Doug Miner will lose his job as a Patch editor next week, but he's not giving up on hyperlocal journalism. Instead, he's preparing to launch an independent website in his corner of St. Louis.
Although Miner's site will be a one-man operation, he won't be truly alone — at least not if the fledgling Local Independent Online News Publishers functions as planned. The group, known as LION, formed last year and hosted its first summit in Chicago last weekend. Most of the 75 participants have been running sites for years, but Miner was one of a half-dozen rookies with big plans and lots of questions.
"It seems like an opportunity, but definitely a challenging one," Miner says, a laptop with a Patch sticker balanced on his knees. "I'm a journalist, but it's really got to be a business. If not, you can't do it."
The weekend was helpful for newcomers and rejuvenating for veteran publishers who often work long, solo hours. It was also a study in the paradox of local digital journalism: LION members share similar missions and goals, but each publication's business model is unique.
"Not everything fits in every market," says Uriah Kiser, publisher of Virginia-based PotomacLocal. "You have to find the need and scale to fit that need."
Some publishers swore by flat-rate ads; others couldn't imagine basing prices on anything other than clicks. Participants' experiences with Kickstarter, sponsored content, political ads and partnerships varied. There were several polite but vigorous debates over whether to use open-source platforms like WordPress or purchase proprietary systems from vendors.
There's no single recipe, but a growing number of LION sites seem to be finding the right mix. According to preliminary results from a member survey being conducted by the University of Missouri, publishers are bringing in an average of $4,000 a month in revenue with 60% from advertising. Average monthly expenses also hover around $4,000, with most of that money going toward operations and salaries.
Member sites are growing more popular, too, with 70.5 % of survey respondents saying their traffic had grown "a lot" in recent months. The median for unique monthly visitors was 46,500; the median for page views was 120,000.
"The narrative of failure in this field is a very, very loud story," hyperlocal researcher Michele McLellan said during her presentation. "The story of success is a quiet story."
McLellan had some encouraging data of her own. She maintains a database of community publishers and is using it to conduct a survey. About one-third of the sites are turning a profit; another third have steady income but aren't yet in the black, although some don't have that far to go.
"You're small-business people," McLellan says. "You're not looking for corporate margins."
Both surveys sparked conversations about how hyperlocals should design financial success. Several publishers said they weren't turning a profit, but were still making enough to live.
McLellan marveled at how rapidly the hyperlocal landscape has changed. Although this was LION's first summit, many participants had come together before at Block by Block, a gathering of indy publishers and bloggers organized by McLellan. At the first gathering, just about everyone was panicking over the rise of hyperlocal networks like AOL's Patch.
"Four years ago, Patch was going to kill you guys," she says. "It was the 'fear of Patch' conference. Now, you guys are so much more profitable."
The schedule was packed with guest speakers from the John S. And James L. Knight Foundation, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, J-Lab and other big names in digital journalism, but participants also learned from each other. During coffee breaks, at lunch and over late-night drinks, publishers shared their successes, lamented their challenges and offered each other support.
"It's been a hell of a couple of days," Dylan Smith, chairman of LION's board and publisher of the TucsonSentinel.com, said during his closing remarks. "It's been so great to learn so much from all of you."
One of the liveliest segments of the conference was a round-robin where publishers took turns sharing tips about business strategies, branding and operations.
Ned Berke, publisher of Sheepshead Bites, urged his colleagues to consider the role their publications will play during disasters. After Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York's Sheepshead Bay, Berke's blog became a place for the community to organize recovery efforts.
"We couldn't just report on it," he says. "We had to lead it. You need to be involved with your community … You protect them, they'll protect you."
Teresa Wippel, publisher of MyEdmondsNews.com in Washington, described how livestreaming high school sports had boosted her three sites' brands and traffic. (Wippel spoke to NetNewsCheck about the project earlier this year.)
David Boraks, publisher of DavidsonNews.net and CorneliusNews.net in North Carolina, was one of several members who have hosted profitable events. The trick, Boraks says, is figuring out what type of gathering will appeal to readers. In his case, it was a pub crawl.
