Dear World:

I’m coming up on four entire years out here on the front lines of the media revolution being waged across the nation, across the world. In that time, a lot of other similar sites (some with millions of dollars of cash injected into them) have fallen. A lot of other sites continue to thrive, though, all over.

Personally, my first site was Muncie Free Press. The launch was ok and I got the traffic up to around 20,000 visitors a month. A couple years after starting it, I also launched some other sites for nearby counties. One, Anderson Free Press, has, in less time, overtaken MFP - both in traffic and, more importantly, participation.

I’ve talked about AFP here before, I believe. Since then, though, I’ve made a lot more progress. It started last summer. I was able to put together (on my own, using photoshop and email) an 8-page tabloid prototype for the AFP website. I mailed to three zip codes - around 17,000 copies. I’ve never really been good at sales, so I hired someone (with a low, low salary and high commission) to sell ads for the next issue. Sales were … ok. I only had enough to pay him for 10 to 20 hours a week, which really isn’t enough.

The second issue came out, though. Then the third - mostly supported by the local political campaigns. The fourth issue I still lost money, but it was very, very close. With a little more effort - and a sales team or full time salesperson - I’m sure it can be done. The easy money dried up after the elections, so I stopped printing. The process taught me a lot, though. I took it all back to the drawing board. (The publisher of the Herald Bulletin called it a “rag,” but I’m not sure if he knew I know it was a term of endearment. Maybe. Heh.)

For one, I learned I’m not going to be able to do it all on my own. I need other people. So, I’m working with the local Small Business Administration to come up with a business plan to shop around for a local investor. That may never happen, but with even 1% of what some of the other community journalism start-ups have gotten, I’m sure I could get the ball rolling, in motion.

Even if I don’t get funding, there are other ways I’m looking at to get at least a quarterly or bi-monthly printed edition out. Even if they don’t pan out, though, the website is what it’s really about. In fact, a few have privately told me to forget about print and concentrate more on the website.

Doing the printed edition, though, I saw my traffic quadruple. Not only that, people started to sign-up and participate. By this time, the user started “Scanner News” thread had become one of the most popular features on the site. The local journalists at the CNHI owned The Herald Bulletin may look down their noses at it, declaring it “non-journalism,” but you know what? It’s information. It’s pure and raw and unedited mostly (at this time!), but it’s information.

Anderson Free Press has become known as the website to go to first to see what’s breaking, what’s happening. The Herald Bulletin lumbers along hours later usually to do the full story, but people know AFP is where to get it first - most of the time. There was a fire New Year’s Eve that came over the scanner. Within minutes, dispatchers, EMTs, and everyday citizens were contributing whatever information they had. Hours later, the next day, The Herald Bulletin rolled into action and covered the story “properly.” A couple weeks later (during the day), we hit our front pages with the news about the same time. AFP even had an amateur photographer go out and get shots of the fire, though.

An interesting thing that was pointed out by members of AFP is that since the Scanner News thread is so popular and so talked about, The Herald Bulletin has started running little mini-stories - “Just heard on the scanner…” types of things. They’re getting better at closing the gap and are more frequently beating AFP to the punch with at least an acknowledgment that something is happening. They are watching AFP and trying to adapt, but being a Stegasaurus, they’re too slow and they just don’t “get” online, imho.

For example, in December, they decided to close down their public forums. Yup, you heard that right. Their editor said it was an ethical responsibility, but the word on their forums and AFP was that it was either because they were afraid of being sued, or were too lazy to moderate their forums. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t believe my ears. After it happened, I emailed the HB publisher and thanked him, telling him that closing their forums was the best Christmas present I’d gotten that year. I told him my offer for a lunch meeting was still open. He replied with a simple Thanks. (You see now why I hit the ceiling early in my corporate career? Smile.) This was the third great wave of new users on the site.

Oh, I’ve matured a lot out here in the front lines of the struggle, but it’s still fun, still about more than just the money. If you have time, check out this video. In it, Anderson Mayor Kris Ockomon takes The Herald Bulletin to task for an editorial they wrote about his administration. Before AFP, he might not have had a voice to respond. Earlier in the video, I ask him about a local landfill battle going on. I received an email thanking me for asking the question other local media wasn’t asking because it was a county issue rather than a city issue. To me, these are wonderful things that make me want to keep going.

Hopefully hammering out (finally) a real business plan and getting a little more organized, I can really take this to the next level. I invite you, though, to stop by Anderson Free Press. Either to just look around at all the activity or better yet, sign-up and engage the community, asking them what they think about AFP.

Anderson Free Press still has a long way to go, but all the numbers continue to rise - little by little. I just wanted to send a little “note in a bottle” to the intrawebs (thanks, David) to let others know that it’s working, that the media landscape is changing in America. We still have a long way to go, but it’s happening. (The spot.us idea is really cool, btw ;)

If you’ve ever been so tired of your local media that you wanted to start your own, now’s the time. It’s a hard, long road, but as more and more of us early pioneers (some have been at it longer than me), as we learn how to make it work, the knowledge will filter down and a thousand or more grassroots journalism efforts will bloom across this nation. That’s when things will really start to get interesting.

As I mentioned, I’d love you to stop by Anderson Free Press and let me (and the local community if you want) know what you think about what we’re building here in the Midwest.

Ever the dreamer,

K. Paul Mallasch - Publisher

http://www.kpaulmedia.com