As the print journalism career market implodes both for writers and editors, there is a print niche that continues to thrive:
Community newspapers are still being read and advertisers are finding them effective. Naturally the sales side is also succeeding. That opens an opportunity for those in newspapers who are unemployed or underemployed to become Owners of a respected and profitable publication in their hometowns to benefit from their expertise in the industry and from their initiative. The cash investment for Owners is minimal. Under $5,000, depending upon the circulation. There are no monthly fees except costs for printing and mailing your product each month and daily upgrades to your website.
No office space is needed because, with our support, this enterprise can be operated as a home business with staff working from their homes. Some markets might be more conducive to an office, but that’s up to the licensees.
Community Bulletin Newspaper Group, Inc. (CBNG) is sharing with Owners in order to further our own revenues through creation of a unique national advertising opportunity for ad agencies to promote their clients in a group of publications and websites under The Bulletin brand.
Also, this reduces our own costs through even greater economies of scale at printers, distribution volume discounts and sharing the costs of website experts whom we employ.
Here’s the deal:
For 18 years The Bulletin, a Downtown Toronto monthly community newspaper, has succeeded and been profitable for its Owners based on a unique paradigm they have perfected. It is published by CBNG, which is licensing The Bulletin brand and services to media and newspaper professionals in Canadian municipalities that share one distinct feature:
The minimum market is a community in any province with at least 6,000 condo or medium-rise apartment units with mailrooms
The Bulletin is a real community newspaper, not a flyer or puff sheet. It’s produced by professional journalists. Being in a large city of neighbourhoods, it reports on and to 14 distinct, connected communities. The Bulletin serves a specific market of readers who aren’t able to receive community newspapers on their doorsteps. That’s because they live in condos or apartments with mailrooms where newpaper-carrier delivery isn’t allowed. Carriers aren’t permitted to walk the halls, dropping papers at apartment doors. Mail is the only option. The only person who can access condo residents’ mailboxes is a Canada Post mail carrier.
So each month Downtown Toronto condo dwellers receive a copy of The Bulletin in their mailboxes and most people read it. That gives advertisers a great advantage because their ads are actually in their prospective customers’ hands! Inside their homes!
CBNG doesn’t plan to receive any percentage of revenue from local ads sold by Owners until the start of the second year of operation and thereafter a 10% fee is payable quarterly for local ad sales.
Advertisers also benefit from flyer and postcard insertions that would cost them 15¢ each if they use Canada Post, but can be as cheap as half that if they insert them inside The Bulletin. CBNG doesn’t receive any share of revenue from inserts sold by Owners. But CBNG will pay a commission to Owners for flyers CBNG inserts into their papers. CBNG has been able to offer Toronto ad clients to print and mail glossy 2-sided colour postcard inserts for 14¢ each. That’s less than they would pay just for postage.
Advertisers are ensured that their ad inserts are delivered into the mail of all condo dwellers. That’s because, as a community newspaper, The Bulletin is exempt from Canada Post’s “Consumers Choice Program” whereby postal carriers can’t deliver flyers to any mailbox marked “No Flyers.”
That exemption from Consumers Choice is a big advantage for postcard and flyer insert advertisers.
Postcard and flyer insertions are a solid, regular source of revenue for The Bulletin and they will be for Owners. National inserts CBNG sells will add to Owner revenues.
Another source of revenue is the Internet: www.TheBulletin.ca is a long-lived and thoroughly upgraded URL that adds to Owners’ earnings in several ways. They can sell individual local web banner ads which, because they’re local, are priced higher than general web ads and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. An Owner can, for example, charge a local ad client $50 a month for a 300px x 250px ad in space that, were it pay-per-PPC, might not draw any revenue at all in many months.
Owners are free to have on their websites Adwords, Adsense, online ad agency ads and any other forms of Internet revenue producers they choose without paying a royalty to CBNG.
Owners’ websites will be on the CBNG server with a WordPress template identical to the Toronto edition, but with separate content that Owners provide. Each Owner website will have its own distinct URL: www.thebulletin.ca/anytown and its own separate analytics to help Owners see how they’re doing.
CBNG will provide Owners with our team of expert website technicians who will ensure their sites are technically flawless, that editorial content and ads are properly posted and formatted on a timely basis, and that SEO ( for search engines) is maximized. Owners won’t need to be more than minimally functional in WordPress, which can be complicated and time-consuming. The monthly costs of this to Owners will be very low because CBNG has borne and rationalized the costs of a pro team and a professional Internet server with backups. Plus, the website paradigm is fully developed.
Other services CBNG provides to Owners:
(You are an industry pro or you wouldn’t be reading down this far. We won’t have an Owner who’s new either to newspapers and journalism, or to media ad sales. Owners must have one or the other skill set and be in contact with others who agree to provide the missing element.)
• Newspaper templates in QuarkXPress and InDesign either for Mac or PC.
• Printing, folding, inserting postcards and flyers (from your printer or ours) and mailing of your publication to your distribution area.
• Creation of a flipbook EPaper Edition each issue, with live links, posted on your website.
• Website expertise ongoing.
• Membership in the Canadian Community Newspaper Association (CCNA) professional group in your province.
If you’re still interested, email us your details and contact info: mailto:production@communitybulletin.ca