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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

..... 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

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

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

I've noticed a definite trend lately. It might be related to the increased number of industry activities I'm involved in these days, or perhaps it's just be one of those thing.... Read More