Kevin Slimp Online
Kevin Slimp is a favorite speaker and trainer in the publishing world. He can be reached at kevin@kevinslimp.com.

Current Newsletter

Sharing the Good News of Newspapers

Jul 07, 2023 at 02:25 pm by INT

As I listen to the July 4 fireworks outside my window, my thoughts revolve around the newspaper colleagues I’ve met over the past few weeks and the lessons I’ve le.... Read More

Improving Your Newspaper: No two papers are alike

Jun 02, 2023 at 03:30 pm by INT

If you regularly read my columns, you know that I write about focus groups quite often. Don't worry. I'm not writing bout focus groups today. However, I want to discuss anothe.... Read More

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Recent Columns

Affinity Publisher and IDMarkz: One thumbs up, one thumb sideways

Feb 01, 2020 at 05:29 pm by staff

I spent my morning writing about mergers, buyouts, and bankruptcies. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to spend a few minutes on something more fun. For the past three or.... Read More

Looking Toward the Future: Groups taking steps to plan for the future

Sep 25, 2019 at 04:12 pm by staff

Like many of you reading this column, I've been in the newspaper business a long time. I began delivering daily papers for the Johnson City (Tennessee) Press-Chronicle when I.... Read More

What's the Big Deal: You make a few predictions...

Aug 29, 2019 at 11:00 am by staff

Andy Warhol once said, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes." I've experienced those fifteen minutes a few times, but it comes less often these da.... Read More

Increasing Productivity by Upgrading Workspace

Apr 03, 2019 at 07:52 pm by staff

There's a question I get asked a lot by friends, colleagues and audience members at conferences. There are variations, but they all go something like, "How do you find time to.... Read More

Consider Yourself Told

Mar 23, 2019 at 07:22 pm by staff

It was a lot like other experiences I've had at conventions over the past couple of years. In March, as I gathered my backpack to head out of the room where I'd just spoken in.... Read More

Our Digital Future: I've Got It All Figured Out

Dec 12, 2018 at 01:16 pm by staff

Some of you will remember Facebook. If you're over 40, you probably visit Facebook on a regular basis. If you're like most of the college students in my life, ask a parent or.... Read More

Checking the Pulse of Journalism

Nov 01, 2018 at 01:11 pm by staff

Over the past two weeks, I've traveled from coast to coast speaking at newspaper conferences and meeting with Canadian and American journalists about what is happening at thei.... Read More

Tariffs are behind us for now. What's next?

Aug 30, 2018 at 09:41 am by staff

..... It's been two hours since I received word concerning the news that tariffs aimed at newsprint had been overturned. The first person to write me was Ron White, a retire.... Read More

Common Traits: What successful newspapers have in common

Aug 16, 2018 at 09:24 am by staff

I really didn't expect to do much traveling this summer but plans don't always work out as expected and that certainly has been the case for me. The truth is I really love wor.... Read More

Upton Sinclair would be pleased as GateHouse and Gannett build "stronger communities"

May 11, 2018 at 07:29 pm by staff

Four years ago, I decided I'd had enough. After hearing John Paton of Digital First Media speak at a few conferences, I couldn't take it any more. I wrote a column titled, "Ke.... Read More

Front Page

Mirror-Exchange Agrees: Paid newspapers are doing just fine, thank you very much

Oct 29, 2014 at 09:14 am by staff

Kelli Bultena, publisher of Tea (SD) Weekly, sent me a link to a column titled, “The Bad News About the News,” in the October 16, 2014 edition of The Brookings Essay. The essa.... Read More

Epoch Times Agrees: Free papers are doing very well, thank you very much

Oct 29, 2014 at 09:02 am by staff

I sometimes write a column twice, for different audiences. This version of my column on Robert Kaiser's essay includes statistics from free newspapers across North America. K.... Read More

Don’t forget about Bridge: One of Adobe’s most useful tools

Oct 01, 2014 at 04:55 pm by staff

Checking my email has produced better than usual results this morning. Besides looking over questions from readers and browsing through the more than 2,000 spam messages I rec.... Read More

PDFs, Lines & Problems: Answering Readers' Questions

Aug 14, 2014 at 05:12 pm by staff

So much to write about, so little space. That’s my dilemma this morning. I’ve had people writing and calling, wanting my thoughts concerning some quotes from well known indu.... Read More

Hmm: Adobe Cloud. Should I or shouldn’t I?

Jul 03, 2014 at 11:45 am by staff

I’ve written a couple of columns related to the Adobe Cloud. Still, I’m stopped several times at every speaking event by publishers wanting to know if they should upgrade. C.... Read More

Convention attendances improves in 2014

Jul 02, 2014 at 06:30 am by staff

A colleague just walked into my office with a big grin on his face. “At the risk of making your head grow any bigger, I thought I’d show this to you.” He was holding a copy.... Read More

Remote office becomes reality for Wisconsin pubs

Jun 20, 2014 at 12:15 pm by staff

I first met Mike Mathes in 2012 when he invited me to visit the North Woods of Wisconsin to speak during an annual retreat for newspaper publishers. The retreat honored Wiscon.... Read More

A Look at Collegiate Newspapers & Programs

May 15, 2014 at 04:03 pm by staff

Getting Real Instead of Being Cool in Collegiate Journalism Programs by Kevin Slimp I asked my new friend, Kevin Schwartz to coauthor a column about the trend of college n.... Read More

Critiquing 10 Free Papers With Ed Henninger

Apr 27, 2014 at 03:38 pm by staff

You should see my physical mailbox at home. Lately it’s been full of packages from newspapers. Sometimes these packages contain a letter with one or two copies of papers. Othe.... Read More

Kevin Agrees With Upton Sinclair

Mar 11, 2014 at 03:56 pm by staff

I don’t remember putting off writing a column as long as this one. I’ve talked to industry experts, polled editors and publishers, and spent the past four days thinking about.... Read More

Speaking of Software

Jul 05, 2021 at 11:02 am by INT

My friend Reed Anfinson, publisher in Minnesota, called in a bind last week. His paper wasn’t going to press on time due to a technical error with the InDesign newspaper.... Read More

Reasons to Bet on Print

Jun 03, 2021 at 11:15 am by INT

Tangible evidence leads Kevin Slimp to feel good about the future   Before you begin reading this column, please answer this question: “Are you sitting down?&rdqu.... Read More

Making Plans Toward 2028

May 18, 2021 at 11:32 am by INT

Newspapers remain a vital component of a healthy community   In my previous column, I mentioned that there seem to be a lot of positive feelings in the community newspa.... Read More

Adobe Plans to Get Rid of Type 1 Fonts

Apr 30, 2021 at 01:00 pm by INT

Start making plans now about transitioning your Type 1 fonts “Out with the old and in with the new!” We’ve all said it, and the idea of replacing outdated.... Read More

Improving Ad Design to Increase Revenue

Mar 10, 2021 at 12:30 pm by INT

It’s obvious that everyone wants to increase revenue. I own a publishing company and I can attest that 2020 was a terrible year, in terms of revenue. Unless you live in.... Read More

Affinity Publisher Primed to Take Business from InDesign

Mar 09, 2021 at 12:30 pm by INT

It’s been a while since a column has drawn as much response as my November review of Affinity Publisher, the layout application that has so many designers, editors and p.... Read More

Kevin makes His 2021 New Year Predictions

Jan 07, 2021 at 04:19 pm by INT

As I write this column, vaccines are beginning to make their way to first responders, the New Year has begun, and maybe – just maybe – the world is seeing a light.... Read More

Affinity Publisher: Is it ready for prime time?

Nov 17, 2020 at 02:15 pm by INT

A few years back, I received an email from Nebraska publisher Rob Dump about a design application he’d read about named Affinity Publisher. He asked if I thought he migh.... Read More

Why are Some Newspapers Growing? Answers from publishers at growing papers

Nov 05, 2020 at 03:15 pm by INT

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken (virtually) at five state and regional press association conventions. In all but one, my leadoff topic was “What’s Going.... Read More
Slideshow

Kevin answers questions about colors, photo settings, paragraph styles and ligatures

Jul 06, 2020 at 12:15 pm by INT

So, what do professional speakers do during a pandemic? I can’t speak for all the speakers in the world, but among other things, I’ve been leading a lot of webinar.... Read More