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

When Less is More in Newspapers

Feb 01, 2024 at 06:30 pm by INT

In late January, I had such a good time visiting with the publishers of the Wyoming Press Association at their annual convention. I spoke on a few of my favorite topics: Growi.... Read More

Predicting 2024 for Newspapers

Jan 10, 2024 at 10:45 pm by INT

Making bold predictions is easy. This year, I’ve paid close attention to forecasts by respected sportswriters in national print and online publications to see how my foo.... Read More

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Recent Columns

Readers help compile New Year list

Jan 02, 2018 at 01:24 pm by staff

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

Keeping Up With Styles

Oct 17, 2017 at 03:50 pm by staff

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

Sharpening Your Focus

Sep 13, 2017 at 03:54 pm by staff

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

Online Training Available at Newspaper Academy

Mar 06, 2017 at 04:20 pm by staff

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

Meeting Deadline: Learning to Get Along

Jan 27, 2017 at 01:09 pm by staff

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

Know When to Fold Them

Nov 21, 2016 at 09:54 am by staff

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: If you think it's about something else, you are wrong

Nov 21, 2016 at 09:37 am by staff

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

Learning what I can from really smart people: Interviews with experts yield valuable information

Oct 11, 2016 at 08:45 am by staff

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

Iris Chyi, John Oliver and hundreds of journalists leave me no choice but to write this column

Sep 02, 2016 at 08:14 am by staff

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

Pressing Issues

Jul 14, 2016 at 11:34 am by staff

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

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

Taking Control of Your Time

Mar 12, 2023 at 09:49 pm by INT

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

The Secret to Newspaper Growth

Feb 22, 2023 at 10:45 pm by INT

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

A few reasons some papers grow

Jan 22, 2023 at 10:13 pm by INT

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I don’t plan these columns in advance. Most months, I receive an email from newspaper industry executive Jack Guza remi.... Read More

Design issues faced by most newspapers

Nov 16, 2022 at 11:27 pm by INT

As I write this, I’ve just returned from a trip to Marysville, Kansas, where I worked with the staff of The Marysville Advocate on their new design, which went to the pr.... Read More

Even more about Adobe Type 1 and your newspaper: Time to prepare for Jan 1

Sep 28, 2022 at 11:30 am by INT

Excuse my repetition, but for those who didn't read my column last month titled, "Planning for Adobe Type 1 Conundrum in January," there is a storm brewing, and it's not comin.... Read More

Paying Attention to Readers Yields Increased Readership & Revenue

Sep 09, 2022 at 10:00 am by INT

In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.” (The more things change, the more they stay the.... Read More

A Tale of Two Publishers

Jul 12, 2022 at 06:31 pm by INT

I’m not that old. Seriously, I’m not. But in my work with newspapers, I’ve worked with so many younger people that I sometimes feel like Yoda (for you Star W.... Read More

4.5 Hours of Training by the News Guru at 1 Low Price!

Jul 06, 2022 at 04:23 pm by staff

In all, these videos include 4.5 hours of training for everyone on your staff. Topics include: Designing (and redesigning) better pages Creating more effective ads to imp.... Read More

Growing Readership

May 07, 2022 at 06:28 pm by INT

I had a great time last month, as I got out a little more to visit newspapers in multiple states. What I learned inspired, invigorated, and reminded me of much that is going w.... Read More

CBS and the Death of Newspapers

Mar 04, 2022 at 01:17 pm by INT

It’s late as I write this column, just around midnight. There’s nothing unusual about that. I tend to write my columns, stories, and books late in the evening. App.... Read More