Manchester Paper in the Works... can you help?

[Ogre]

Disclaimer: I am not in the newspaper business.

Ideas: Print weekly.  People want active news.  People want now.  With the internet, even weekly is slow.  If you go once a month, I think you'll get less traction (yes, I'm aware costs will be higher).

Start as a newsletter?  Unless you can get funding for a real newspaper-like print, perhaps it's a one-page front and back newsletter.  Then you can sell ads to support it (I'll buy one).  As the ad income increases, you can expand the paper to be a folded two-page, for 4 pages of print.

Full-color is flashy, but expensive.

Perhaps start with a mailing list as well -- people who want to get their regular weekly fix.  Perhaps start with free subscriptions (like the pros do), with billing a very small rate for home delivery (after the completely free sample period).

Get regular features and not-regular.  People will like reading what "Crazy Dada" has to say each week.

If you print pictures, only print top-quality photos -- low quality photos will kill the appearance.

Respond to readers -- a local here has a "Beep" section where readers call a phone and leave a message at the beep -- and the paper prints the messages they receive verbatim.

I hope this works out and expands!!!

[Rosie the Riveter]

We now own manchfreepress.com -- my first donation to the project. 

[J’raxis 270145]

We now own manchfreepress.com -- my first donation to the project. 

Beat me by ten minutes. I grabbed manchfreepress.net and *.org so no one tries to squat on these other TLDs. We can redirect them to the *.com site once it's set up.

Rosie:—

You might want to change your registration to two or more years. I remember reading on some SEO site that Google scores against one-year registrations because it's how most flyby spammers register their domains. I always go for 2+ years from the outset.

RattyDog:—

Are you planning to incorporate? We should probably transfer all three domains over to the corporation if so.

[Rosie the Riveter]

Great!!  Thanks Jeremy, you're smart....and I'll upgrade to 2 year after I get the kids to bed...

[Russell Kanning]

The paper would be a lot like the Keene Free Press and if Kat and Russ agree to it, might even have some of the same stories.

I think they believe that this movement is not for them because they only hear of such polarizing issues as the Browns, etc

You can use all of our original stories and can probably get permission to rerun basically everything we use. Even big name people have OKed us printing their stuff.

If you cover local politics, you will be considered a "polarizing" newspaper.

[Russell Kanning]

If no one posts any objection to this name by the end of the week...we'll call the paper: Manchester Free Press!

It is pretty simple ... and it has only had a good connotation for people.
I do like Manchvegas Insider or similar too.

[Braddogg]

Ratty, I spent two years as second-in-command at a biweekly college paper, and a year doing their layout.  I've got a bit of experience at the amateur level in this.  You should be getting an e-mail from me in the next half-hour or so

[Rosie the Riveter]

Ratty, I spent two years as second-in-command at a biweekly college paper, and a year doing their layout.  I've got a bit of experience at the amateur level in this.  You should be getting an e-mail from me in the next half-hour or so

Yea Braddogg -- thanks for the quick response -- here is a slice of the pie

[Dave Ridley]

liberty wookie love this idea and likely to participate

[Braddogg]

Ratty, I spent two years as second-in-command at a biweekly college paper, and a year doing their layout.  I've got a bit of experience at the amateur level in this.  You should be getting an e-mail from me in the next half-hour or so

Yea Braddogg -- thanks for the quick response -- here is a slice of the pie

I'm really excited about the possibilities contained in this thread!  Thanks again for bringing it to my attention.

[Kat Kanning]

http://altexpo.org/local_paper  Notes I made on starting a paper.

[Russell Kanning]

Ideas: Print weekly.  People want active news.  People want now.  With the internet, even weekly is slow.  If you go once a month, I think you'll get less traction (yes, I'm aware costs will be higher).

Even weekly you can't keep up with "news".... that is what Gore invented the internet for.

[Russell Kanning]

It would be cool if you guys set up a website .... filled it with content ... and then started kicking out print versions. Manchester already has 3 free weekly papers so people are used to that format. Yours could just be different.

[FTL_Ian]

Ideas: Print weekly.  People want active news.  People want now.  With the internet, even weekly is slow.  If you go once a month, I think you'll get less traction (yes, I'm aware costs will be higher).

Even weekly you can't keep up with "news".... that is what Gore invented the internet for.

Yeah, weekly may be very difficult to pull off.  I would start slow.

[dalebert]

It's so cool that this topic is starting up just as I arrive in the Merrimack Valley area! I definately want to help in some way.