Table of Contents - How To Start Your Own Underground Newspaper by Jay Gross

How To Start Your Own Underground Newspaper
by Jay Gross

ISBN> 1-879211-09-2 · 132pp 8.5"x11" · Plastic Comb Bound · Cover Price: $24.95

AmiGadget Press, P.O. Box 1696, Lexington, SC 29071

email: j a y @ f o t o a r t i s t a . c o m · www.fotoartista.com/amigadget/

Table of Contents
(Page numbers refer to the printed volume.)

I. Introduction	1
What is a newspaper?	2
Underground vs. overground press	3
Alternative vs establishment	3
It's not done with mirrors.	4
The quick tour	4
II. Why you'd do this	7
Make money slow	8
Why you wouldn't do this	8

III. Where the money is	11
Paid "National" ads	11
Paid ``political'' ads	12
Paid ``legal'' ads	12
"Classified" newspapers.	12
Circulation revenues	13
Newsstands and other retail outlets	13
Taking stock	14
Competition	15

IV. Technology to the rescue	17
New technologies	18
"Desktop" typesetting, layout, and page preparation	18
Automoted typists like OCR scanning	19
Electronic pictures	19
Electronic halftoning	20
The benefits	21
Fax machines, modems and such	21
Desktop color separation	21
Making up color pages	22
Making a spot color original	23
Technology that hasn't changed	23

V. Journalism's time honored principles	25
Advocacy journalism	26
How to build credibility	26
Picking your own tune	27
Serving competing advertisers	27
Dupe the public at your own risk.	28
Taking sides on an issue	28
Endorsing candidates for office	28

VI. Libel	29
Looking at libel	30
Staying out of court	31
VII. Bankrolling your venture	33
Set up and get-go money	33
Getting loans and start-up assistance	33
Leasing equipment	34
Silent partners and partnerships	35
Incorporation or not	36

VIII. Choosing style and content	37
New technologies	37
Select one from Column A	37
Good news, bad news	38
Standard stuff covered in small weekly newspapers	39
IX. Basic choices to make at the outset	43
Paper stocks	43
Free or paid circulation	44
Ideas for initial free distribution	44
How much to charge for circulation	45
Page count minimum and maximum	45
Portable communication	47
Fax and modems	47
Picking a modem	49
Cables and software	50
Tapping the Internet	51
The dirt	52
Establishing your publication's policies	52
Good typography and good looks	53
Body type and paragraph indents	53
Body type	54
Subhead lines, and interparagraph slugs	54
Cutlines and how to write good ones	55
Headlines and what makes a good one	55
Headline type	56
Logos and column headers	56
Give your newspaper some air	56
Separate advertising from editorial material	57

X. Printing your newspaper	59
Looking at libel	59
Time out for a tour of the printing process	59
A printing strategy	61
Preparing camera ready copy	62
Scanners and OCR software	62
Line screens	63
Reproducing from color prints	64
Getting photoprocessing	64
Cameras	65
Got to get a little list	65
Model release?	65
Flash equipment	66
Get a professional	67
Handling photographs and other illustrations	67
Advertisers' originals	67
More moire, Morey	68
Inks, VOC's and such	68

XI. Money	71
Credit terms you can expect	71
Establishing your rates	72
Profit... NOT	72
Starting a newspaper archives	72
Advertising copies	73
Photograph storage	74
Clippings	74

XII. Selling and publishing ads	75
The mechanics of selling ads	75
Rate Card	76
Advertising contracts	77
Insertion Orders	77
Layout sheet	78
Throwaways	78
Hiring sales people	79
Account servicing	79
Some advertising ideas and approaches	80
Combining forces	80
Special issues	80
Advertising accounting basics	81
Credit collection	81
Send in the clowns.	82
Unwise or illegal practices	82
When to credit an advertiser's account	82
Typesetting for advertisers	83
Looks is everything	83

XIII. Establishing, maintaining and growing circulation	85
Getting subscriber copies out	85
Maintaining a subscriber list	85
Third class mailings	86
Mailing permits and what they cost	86
Mailing cost per piece	86
Maximizing mailing efficiency	87
Zip coding	87
Carrier Route Sort	87
Saturation area mailings	88
Multiple drops	88
Home delivery	88
Newspaper boxes	89
Sacks	89
Racks	89
Newsstands, convenience stores, and other retailers	90
Returns	91
Letting the advertisers help distribute	91
"Bonus'' circulation	91
Boosting circulation	91
Rewards for subscribing	93
Circulation service agencies	93
Limiting circulation	94
Mailing lists	94
Circulation recordkeeping	94

XIV. Business principles	95
Keeping records	95
Tax considerations	96
Property taxing	96
Self employment taxes	96
Sales taxes	97
Receivables	97
Payables	97
Automated accounting	97
Capital accounts, interest and depreciation	98
Where the money goes	98
Using free-lancers to avoid many of these hassles	99
Public project assisted labor	99

XV. Summary, advice, and encouragement	101
When?	101
How?	103
A look into the crystal ball	104
On the other hand, maybe not	104
Back to you	105
Best Wishes	106

APPENDIX A: The Shopping List	107
This information can change.	107
The religious questions	107
Peecees	108
Schmetworks	109
The bottom line on computers	109
Memory and harddisk drives	110
Peripherals	111
Monitors	111
Do you need color?	112
Laserprinters	112
Page layout software	113
Removable harddisks and SCSI	114
Wordprocessors	114
Office copier	114
Drawing board, light table	115
Art waxer	115
Climate Control	116
Appendix B: A sample advertising policy	117
Appendix C: Sample Rate Card	119
Appendix D: Specific example of some costs of publishing a small newspaper	121
Appendix E: ``Canned'' articles	123
Appendix F: Elements of a basic business plan	129

Appendix G: Resources	133
Names and addresses	133
News services and syndicates	134
Newspaper equipment, software, and supplies	134
Other	135
Some Cold Hard Truths	136
Electronic Resources	136
Journalism-related discussion groups/mailing lists	137
Finger	139
News groups	139
The web	140
Other Internet access	140
The United States Constitution: Amendment I	141
A Citizens' Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act... and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records	141
Organizations related to scholastic journalism	162
Society of Professional Journalists Chapters	163
More electronic resources for journalists	173
Electronic sources for alternative news	176
CYBERNEWS	176
UF NEWSWIRE	176
Other electronic databases of interest to journalists	176
Appendix H: Second Class Mail criteria	179
Appendix I: Sample layout sheets	197
Bibliography	201
Glossary	207
Famous (and infamous) people on journalism	213

How To Start Your Own Underground Newspaper by Jay Gross

Published January 1995, AmiGadget Press