaches a certain number of
"readers."
Not that this really holds any news publication back from inflating numbers.
For example, it may be claimed that in an
average household each newspaper will be read by up to 5
people. If you think that kind of figuring sounds far fetched,
you should hear how radio stations figure their number of listeners.
Mere availability does not guarantee use.
Many newspapers are, in fact, enjoyed by several
readers before
being tossed. On the other hand, quite a few daily papers
end up getting tossed without ever being opened. And many
more get read by only one person simply because other members of
the household pursue other activities and interests.
One Good point:
In all this figuring and averaging, it can certainly be argued
that a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly publication
tends to at least hang around the house or office a lot longer, and
will possibly be read by
more people, than the average daily paper. Why? Because it
is not made obsolete by a new edition the very next day.
What This Means
To You
Even at a time when large newspaper publishing businesses are
showing losses, you can expect to earn a good living with a small
newspaper. If you cover the local news of a community or
subdivision, a part of a larger city, or even several small towns,
you should be able to show a profit in a short time.
The laws of business success require you to offer a service or product
that people around you find valuable and useful. For you to
do well, there must be some demand, a perceived need for what
you produce.
A local weekly or
monthly news publication may not be an absolute necessity, but if
readers and businesses in your area find it useful and meaningful,
it will become a good source of income.
To make money with a small news publication you want to be careful
not to spend more money on the business than it produces for you.
Equipment should not be larger and more costly than is actually
needed to produce the paper. Payroll should not be bigger than is
really needed to do the job. Distribution should not be too
expensive. And never pay cash (or credit) for anything that you
can trade (barter) for.
If you have a regular home computer, a small digital camera, the
software needed to build pages and work with graphics (such as
photos and ads) then you will not need to spend a lot of money on
more equipment. Later on, you can upgrade as necessary. But to
start a paper, you need very little equipment.
You will not be printing a newspaper in your house or garage. For
printing you will need to go to a nearby web press operator.
Newspapers in nearby cities will be able to run your newspaper for
you. Do not try and have your closest competition print your paper
for you. Go to a printer in the next city or county.
Don't try to start a newsletter-sized (pages of about 8.5x11 inches)
publication unless you can produce a magazine of at least 32 pages. You must
have adequate space for both ads and interesting content. A
newsletter-sized publication of 4 to 8 pages, for example, simply
won’t have room for both news and advertising. Without news and
interesting features, no one will look twice at your paper.
Without ads, you will not pay the bills. Even an industry
newsletter or other
subscriber-based special interest publication that goes nationwide
must be well over 16 pages to pay the bills.
Remember: Advertisers Pay the Bills
As I've already shown above, you must sell ads,
usually to local and regional businesses, institutions and
corporations. Your paper will be
better, more useful and much more interesting to the readers you serve
if you include a reasonable amount of advertising.
In fact, the only way
to make your news
publication profitable is to include paid advertising on your
pages. Even the big popular magazines on the news stands rely on ads to pay the
bills, no matter how much they charge for subscriptions and or
sales from stores. Granted, a few do exist that are mostly
subscriber-based, but even those look for grants and other
income.
This website contains a lot of useful information that you can use
in starting and running a newspaper. Take the time to visit all
the pages and to read all the content. You will also find books
listed, here and there, on these pages that can instruct you more
completely in specific areas of interest, such as page design and
regular business practices.
Every community needs a local paper. Every special interest group
needs publications that offer news, announce new advances, and
print pictures of key people and projects. Many of the best
publications have been produced by men and women with little or no
formal journalism training. All you really need is a strong
desire, a will to work, and the time to give this new business.
Next: Small Newspaper Formulas
& Alternatives |
