Shawn Larson
We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone in the community for the incredible support you’ve shown. Your encouragement fuels our efforts as we continue building something we believe will become a vital part of local life.
While it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day challenges of bringing back a hometown newspaper, it’s just as hard not to feel excited about what lies ahead. This journey has been both demanding and deeply rewarding.
Part of the challenge of starting anything new, such as a hometown newspaper, is moving through all the red tape. One thing we didn’t know until we started the business was that we needed a set number of paid subscriptions to legally be the paper of record for legals and public notices. This is vital to the existence of the newspaper and a huge public service to the community.
The good news: the response to our Founders’ Edition has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s clear that many of you are eager to see a local newspaper return. That first issue was a labor of love, but it’s only a small glimpse of what we’re working to build. As we expand our team and grow our support base, we’ll be able to deliver even more. We’re already moving in that direction, with new volunteer reporters, including a sports reporter, joining us this summer.
We also want to thank those who’ve sat down with us for interviews, organized ribbon cutting and included us in public, and social events. Those connections have allowed us to provide value to the organizers while helping us to develop relationships in the community.
As this newspaper continues to find our place in this amazing community, we continue to adjust our goals and expectations. Our original target was to deliver weekly news starting in late May. We realize now that it is going to take a bit longer to get the subscribers and advertisers necessary to be a weekly paper so through the summer, we will remain a Monthly publication in hopes that in the Fall we will begin a weekly style of newsprint just in time for school activities and sports to start.
What this means for the newspaper during the summer is that most of the content will be focused on covering past events and writing stories that aren’t time sensitive. Every issue during the summer will be a prerelease, with a theme for the month. Starting in the fall you will also notice more continuity in placement whereas in the prelease editions will have very little order while we work out what exactly the community wants. Current subscribers will be excited to find that their subscription date will not start until Fall! The good news is that starting with this issue we will begin the mailing of the publication anyway.
Also of note, over the last two issues we have been only able to serve Bullard, Troup and Whitehouse through the newspaper. Our hope is to continue to grow into communities like Arp and Frankston over the next few months as our talent and monetary resources also grow. Online we are already beginning to serve those communities.
At the end of the day, we are bringing back the local newspaper because it is an immense value to the local community. The value isn’t easily remembered for some but easily quantified. Read the article in the newspaper on what happens when a town loses its local newspaper. Both businesses and residents gain so much value by having a local community paper. It is easy to demonstrate that it is still relevant in this day in age especially with the changing way social media organizes and pushes out content, and with the forward-thinking way we are integrating digital into the newspaper.
The exciting news is that right now this community has an unusual opportunity to bring back a local newspaper but can only do it by investing in it. There is a short window to get involved and seize the moment. Thank you for taking the time today to get a subscription and/or advertise in the ETX Bell. Please also share the good news with your friends and family. We are excited to provide value to this community. Carpe Diem!
