How to Start and Run Your Own Newspaper

Start and Run Your Own Newspaper or Specialty Publication

Have you ever wanted to start up a newsletter, a small community paper or maybe some other special interest publication? A lot of people enjoy thumbing through the pages of a local or regional "Used Autos" newspaper, where local people advertise cars and trucks they want to sell. And in rural areas, there is plenty of interest in horse, cattle and other livestock sales. Then there are small publications built around childcare, home improvement, antiques (or even just used furniture and appliances), local sports teams, local high schools sports, and more.

If you live in an area that attracts lots of visitors, you can make a good living by simply providing information to tourists and other out-of-town visitors. Such publications can be made available at convenience stores, at books stores and supermarkets, at malls, visitors information centers, chambers of commerce, and even at restaurants and motels.

Another opportunity is a paper that focuses on local businesses, even local industry. Most of the people who live in any larger city have no clue what kinds of local industry is all around them. Oh, they may know that they are in an oil town, a cattle town, a mining town, or whatever, but there are always many more small industries in town than people realize. There are custom car builders, boat builders, sign makers, furniture manufacturers, electronics developers, paint and ink mixers, leather workers, commercial printers, metal shops, wood shops, chemical processors, and much, much more. A paper than lists and highlights the industry in town can develop quite a wide market base in advertising alone.

Then there is room for seasonal publications. You can put out a weekly paper that highlights all the summer activities, and gather advertising from everyone who has summer sales, specials and products to sell. Follow that paper each year with a publication devoted to fall activities (indoors and out), and then a winter paper, and so on.

Or just try to cover the local news and other items of interest, as many small town and community wide papers do every week.

You can become a newspaper publisher and help to promote local businesses and worthwhile organizations, causes, and information.

Hey, You Can Do It

If you're an intelligent human being, interested in your community, willing and able to learn, to work hard, and to go the extra mile to do the job right.

You should see some of the publications being produced. On second thought, maybe you shouldn't. But with care and attention to detail, you can design and produce a clean, professionally designed publication, even if you've never been in publishing before.

I know you can, because I did it. I'm a high school dropout. I'm unorganized. I wear blue jeans and T-shirts instead of suits and ties. I'm as lazy as the day is long. I had absolutely no idea what a newspaper was even about when I started our first publication. In fact, I seldom looked at newspapers (except for the comics) because most of them were not interesting to me. Yet our first little paper was the best looking, cleanest, and most professional weekly in the area. And people told us every week how interesting and helpful it was.

Think you have no talents? Think again. All you need is inspiration. Do you have very little formal education? Then enter the classroom of real life. Even if you have no political ax to grind, you can be a successful publisher.

For more information, check out www.newspaper-info.com , a website that provides free input for anyone interested in starting and operating their own publication.

You can also find help at the local library (free of charge) and at any good bookstore, locally or online. If you have a university nearby, chances are good that they will have a journalism department that can offer free advice, counsel, and classes.

Jim