It has been one of those days. You’ve had them. It began with a website that wasn’t working like it was supposed to. When you have a website that lists items for.... Read More

Earlier this month, I traveled about an hour from my home to conduct focus groups for a weekly newspaper in Tennessee. Focus groups come in all sizes and shapes. This particul.... Read More

I suppose any time is the right time to look over your newspaper operation and search for ways to make improvements., but the beginning of the year seems especially appropriat.... Read More

Speeding up your workflow while improving your design in Adobe InDesign At the 21st session of the Newspaper Institute last week, Ed Henninger and I did something we've neve.... Read More

Focus groups can change the way you create your newspaper I guess it comes with experience (that sounds better than "age"). In the "old days" when I visited a newspaper, it wa.... Read More

NewspaperAcademy.com features training you need from people you trust. Join Kevin Slimp, Ed Henninger, John Hatcher, Tim Smith and other trusted names in newspaper training fo.... Read More

A few years ago, I spent several days with a newspaper in Tennessee. They were converting from an editorial workflow based on QuarkXPress to InDesign and asked if I would be o.... Read More

While in Minnesota last week, I had an assignment similar to assignments I've had many times during the past 20 years: to spend a day with a small community newspaper group, m.... Read More

This story is about hamburgers. Nothing else, just hamburgers. If you think it's about something other than hamburgers, you are mistaken. This story is simply about hamburgers.... Read More

I live a charmed life. Last week, I spent four days with nine of the top newspaper experts in the business, along with journalists from 22 states at The Newspaper Institute in.... Read More

Those of you who write columns for a living know what I'm talking about. This is one of those days when I'm not sure what to write. It's not that I lack subject matter. The op.... Read More

If a person hangs around long enough, he's bound to get noticed. That's my theory anyway. When asked why I receive so many requests for help from newspapers, I simply mark it.... Read More

I don't know about you, but my life seems to get busier with each passing day. I just finished publishing my second book in a month, began work on a major project to help rais.... Read More

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: "What do you get when you gather 760 newspaper executives and ask them how things are going at their papers?" That's just what I di.... Read More

An editor in South Carolina wrote to me yesterday, "I'm always amazed at your productivity." I get that a lot these days. Since yesterday, I've written an opinion piece that's.... Read More

I've been training and advising newspapers for 21 years, every since Larry Smith asked me to come look over his operation in LaFollette, Tennessee back in 1994. I worked with.... Read More

The best word to describe Minnesota Newspapers PHENOMENAL There's a reason I love my work so much. There's a reason that there are folks around the country waiting for me to r.... Read More

In retrospect, I love the email subject line: "Dead at deadline." The email came to me at 6:15 last night, just as I was getting ready to take my two teenagers out for dinner..... Read More

The Tennessee Press Association Foundation did it. On Friday, July 17, 2015, the new Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame was officially unveiled at a celebration that included pu.... Read More

When a person visits as many newspapers as I do, he starts to notice similarities. It used to be that most papers wanted staff training in InDesign (or QuarkXpress in years pa.... Read More

"It's a quarter to three," sang Frank Sinatra, "no one in the place 'cept you and me." I'm not sure why that song comes to mind. It might have something to do with the fact th.... Read More

I don’t know about you, but I’m not much of a sitter. By that, I mean I can sit through speech for a few minutes, but then I usually start to get bored. That’s when my mind st.... Read More

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s a crazy time for all of us. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Like many of you, I’ve been working out of my home office for six.... Read More

I will remember fall '19 as a season of research. I was involved in two major newspaper studies: one related to Millennials for North Dakota Newspaper Foundation and one to de.... Read More

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