START YOUR OWN BUSINESS, PUBLISHING

I know the word publishing probably goes over your head, no way I can "publish! ". What is she talking about?!  No, I'm not drunk.

Yeah, you can publish, if you wanted to.

And no I am not with an established  publishing company getting you to franchise with me.

Calm down now, don't get intimidated with a fancy word like "publishing" Oooo

....Meaning of publishing = Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature, music, or information — the activity of making information available to the general public.

Dissemination means to spread the communication around.

So it can be done in a small scale. You can start small.Very small.

Here is a link for  example, Freedom's Journal, a four page, four column newspaper, first published in 1827. 

A lot of people are doing publishing online. By creating blogs, web sites, posting videos on You Tube etc. It's all publishing.

I am talking about paper publishing. Very basic version of it.

 You can target 1 neighborhood at first. If you are short on money that is. Have more money, distribute to more neighborhoods.

You'll probably ask, what on earth am I going to say on the published item?


Well you will say what you want to say, my dear. What do you want to communicate to people about?  If you are the kind of person who doesn't have much to say to people, then publishing probably isn't for you. But as we can observe in societies at large, there are people who like to communicate.


What are you trying to bring to people's attention? Perhaps you could talk about successes in the neighborhood . You can do this by asking people if they had any successful events in their lives lately, interview them. Talk about local events that happened or about to happen , or maybe you want to share your opinion (philosophy) on positive topics in life, your friends can contribute too . Maybe you want to write short stories.

Perhaps you want to give information let's say about growing vegetables or something.
Maybe you could talk about ART.
Or you could talk about creative news (from anywhere in the world such as architectural and other designs ).
It could be about entertainment (music, theater, fashion). Anything you consider a worthy topic can go.

You could talk about people who are new in a business or an activity or something. (Such as new bakery opened; interview with the owner, interview with the members of a  local theatrical group etc.)


You have many many choices when it comes to picking a topic. You could also make it a combination of topics such as; Design/Art/People- who are new in something.
Or, Gardening/Local Events/ Architectural Designs
KEEP IT POSITIVE, remember if they want to read about disasters and horror, they can always read the newspaper and turn on the tv. Your services in that area are not really needed.


Your item can be monthly, biweekly, weekly...you decide how often you want to take on the activity.
You can prepare your articles and add royalty free pictures (you buy online or there are some free ones). Pictures should be interesting and related to your essays obviously.
I think Microsoft Word would work fine for this job.


2 A4 size papers that are stapled together. That's what I'm talking about.
Or you could fold each A4 paper that has content on it, insert one into the other, you got a small booklet.

You can put an e-mail address on it,  if anybody has problem getting it, can e-mail to be removed from free subscription. Give the people their freedom, most likely they'll like your work and won't even need to unsubscribe anyway. If they are courteously asking you to remove them, just remove them, perhaps you could ask them their feedback to improve your work.

If you come across with a person who is having a real big problem, being rude etc. know, that person has issues. Just remove them from your list and move on.

Essentially you are leaving positive communication, most people would appreciate it , what do they get in the mail beside cliche', not so positive junk (for the most part). People don't even send letters to each other anymore. So they'll appreciate you, trying to do something positive and different.


You can leave a bordered section in your leaflet or flyer saying "your ad here" . For advertising call..... number and this e-mail. But I think it would be better if YOU went out to businesses (local) or called some businesses (non-local) that YOU LIKE, you approve and you want to promote (because you think they are helping the community with their service/product). So you decide.

Voila...

How much would that cost you? I am not sure how many houses are exactly in a neighborhood but let's say you gave your published item to 100 households at first.
Two pages each household, you print on 200 papers. Less than half of a pack of papers. Printing, you can either print at home or maybe take it to a Fed Ex- Kinko's  or some printing place if you live outside US.  Getting your product printed might be cheaper.

It is all do-able, cheap yet powerful action. Because it involves communication.
You are entitled to communicate with people (unless an individual asks you specifically not to communicate).

This is how the big bucks are going around (newspapers, tv's , radios....owned by couple of men)....
At the beginning you are actually only doing community service. You would only make money if you become a regular in people's lives.

To end the story...your two pages will be three pages, you'll perhaps have one ad, a local business, at first.
It will help you cover some of the cost. Then you'll have 2-3 ads it will cover the total cost perhaps.
Then your pages will increase, you'll perhaps need help from another like-minded person who has passion for the subject of publishing and disseminating....If you continue, you little two page communication will be something like a magazine, expected in the mail regularly.
When your business grows, you can buy a good professional printing machine and be totally independent.


Additional note, as I was looking into the subject of leaflets/flyers etc. I noticed there are small businesses that handle promotion. They deliver flyers, business cards door-to-door or in the streets in people's hands.

In order to present a more professional look, and be more confident, you can get a polo t-shirt made with the name of your publication.  They are not that expensive. Then you'll have more confidence going door-to-door. Also if there is a door-to-door salesman /solicitor badge you can get from your city/town, whatever country you are in, go ahead and do that. It will make your activity more legitimate. Even though you will only be leaving something, not engaging in communication. But it might be handy when you want to get success stories and interviews in the neighborhood later on. It makes you official. Badges and permits aren't that expensive, less than $50 in the US.

http://tommyprint.co.uk

  You could use bigger and glossy paper if you can afford.

http://www.spslmd.co.uk

Look at these guys are doing leaflet/magazine distribution.

makemynewspaper.com

An example of a format. I think this is A3 size of paper.

My blog is for the worldwide audience, having said that all the above business' are from the UK , coincidentally.  I was just looking for pictures related to the concept I'm trying to explain.

I think there is a movement over there in UK about independent publishing! Well done you guys.

If you need more ideas about formatting, you could look into high school or college newspapers.

So start planning and writing down , your format, who are you gonna call and interview, get information from, collaborate with or offer ad opportunities?