| I moved from Houston, Texas to western Montana in | | | | built. Just put everything on file and email it. No light |
| 1992. That was quite a culture shock for me. | | | | tables, no pasting up, no last minute driving in all kinds of |
| Houston has millions of people and who knows how | | | | weather through mountain passes to the printer. |
| many businesses, and many billions of dollars flowing | | | | My routine from the very first week was simple. I |
| through the local economy. Even in hard times, | | | | would go out and sell ads to business people who |
| Houston always has some kind of work to offer. | | | | wanted to reach potential customers in the area |
| Montana, on the other hand, has few people, and not | | | | served by our paper. I would spend about half a |
| so many jobs. | | | | week doing this, in between interviews, changing ads, |
| I managed to get by for a couple of years, doing odd | | | | building new ads, sports coverage (local games in high |
| jobs and keeping my expenses very low. Then I | | | | schools), and other news gathering. As the end of |
| decided to strike out on my own. I had no money | | | | each week drew near, my wife and I would be typing |
| saved up, and I had the usual monthly bills every else | | | | away, producing articles. As we went along, I would |
| has to pay. So any business I might start would have | | | | begin to arrange the material on the pages, placing |
| to be "shoestring-friendly," if you know what I mean. | | | | articles, ads, photos, comics, puzzles, and other items |
| After doing some research, I decided to start a small | | | | of interest. |
| newspaper to serve my area. | | | | Usually, we would have at least one all-night crunch |
| I checked out, as best I could, the rates being charged | | | | time per week. And then we would make the |
| by the large daily newspaper that served our region. I | | | | 40-mile-plus trip over mountains and along the valleys |
| looked into all the businesses in my own community | | | | to the printer. A few hours later, we would load our |
| and in the small communities nearby. There were | | | | papers — that had been printed, folded and labeled |
| quite a few very small businesses because the towns | | | | — into the back of the truck and head for home. |
| and local markets were very small, and the area | | | | Along the way, we would stop and drop off small |
| sparsely populated. I got printing quotes from the | | | | stacks of papers in stores that had agreed to give us |
| printers within driving distance that could produce a | | | | space. Back in our own small town, we went to the |
| tabloid-sized paper. I got prices and requirements | | | | post office, where I sacked up the papers, bundled per |
| from the local post office on nearby routes and | | | | route, and paid the mailing fee for that week. We |
| boxes. I bought a bulk mailing permit number (now | | | | would then take copies to the rest of the area stores |
| called Standard Rate mailing) and paid the fee for the | | | | and businesses where readers could find them, and |
| first year of use. | | | | we were done. |
| In those days, digital cameras were only a dream. | | | | Depending on the kind of area a paper serves, the |
| None of them took a picture worth keeping. So I | | | | routine may differ. Some papers travel by bus from |
| went out and got a decent 35mm camera from a | | | | the printer to the publisher or mailing service for final |
| local pawn shop. Since my only vehicle was a Ford | | | | distribution. Some community papers are not mailed |
| pickup, I went and got a nice, dry, cap for the bed. it | | | | at all, except for distant subscribers. The publisher |
| was used, but in very good condition. I made sure it | | | | distributes papers door-to-door or pays a crew to |
| had a working lock and that the side windows would | | | | handle that task. Some papers are almost entirely |
| seal out the rain. | | | | given out at local retail businesses, office |
| I knew I would need a light table, so I built one using a | | | | entranceways, and so on. |
| few flat boards and an inexpensive pane of glass. I | | | | Our paper was distributed free to the people of our |
| placed a small fluorescent fixture inside for the light | | | | area. We did eventually begin offering subscriptions |
| source. I learned how to use my little laser printer to | | | | to local readers, but I would not do that again. For a |
| print “tiled” 11x17 pages. I registered the name | | | | small paper, subscriptions complicate things and add |
| of my newspaper with the state as a new business. | | | | costs. by keeping a business simple as possible, |
| There were no special permits or license or bonds to | | | | everyone is better served. But that is just my own |
| apply for. I went and got some business cards that | | | | opinion, based on my own way of doing business. |
| had the name of the paper. And I was basically set. | | | | I have no college degree, no special training in |
| I already owned a tiny computer, the little laser printer, | | | | journalism, no previous experience as a news |
| a scanner, and small tape recorder. I had a desk I | | | | publisher. I began with an idea and a desire to serve |
| could use as a work station in the corner of a | | | | the area and its people. I believe anyone can do the |
| bedroom. That became my office. I already owned | | | | same, and that many will be able to do better. In fact, |
| an old version of CorelDraw that i could use to build | | | | many have done both. |
| ads. I also had the photo editing software that | | | | I am retired from publishing now, and only build a few |
| comes in the Corel package. And I had an outdated | | | | ads and special graphics for others on occasion. But I |
| PageMaker version that would work just fine for | | | | am still part of the newspaper adventure in America |
| building my pages on the computer. | | | | (both the U.S. and Canada). A few years ago I set |
| These days, everything is so much easier. Digital | | | | up a website where I go into more detail about various |
| cameras and photos save a lot of time and money | | | | aspects of starting and running a small paper. All the |
| that I used to spend on processing and scanning. (Then | | | | information on the site is free of charge. Every so |
| the printer would have to make halftone negatives, as | | | | often I get word from another successful publisher that |
| well.) And the common use of Adobe PDF files | | | | started their own newspaper after using our site to |
| among printers and designers means that paper | | | | help formulate a basic idea and business plan. |
| mechanicals of the newspaper no longer need to be | | | | |