It Lives!

After nearly two years without a local newspaper, Tumbler Ridge is back in the high life, with the birth of Tumbler RidgeLines.

The new news source is more than just a newspaper and more than just a news site on the internet. Created by former Tumbler Ridge News Publisher Trent Ernst, Tumbler RidgeLines aspires to tell stories about Tumbler Ridge for the people of Tumbler Ridge in whatever way works best.

Stories will appear online as they happen, and every two weeks the best of these will appear in a print edition, distributed locally around Tumbler Ridge.

How do we expect to make a go of it when community newspapers across the country are folding?

The thing is, people still care about the news. Stories about Tumbler Ridge and issues that affect the town are shared on Facebook constantly. People still care about the news. It’s not the Message that’s at issue.

Nor, do I believe it’s the Medium. Some people like reading online, some people like reading a printed copy of the paper. Most news sources use both, meeting people where they are at. RidgeLines will do that and more besides.

What’s at fault is the business model. In the past, newspapers sold your eyeballs to advertisers. In the last few years, many advertisers have discovered they can reach the same number of eyeballs using social media. Many businesses are going to Facebook to find their customers. You know what? Good on them. I’m a business person, too. I want to use the tools that will give me the biggest bang for the buck.

There are still advertisers that will want to use the newspaper to reach people, to tell you about what they’re doing. That’s great. But ad support isn’t going to cover all the costs of creating a paper. Instead, I am casting myself on the community to help cover that shortfall.

You see, these words right here? They are being written for you. Yes, you right now, reading them. I am writing them specifically for your eyeballs and for your edification. And not just these words, but the hundreds of thousands of words I expect to churn out over the next year, two years, ten years. These are your words.

And if you get something out of these words—edification, entertainment, education—I am hoping we can work out a deal. If you are getting something out of these words that maybe you’d be willing to support me directly.

The newspaper will not be subscription based. There will be no barrier to entry. If you want to read these words (and, really, who wouldn’t want to read these words? These are golden words right here), they will be freely available for all who call Tumbler Ridge home.

But if you get some sort of value from reading these words, I am hoping that we can arrange for some sort of value exchange in return. That you might be willing to toss a couple (or more) bucks my way so that I can continue to write—not these words, as they will have already been written, but more words, different words, even better words.

Instead of doing a subscription, I am going to use a crowdfunding model. Kickstarter is the best known of the crowdfunding sites, but that is designed for people creating one-offs: an album, a book.

For a bi-weekly newspaper, I am using the Patreon model (www.patreon.com), which is designed for ongoing artistic endeavours: comic books, podcasts and, of course, newspapers.

Indeed, I’m not just using their model, I am using Patreon. That’s one of a handful of ways that you can help support the paper financially.

There are other ways. You can send me an email, letting me know how much you want to contribute, either one time or recurring, and I’ll send you a link that you can use your credit card to pay. Or, you can drop cash off at our donation box at the library. Or you can wave me down on the street and hand me cash. Or….?

There is no minimum buy in. There is no maximum buy-in, either. There are a few incentives for people who are willing to contribute.

People who are contribute $3.75 or more per issue will have the paper delivered directly to their door. People who are willing to donate $7.50 an issue will get a publisher credit in the paper. $15/issue gets you one of our fancy Tumbler RidgeLines shirts (at least, we think they’ll be fancy. We’re still working on the design).

You can check out the rest of the incentives on our Patreon Page.

So, what to expect in the future? Well, more ramblings from yours truly, for one. But a mix of news and sports and arts and entertainment and information that affects your life here in Tumbler Ridge. Expect the usual mix of words and images, plus, if you’re really quiet and sit there nicely with your hands folded, I may do some videos and audio as well.

But this is a community newspaper. If you are part of that community, you have a part to play, and not just contributing financially, as outlined above. You can write letters, stories, submit pictures, or just tell me about things that have happened/things that are about to happen that will affect the town. Not saying that everything I hear about will get covered, but I can promise you that everything I don’t hear about won’t get covered.

So, thanks for stopping by, and we’re glad to see you. Don’t mind the mess as we get the website renovated. We hope you plan to stick around, because we plan to, and it’d be nice to have the company.

Trent