editorial and circulation

The barrier between circulation and editorial is nowhere near as bad as the barrier between editorial and advertising. I figure at least you people have a clue what the readers want. Advertising just tells us what we have to put in the paper because they already promised it, and these people pay so-o-o-o much, and besides, it really doesn't matter that the writing is crap and deals with something 50 miles outside our coverage area.

As a consumer I'd welcome do-not-call lists in our state. Right now all we can do is use caller ID or a telezapper to get rid of the annoying telemarketers, but I can see what you're saying too. I'm sure someone's going to issue a constitutional challenge to these things since they abridge free speech.

One of the things our circulation reps used to do back at The Packet was they would target parts of the community with free copies of the newspaper, and then would call after a few weeks to see if the readers would like to subscribe. The other interesting idea I heard was getting Realtors to give free copies of the paper to new residents and give us their addresses and phone numbers in exchange for reduced ad rates. Then there's the give-aways and in-school promotions.

Of course, as a circulation director, you've probably come across these ideas already, along with other approaches.

The best I've seen that I can do as an editor is to promote the schools heavily. I'd like to have at least one school feature a week, and I'll run any submissions I get from the community, even if they look like utter trash. People always love to see their own work in print.