39 questions to consider…

Before starting a street newspaper

Use these questions to  get you thinking about the important issues you need to research before you start a street newspaper.

1. How big do you see initial distribution of a street newspaper (in year 1) – city wide, county wide, etc?
2. What is the population in the planned distribution area?
3. What are the main issues facing the people you aim to support? (i.e. homeless / socially excluded / unemployed)
4. What if any services exist for your target market? (potential vendors)
5. What is the local attitude to the problem of homeless / socially excluded / unemployed people in general?
6. What group do you wish to target as potential vendors and why?
7. What is the local attitude to begging?
8. What is your organization’s link to the target group? How would you intend to recruit potential vendors?
9. What would prevent your target group from selling the paper?
10. Are there seasonal trends in this social problem? i.e. homeless people leave the city during the summer months etc…
11. How do your proposed target vendors currently earn a living?
12. What do your proposed vendors think about selling a paper for income?
13. Will your vendors have to travel far to get their newspaper and if so how will they afford the cost of travel?
14. Your organization name: It is imperative that you develop a brand and a name which will instil confidence in the market.
15. What has to be done to set up a suitable non profit organization and bank account to manage the street paper? Is there a fundraising registration process?
16. Do you have a place to distribute and produce the paper?
17. Would you distribute newspapers from your current office? If not, where would you plan to distribute the newspapers?  Would your vendors be able to gain access to your offices easily?
18. Who will work for the street paper and do they have sufficient skills / experience to manage it?
19. What links has your organization made with the police and local officials and what is their attitude to your target group?
20. Who will the readers be and why will they buy your paper?
21. What publications sell on the street and how do they currently sell?
22. What is the publishing market in your area?
23. How many newspapers are for sale in your area – at what average price?
24. Are there local laws prohibiting vendors selling newspapers in certain areas and if so what plans will be in place to deal with this competition?
25. What do you think the maximum cost to the vendor could be? And to the public?
26. Look at the various choices in terms of printing format, paper quality and method of printing and number of pages.
27. How many pages are you hoping to produce? (12 pages, 16 pages etc)
28. Is color involved – and to what extent? What format – size and paper quality?
29. What will be the main content?
30. How often will you produce the publication? (weekly, biweekly, monthly etc)
31. How much does it cost to print the publications you investigated?
32. Is there a significant drop in price per copy at any quantities?
33. How much would people pay for your publication?
34. What percent of the cover price will go to the vendor?
35. What will it cost to produce the publication – journalists, designer, freelancers, vendor manager, distribution, office costs etc – not including print?
36. Where do you anticipate funds for these costs coming from?
37. Do you predict that there will be advertising income generated from your publication?
38. Will people want to advertise in a publication sold by your vendors on the street?
39. Do you have contact with companies that would consider sponsoring elements of your publications?

Again these are only to get you started thinking about the wide variety of tasks to be completed before the initial launch.  It is very important to remember that at the beginning 50% of your time should be spent working with the vendors, recruiting new vendors and 50% of your time spent producing the paper.