how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

should I just layout the ads on landscape and then have them printed on one sheet ...I am making a 'sample' to show to advertisers...

thanks

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Always Google & Peek around at the Competition's resources... :)

http://www.metrocrestcoffeenews.com/FaqsMCN.htm
http://www.metrocrestcoffeenews.com/...ayoutSheet.pdf

Phil

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Bob....I helped a guy and his wife get started in one of these, 5 yrs ago. He now goes up and down the Interstate corridor...with restaurants AND sponsors in each town.

It's 8 1/2 by 11, "Landscape" and full of "Trivia" stuff (you can get Trivia paperbooks) Plus, he LAMINATES with 3 mil....and folds each piece and sticks them in the plastic bases he buys from me...and sets them on the Rest. Tables.

A few towns he has TWO sheets STAPLED.

He changes the piece EVERY MONTH. Charges $395 for 3 months AND... about 80% of his advertisers RENEW....and if they don't renew after the first 3 mos...3 do later...in a different time-frame.

Send me your mailing address and I'll pop a couple in the mail to you.

Only one problemo;
"You MUST contact prospective advertisers...."IN-PERSON"...which means, this is "PHYSICAL WORK"...getting in and outa yer vehicle a dozen times a day (Hard on yer Starter)

Don Alm

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Just make sure you don't copy the "Coffee News" too closely. A company out of Canada called "Flying Cow" was sued and had to change their format. I actually looked into doing both of those before deciding I could probably do it myself without having to fork over a ton of cash to some established company.

And it's good to see you posting more often here Don! You've helped me learn to look around "everywhere" for the creative marketing opportunities. I had a thought the other day while imagining the 'captive' audience at the dentist offices looking up at the posters on the ceiling. Has anyone ever tried to sell picturesque photos with advertising to put up there? Then I realized that I'm starting to think like Don Alm! And I'm pretty sure that that's a good thing.

Bob, keep us updated on the newsletter idea. I'm struggling with the feasibility of doing one myself right now. I'd like to see how your's progresses, and if I move forward on mine, I'll let you know how that goes as well.

p.s. I still don't have a format either, but I'm leaning toward two 8 1/2 x 11 pages folded in half and stapled together like a book. Then more pages can be added as needed. The print shop I work for has a new printer/copier that will do full color, fold and stitch automatically so it would finally be a more reasonable cost for me.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

thanks don ...

dont have your email for my addy but anyone can send me anything at anytime at
3647 valley road
jackson, miss
39212

thanks
ps..for those of you looking on the google maps, my side of the duplex is the right side ....heh heh

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Bob,

Here's some ideas and templates from Chuck Green to consider:

http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/bdt_home.html

Good luck!

Rod

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Hello all! First time poster here who plans on being a regular. I've decided to start looking for opportunity as an entrepreneur.... and work toward my ultimate goal of leaving the 8x8 cube I've spent the last 8 years in!


So I'm curious.. anyone that was involved in this discussion ever move forward with doing this newsletter idea? I've started creating my own and I'm going to give this an earnest attempt. My main concern is doing enough to differentiate from Coffee News. Any ideas on how one could find something like this out? If I just surround "light-hearted news" with ads, am I still risking a lawsuit? Is changing fonts, paper color, etc.. with a completely different name enough? I don't want this to resemble Coffee News in any way, but with just a single double-sided news page letter, surrounded by ads, it's bound to resemble.

Flying Cow gives the following info on what happened in their Nova Scotia lawsuit:
"I heard that there was a lawsuit going on between Coffee News and Flying Cow. Is this true and what happened?
The verdict came out on January 9th, 2006. In the ruling, the Supreme court of Nova Scotia said that they did not want to limit competition and that Flying Cow was free to continue operations with a slight format change. On January 10th, 2006 Flying Cow was back to business as usual and on January 23rd, 2006 we debuted our new format to rave reviews."

I found a bit more information here that says:

2703203 Manitoba v. Parks, January 6, 2006 NSSC (Richard J.) Copyright Infringement/Get-Up/Punitive Damages

The plaintiffs sell a publication entitled COFFEE NEWS which has established a particular get-up over a long period of time. The defendant embarked upon a program with the aim of replacing the COFFEE NEWS publication with their FLYING COW publication. To accomplish this objective, the defendant used the design, format and other aspects of the COFFEE NEWS to cause confusion so that advertisers, distributors and readers might be persuaded that the two publications were "sister" editions rather than competitors.

Held: Injunction granted to prevent the defendant from publishing the FLYING COW in its present format and from further infringing on the plaintiff's copyright and from passing off. It is not material that the defendant's product is identified by a different name since the get-up is sufficiently similar that the public would be confused into thinking that the two are associated. Because the conduct of the defendant was highly reprehensible, punitive damages of $100,000 were awarded.

Even more in depth info is here.

My other main concern.. content. I notice that Coffee News and Tidbits (Flying Cow) both offer the "lighter side of the news" with stories from around the world. I assume their getting their content off the web as well? Is it legal to write a story from another story that you've read somewhere... rewording this article... or is this copyright infringement?

By the way.. some good info here on the process.

Thx all! Nice to meet everyone!
Jeff

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Refer to my "Oct 25, 07" post above.

If you let me know, I can send you a copy of the "Trivia" NL that's been successful on Restaurant Tables in my area.

Don Alm
"53 Ways to Make Money"
http://www.midasreports.com

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

For content:

1. Search for stuff under creative commons copyright. They are usually free to use. Sometimes you just have to mention "Source: ______" after using the content.

http://search.creativecommons.org

2. You can use softwares that create games likes Sudoku and Crosswords. And paste these games on the newsletter.

3. You can probably joint venture with someone like Randy Cassingham. Pay him to allow you to syndicate his content. He publishes "This is True" and "Stella Awards" newsletters. Both are topics that masses love to read. And both are kind of timeless. I don't know how much Randy charges though...

4. You can also pay a fee to those syndicating companies like United Media. And publish comics and columns.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Hi Jeff,

Just use Coffee news for basic ideas...

Research... Study but Never copy...

The Key is coming up with Smart “twists” on Great ideas... You can always run it by your Lawyer...

Having an expert Accountant and a Lawyer as part of your business plan & business network is a very Good idea...

A few hours of their Knowledge annually is more than Worth the investment if you're serious about the business long term...

I see Coffee news has changed the links I posted awhile back...

Update...
coffee news layout...
http://www.google.com/search?q=coffe...ient=firefox-a

Here's a thread with some Good ideas...

As Tim suggests...

Vondre' has had Great Success with Niche newsletters and is an Encylopedia on Local ideas...

Definitely contact him...

Newsletter Brainstorm
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=17397

Best of luck with Re-Creating the idea...

And make sure you Research and Study the SowPub archives...

Lots of Golden nuggets... ;)
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/archive/index.php/f-3.html
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/search.php

Phil

No Copyright Infringement
 

Jeff,

Thanks for asking about copyright.

First, I am not a chiropractor nor do I play one on TV.

You asked... "Is it legal to write a story from another story that you've read somewhere... rewording this article... or is this copyright infringement? "

When you Reword something into your own words, what you are doing is called Paraphrasing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphrase) and it does Not infringe upon someone's copyright. Feel free to reword until the cows come home.

Michael Ross

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Thanks guys.. Lots of helpful information from you all! I definitely have learned some more things and you've sparked a lot of new ideas through my research of the things you've mentioned here.
I'm moving forward! :)

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Bob,

I've got some stuff you might want to look at...

Won't be at my home computer until week-end , though.

Millard

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

CoffeeNews is for sale.

http://tinyurl.com/4oggpv

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

I have looked into Coffeenews and come to the conclusion that it is not a sustainable business.

The real business is the franchisor NOT the franchisee. They make some content and sell it to multiple people for a few hundred dollars a month (depending on how many editions they have).

They have a forum where the franchisees talk to each other and help themselves.

You have to pay their fee even though you are publishing or not. So if you want to stop you either have to sell your 'edition' to another person or give it up. The company will not buy it back.

If you look at the history of an edition you may see that they are owned by multiple people. So the company eventually 'sells' the same edition multiple times over the years.

If I were you I would start your own publication. Do not copy the CN layout but everything else is open.

If you can find another business where you can sell the same content to many people on a monthly basis AND change $5000 initial fee for the privilege THAT would be a great business model.

With gas prices skyrocketing there may be opportunities for business that reduce the number of errands a person need to do or brings a bit of luxury to replace the many of the other things that they had to giveup due to rising costs.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Karunnt,
After really researching this further, I am completely convinced that you have spoken the truth! I got as far as requesting their franchise package, which they sent.. and that monthly franchise fee just had me to scared to sign my name on the dotted line. Whew. Bullet dodged! I'm coming across more and more examples of people doing this themselves and being successful. And.. I'm coming across more and more ads of people wanting to unload Coffee News. I seen a couple different ones on Craigslist in the last 2 weeks. Who could blame them? They told me I couldn't buy the franchise unless I bought the whole area.. due to the population... which was 4 franchises.. or.. a whopping $135 a week! What a great business model they have... for themselves. And they've raised their franchise cost to $8000 for the first business and $5500 for each additional, so it's a pretty penny to even get involved now.

So.. I've started whupping up my own. Don.. THANKS so much for sending that! I'm amazed you would do that for a complete stranger! Nice to know there's people in the world like that. And, it was a huge help... full of content ideas! I was surprised, however, to see that almost everything in it was found on the Internet word for word. I guess if you keep it small, it's probably not going to be looked at too much. But I loved the design. What a great idea! Small and sleek! It definitely spawned the design neurons hidden deep in the vortex of my brain. :p

Anyway.. I'm forging on... talk to ya' guys soon!

How Coffee News Grew So Big - and lessons to be learned from it...
 

Wolfdogg,

Thanks for sharing more on their pricing.

When CN started they were Only charging $499 for a franchise. And with such a small price it didn't take them long to get up near 500 franchisees. At That time they were also only charging $70 a week for the Content - that was the Minimum price, as at That time her Take was a minimum $70 or a percentage of Gross Sales whichever was higher (which Punishes those who can get Top Dollar for their ads).

$70x500 franchisees is $35k a week - minimum.

No wonder the owner was able to Hire a couple of Helpers to find the content and upload it so the franchisees could download it to their own computers.

But within the above there are some Important Lessons to be learned...

=> Keep the franchisee fee low and you'll have more franchisees.

=> Give them something for their ongoing weekly fee - too many franchisers just call it Royalties and give nothing for it, which creates disgruntled franchisees over time.

=> Keep the weekly fee Fixed as additional Incentive for franchisees to Generate More Money.

(Years ago a franchiser came to see me about selling more franchises. With his % for royalties, % for marketing (which was one ad in the yellow pages), % for Admin and so on, he was sucking 20% of the money. So someone who did $1,000 a week had to pay $200 off the bat to this guy. They were probably paying $300 tax After that - leaving them $500 to live on and pay the business running costs - which involved a Lot of driving around.

A guy doing $1,500 a week, had to pay $300 to him. take away the additional tax money too and these guys had to earn Big just to make what they could make in a job.

If he'd charged them a flat $100 a week, or even $50, he'd have had Loyal Franchisees instead of complaining ones who began to see him as a leach. And he'd have franchisees who had Incentive and could Keep the fruits of their efforts instead of paying more of it to someone without getting any extra for the additional money.

Michael Ross

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

The guy (and his wife) who do this in my area...just finished a "2-Sheet edition" in South County....5 restaurants with about 150 tables total for which he got $395 per business card size ad from 20 advertisers for a 6 month term.

He gets ALL his biz from his home in Grants Pass. He goes to restaurants first because they have to see what the piece looks like....then, he phones businesses near the restaurants (and gets a nice referral List from restaurant owners)...explains the program and price and I'm not sure how he gets the advertiser's business cards to scan. He might spend a day or 2 picking them up when collecting money.

He now has a BIG area up and down the Interstate 5 corridor.

WELL worth pursuing.

Don Alm

Some of my Biz programs
http://www.midasreports.com

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Sounds like he might be shooting himself in the foot in the way of what he's charging.
150 tables.. figure 10 people a day at each table (and most of the time, there will be multiple people at the table so he's probably getting at least twice as many views than that) and that's 10500 views a week. All of this for a 3x2 ad that he's charging $15 a week for?! And this is direct marketing in the exact locale of the business. That's beyond dirt cheap. He could easily charge twice and still be about 1/4 of what any advertiser would have to pay in a paper, for the same size ad. The Coffee News publication starts at $30 a week for the same size ad and goes up to $50 for bigger cities. His publication sounds like a great place to advertise!

Great idea though.. and granted.. printing costs would be extremely low with his business model.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Hello Everybody;
What a great board. I am so glad I found it. I hope I can in someway contribute to it.

Hey Wolfdogg: it sounds like you and I are at the same stage in the game. I also want to do this on my own. I am leaning towards something between a Coffee News and a Tidbits...a shopper without the classifieds.

I was originally writing this post to address what Don is refering to in post #18but having re-read the thread it appears he has sent you a copy so you can see it is totally different thing. I happened to come across it about a month ago.

Your comment about finding the content word for word on the net brings up a good point-Copyright Infringement. I am not a lawyer but my understanding is you cannot copyright an idea. Nor can you copyright a fact. Or a quote. ( I may be a little off on the quote thing.) You can however copyright the way it is presented.

You also address the question of differentiating yourself from CN in your original post. I believe what CN has copyright protection on is not only the layout but how, that is the order, in which the information is presented: news snippets (Everybody's Talking),quotes (Quoteable Quotes) ect. IMHO one should take care not to copy to close. Just like Karunnt states in post #15. I can infer from your posts you already have a good understanding this.:o

In my searches I have found Coffee News, Flying Cow, The Free Weekly Jive, and The Patience News. Then there is Tidbits, The Funny Paper and hundreds of shoppers. Aside from the shoppers, all franchises or business opportunities. I would sure like to learn of any others. Especially any independents out there.

One thing I've done that has worked for me....
 

I will Research a project....find out who is doing the project now...what it looks like...where is it going....what are they charging...etc.

THEN....I will STOP THE RESEARCH....create my own Sample and....GO OUT TO THE MARKETPLACE AND SELL IT!

I've seen too many people over the years....spend an enormous amount of TIME researching a project....wondering and worrying over it.

"Are we too close to what's in the Market now?"

"Does the Main outfit have a "Design Patent" on it?"

"Do they have a "Master Copyright" or Trademark?"

"Can WE be sued by the Main Outfit because OUR preoduct is too similar to theirs?"

My advice has always been;
"GO FOR IT!" "LET WHOMEVER IS GOING TO SUE YOU...SUE YOU!"

Don Alm

For "Info Product Sellers"...learn how to "STOP REFUNDS COLD"!
http://www.midasreports.com/stoprefundscold

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Actually you really don't need to do any research at all. Get a copy of the competition - all you need to know is probably on the publications itself. It is easy to find what to charge.

Get yourself a graphic designer and create a few samples. Then get a list of establishments that will agree to display your paper. Then take that list and and see if anybody will buy.

Have the local copy shop create them on their digital printer. It will be more expensive than using a duplicator but you are not paying the franchise fee or monthly 'royalty' fee either.

If after a few months it looks like it will be profitable and you like doing it then you can get a fancy duplicator, accountant etc.

Re: One thing I've done that has worked for me....
 

I like how you think, Don! I'd already resigned myself to the same thought. Chances are pretty slim and hey.. got to just go for it sometimes.

Micropub, I have a thought... you sound like you're serious too. Maybe we should consider doing this together? No charging each other for anything.. just creating a project together and even working up/sharing content every week. I was actually pretty worried about providing content for the longest time, but not anymore. After getting a layout down, I now realize that I'm looking at 1 night a week of creating content. That is soooo much worth doing myself and not paying a hefty franchise price! I have a very slick website already up.. and I'm working on my paper design now... which I largely have finished too. If we got 2 or 3 different people doing 1 in different states, we could divide the content creating up.. and advertise that our paper exists in many states.

Anyway... just a thought I had just now.. haven't given it much thought myself!

An Interesting thought
 

Interesting idea Wolfdogg. We should at the very least trade notes. I have a website but nothing really on it yet. Today I got a few display stands delivered. I think they will work nicely. I have a pic of my paper in one I could show you.

You had mentioned in a previous post finding others who have been successful on their own. Are others in your neck of the woods doing something like this?

Content is what makes or breaks any publication. I am curious how you plan to come up with your content in one evening. Are you a writer? That would be great if you are.

Anyway...your thought is an interesting one.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

I'll shoot you a pm with my ideas. I'll need to post 5 more times (4 after this) first though! It won't let me without 10 posts. Seems a bit silly.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

I'll shoot you an im.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

great stuff wolfdogg

if i cant get your im look for my email from your site. great job on the site dude. real nice. i definitely what to speak with you.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Regarding software, what software program would a person have to learn, or what software do you think coffee news uses to layout their publication?

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

If you were to do something the same as Coffee News I bet Publisher would be sufficient. But most graphics people use Indesign or Quark.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

There's a couple in my area who have a "Table News" publication in towns all over Southern Oregon.

I'm looking at one now. It's 8 1/2 by 14 wide....2, 20lb sheets, teal colored, lightly laminated, folded in half, widthwise and stapled with 2 columns per page. 4 ads down the outside columns. Each ad is 1 3/4" high by 3" wide.

These sit in a triangular plastic base with a slit in the top on each table.

They get $395 for 3 mos per ad and usually get 22 ads inside....3 ads on front for $495 ea....4 ads on back for $445ea.

Advertisers who commit to 12 months get a write-up on the left-hand column of the front page.

The pieces are changed each month. They change the paper color each month to make it obvious the pieces have been changed.

They have 3 to 5 participating restaurants in each town.

Makes for a nice income. They've been operating since '01 (7yrs)

Ohhh....they use MSPublisher to create their publications.

email me your mailing addy & I'll send you a copy.

Don Alm [email protected]

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

All your options are in the following thread...
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6384

Phil

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

I am in the process of looking at CN,Flying Cow and Free Jive Weekly. Did you ever start your publication?
Ed

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

I have not. I have been spending a lot of time researching copyright laws. Probably too much time. But I have almost everything in place. I want to go out with the best product I can. I just can't decide on what to use for the main articles. I want to do some story re-writes myself but I lack confidence in my writing skills. I have another idea for main stories but the cost would be about $60 a week. I am already at nearly $40 a week with other content I have lined up.

I have scrutinized the publications you mention. I have not called them but wonder how they can run AP and other news syndicate stories without attribution. I contacted AP to buy stories and learned you cant be a shopper or a restaurant publication and get copy from them. You must employ an editorial staff. You cant just cut and paste stuff you find on the Internet and publish it. Yet it appears that is what some do. If you look closely you will find that the CN does not do that. Take a lesson from the big dogs.

Where exactly are you in your research? Are you serious about publishing or just looking at the prospect at this point?

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

I have not. I have been spending too much time reading about copyright law. I have almost everything in place but still trying to decide what to use for content in main articles. I would like to do story re-writes but I do not have a lot of confidence in my writing abilities.

I would like to buy stories but that would cost around $45-$60 a week. I am already at about $35 on other content I will use.

I have not spoken with 2 of the 3 companies you mention. But I am very curious how they can run AP and other syndicate stories without attribution. The larger of the 3 does not do that. Have you spoken with all of them yet? Have you made any major decision since your post on the 1st?

I've done a lot of these!
 

Excuse me if this gets long - I have a fair amount of experience on this one. When I first started my own printing business 15 years ago two of my first clients did this type of thing. I did the graphic design and printing for them and they sold ads and set up restaurants. Both of them had several variations and formats, depending on the restaurant. Aside from a newsletter, they did menus and place mats with ad spaces.

I noticed that someone commented on how the prices were too low. Don't think that just because you have a good idea you can sell it for any price. There is a limit to what the market will bear - a lot of that will depend on where you are selling. Factors like the restaurants popularity and amount of competition will be huge factors. My clients typically sold out the ads, but only after offering major discounts to some clients to get them in. As for profitability - they made an ok living. They weren't driving German luxury sedans, but they paid the bills! Both customers serviced about 8-10 restaurants. They neither did their own design or printing - 100% of their time was in selling and servicing their advertisers and restaurants.

Even if there's no-one offering the same service (restaurant newsletters), your competition is anyone who sells advertising. Businesses typically spend a finite amount of money on advertising, so if their budget is already maxed out on other mediums, you'll have a tough sell no matter how economical - unless you can prove to them that they will get better results from your medium. Not to say it can't be done, just don't expect it to be easy ... plan on talking to a LOT of businesses to fill the space.

As for the format (the original question!), that is going to depend on how many ads you can sell in a given market. I've seen everything from a single 8.5 x 11, 11 x 17 to an 8-page 8.5 x 14 booklet style. For the premier edition, something simple might be a good idea since you don't know how big it will be.

A few thoughts on how to make it a better value ... if you look at CN, it's not very attractive (which is probably in part why they don't sell that well). Another problem is it's a display ad that cannot be removed from the restaurant. That means most people will glance at it and forget about it once the meal arrives. Simple black and white ads, mixed in with black and white text are not going to garner attention and potential advertisers will be less than impressed.

Ok, I should charge for these suggestions! But hey, it's a good cause! :)
Some ways to make it more compelling...
Consider having some "shells" printed in full color. Shells are pages that are pre-printed in volume and in a format where you can just add the new content each month - or however often you publish. The alternative is to have them printed in color on a digital printer (color copier) each time. Don't underestimate the selling power of color.

Using recycled content will get old fast. Honestly, I don't even look at the Coffee News because I expect the information to be stale. One way to mix it up is to solicit input from the readers. People LOVE to see their work in print! Create a contest with some kind of prize for user submissions. A great prize could be a gift certificate to the restaurant where they are eating - the restaurant might even give you this for free. You will find that the non-portable nature of the newsletter will create some major objections. A way to solve this is to create a web site where each ad is posted online. You'd probably need to talk advertisers into posting some money saving special offers online to compel people to go to the site. But that probably won't be enough - to really make an impact, how about having some cards printed up for each restaurant (you can get those from us!!) These cards could serve multiple purposes .... use it to advertise your ad business (a small line or two of text), it will be a free business card for the restaurant, but most importantly - it will drive people to visit your website where they will see the online ads. The trick here is to make the card double as a discount voucher (like 10% off next meal) but it has to be validated by going to the website and getting the validation code.

Obviously these are just suggestions - the idea being you have to create demand for your advertising service. This can only be done by creating visual appeal and a system that will ensure the ads are seen. Coupons (on the website) would be huge as they can be tracked. As an advertiser sees the coupons coming in, they know where the customer came from, and will advertise again.

Almost forgot ... as for programs to use for layout. First of all I think you're better off paying someone to design them for you - especially if you don't have design experience. Poorly designed ads will kill your business fast, plus if you do this right, you'll want to dedicate more than full time to selling. If you do decide to do the layout and you're doing more than just copying and pasting business cards, you're going to need more than one program. We use the Adobe Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, etc.), but there are less expensive options out there - especially if you're going to run them on a digital copier. Some design elements you would ideally create with a drawing program (Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc.), some with Photoshop - especially if there will be pictures, and a page layout program puts all the pieces in their place (InDesign, Quark, Publisher, etc.) Although if you're going to be serious, I would steer you away from Publisher ... it's not very printer friendly.

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

OK GUYS, wanted to see how things went with your idea of the news letter.. wanting to start one myself.. now.. darn it a couple years behind you on the posts.. so let me know how it went?

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

I am REALLY late to this discussion but maybe not too late to help some. We actually help people start their OWN paper. We are NOT a franchise and our content is superior in quality to any we have seen. Feel free to reach out to us if we can be of assistance. :)

Re: I've done a lot of these!
 

I would like to respond to a few points you made here:

[quote=remipub;22629]Excuse me if this gets long - I have a fair amount of experience on this one...

A few thoughts on how to make it a better value ... if you look at CN, it's not very attractive (which is probably in part why they don't sell that well). Another problem is it's a display ad that cannot be removed from the restaurant. That means most people will glance at it and forget about it once the meal arrives. Simple black and white ads, mixed in with black and white text are not going to garner attention and potential advertisers will be less than impressed.
I completely disagree, a simple single color ad gets plenty of attention if it is well-designed. I dont think adding color to the ad causes a reader to suddenly recall that ad when their meal is finished. There is a lot more to it than that.

Ok, I should charge for these suggestions! But hey, it's a good cause! :)
Some ways to make it more compelling...
Consider having some "shells" printed in full color. Shells are pages that are pre-printed in volume and in a format where you can just add the new content each month - or however often you publish. The alternative is to have them printed in color on a digital printer (color copier) each time. Don't underestimate the selling power of color. Again, (with all respect) color is not what sells. The opposite is often true...simple sells. Small businesses today are looking for ways to get their name out any way possible..on a TIGHT budget. Sure, full color looks really pretty..but you have to pass that additional cost on to your customer. Now suddenly you are not the best deal in town. And THAT is the selling point of free weekly papers. They promote small businesses that otherwise couldnt afford to advertise.

...One way to mix it up is to solicit input from the readers. People LOVE to see their work in print! Create a contest with some kind of prize for user submissions. A great prize could be a gift certificate to the restaurant where they are eating - the restaurant might even give you this for free. You will find that the non-portable nature of the newsletter will create some major objections. - Not sure this is the safest approach. When locals provide your content, you quickly lose control of your image. And that is one of the hardest things to establish and maintain. Some local expert (reader) providing
content can easily blow up in your face....false information, opinions, etc. Very risky approach in a business where peoples opinion of your product pays your bills (or not).

[i]Almost forgot ... as for programs to use for layout. First of all I think you're better off paying someone to design them for you - especially if you don't have design experience. Poorly designed ads will kill your business fast, plus if you do this right, you'll want to dedicate more than full time to selling. If you do decide to do the layout and you're doing more than just copying and pasting business cards, you're going to need more than one program. We use the Adobe Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, etc.), but there are less expensive options out there - especially if you're going to run them on a digital copier. Some design elements you would ideally create with a drawing program (Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc.), some with Photoshop - especially if there will be pictures, and a page layout program puts all the pieces in their place (InDesign, Quark, Publisher, etc.) Although if you're going to be serious, I would steer you away from Publisher ... it's not very printer friendly.[i]

Can't help myself....again I totally disagree. You need two programs. These will set you back less than $130 total if you buy them brand new off the shelf. Photoshop Elements and Microsoft Publisher will do EVERYTHING necessary for this business and they are both completely printer friendly. Anything more expensive is overkill. They are simple to learn and easy to use. As far as hiring a person to do the layout / design? HUGE mistake! You dont make money in this business (at least a first) by paying others to do work you can do yourself! ANYBODY can layout a professional looking weekly paper. Yes, you will be busy but the way to succeed in this business is to NOT spend money paying someone else to do it. You design the paper. You sell the ads. You deliver the paper. You succeed and make a nice living. It really works...but steer clear of bad advice..its everywhere :(

Re: how to set up a coffee news layout ?
 

Is anyone getting their content from somewhere such as: Facts Weekly or Laughable News? If so, how is that working out for you?

What would be the advantage of working with a company such as Tidbits, where they do provide some personal training (for a fee, ofcourse)?

Thanks!