The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-04-10
DOLLAR WEEKLY
Cannot be Made Profitable in Its Linn
tied Field With Increased Cost
Of pubIishino


Of Publishing
BY J. d. Reeves. Publisher of the Gro
ton IS. d. Independent.
(Faper read at the mid-winter meet
ing of the South Dakota Press AS
ISOLATION at WATERFOWL, s. D., Jan.
Is and 40
Can a weekly paper be published
without loss at 81 a year under ex-
listing conditions?" 1t can. but I must
define the conditions. For instance,
have in mind a paper which has
been going for twenty years or more,
enjoying a good advertising and legal
patronage, upon which the amount of
composition seldom exceeds two col
umns. Three columns would be ex-
travagance, and one and One-half is
about the usual thing. Such a paper
with constituency accustomed to its
brilliant brevity can certainly be pub
lished without loss at 81 a year.
But | am better qualified to talk
about a paper with from seven to ten
! galleys of home matter weekly, with
circulation which, while covering
well its territory, is not far from the
thousand mark. And it may startle
( you for me to say that this kind Of a
! paper can be published without loss
| by some publishers at 81. Here again
| must define the conditions. In the
first place, the publisher should have
the constitution OF Samson, with a
thinker that works like a trip ham
mer, and with the alacTity of a train
ed athlete in all his movements. Along
with any kind of a newspaper you
must have the cooperation of adver-
Using and job printing, for without
these adjuncts the kind of paper I |
am talking about could hardly be |
printed without loss for less than 81 |
per year. You will note that | am
laying out plans and specifications for |
doing two mems work without hiring
much help or paying out any nOticea-
bic amount in wages. After follow |
ing this pace for several years you |
will be prepared 10 do one of two |
things-hrst. raise the price. or. sec
ond, sell the type for babbit metal. |
turn the presses out for scrap iron.
join the union, hunt a job with some
one who knows how to charge right
prices, and live happily ever after.
My paper will be advanced to $3.50
per year. The plan was to make the
advance on January /; but owing to
the interference with my business
system by the postmaster general, the
date of raising was set forward two
months, in order to get my local list
in shape.
1t may be interesting to some of
you to know how went about getting
ready for the advance in price. l
started by sending bills TO all nOn-res-
ident subscribers, along with a circu-
lar regarding the proposed raise and
Offering to take subscriptions for 81
for any number of years up to Janu-
airy 1. This served two purposes. It
gave those who really wanted the pa
per a chance to save money by paying
for two or more years in advance, and
it indicated to me on January l the
presence on my list of a considerable
assortment of dead timber, and sever
al quires were dropped without any
cOmpunctiOns of conscience.
In my local territory | took a differ
ent course, resulting in a positive in
crease in the number of subscribers. ]
This was accomplished by sending
out enough extra papers for two /
months to completely cover the local
field. / kept the fact of the proposed (
advance prominently before my read
ers and in one way or another devel-
Oped no little interest. The result {
was the receipt of more two, three I
and five year advance payments than
l ever expected to see. | don't Just
know what effect this new ruling of (
the postal department may have on
the local list along with the advance {
in price, but it may prove a blessing
in disguise
If the committee in assigning this
topic had asked me to demonstrate
profit in publishing a local weekly
newspaper at 81 per year. l candidly
don't believe l could have made the
proper showing. The gradual adj
vance in everything that enters innto
the making of a newspaper has absO-
lutely cut out the margin of profit on
a dollar paper if it ever existed. The
steady advance in the cost of help is
the largest single item. There are
many publishers who could exchange
places, responsibility and remunera-
ton with the devil and be the gamer
thereby.