The Roseville Reader Turns One!
A Letter from the Editor
One year ago this week, The Roseville Reader was born! What started out as an experiment has grown into a trusted source of information and news about our community. It's taken a lot of work, late nights, meetings in coffee shops, poring over city council documents, and learning the ropes of business ownership. I'm really proud of what the Roseville Reader has become and wanted to take some time to celebrate today.
If you weren't here yet (most of you weren't), here's the first Letter from the Editor published on Sept. 28, 2024:
Naomi Krueger
Let's take a look to see where the Roseville has been over the last 12 months and where we're headed.
Looking Back
In the past year The Roseville Reader:
- published over 130 articles
- organized as a business
- became a member of LION Publishers
- was featured by NineNorth
- was mentioned twice in the Star Tribune
- was featured in Maynard News, the newspaper published by the Minnesota Newspaper Museum at the MN State Fair
- connected with the community at Rosefest's Party in the Park
- transitioned off Substack to the Ghost platform
- began collaborating with (and paying) occasional freelance writers
- grew to over 1,000 total subscribers, with 20% paying
- maintained a 65-70% open rate (that's an engaged audience!)
- built trust with city council members, city staff, police and fire chiefs, school district administration, community members, and business owners
This is all thanks to the supportive and encouraging community that has embraced this publication, shared articles, participated in interviews, pitched in funds, offered feedback, and cheered me on.
Who's Reading?
In late July, I sent out an audience survey to learn more about who is reading this publication. Here's what I found out:
Most of the questions were open text fields and I received a lot of great feedback about what people are curious about in Roseville, what they believe is the role of local journalism, and what they appreciate about the Roseville Reader's coverage.
Readers say they want coverage of what's happening in city council before decisions are made, information on the school district and school board, community profiles, updates on business openings and closings, local elections, police and fire departments, construction updates, events, local organizations, and how to get involved in the community. There were also some great story ideas I decided to run with or have tucked away for future articles.
Here's what a few of you had to say about what you appreciate about the Roseville Reader:
"You bring to light the topics people in our community need to hear more about with clarity and facts. I referenced your article about HarMar when someone asked if anyone is doing anything about it and felt confident I had well researched material from you. Thanks for your work and bringing back local news reporting to Roseville."—Emilie Ficek
"You cover things that aren't making it to the other local news . . . You have a nice mix of stories about news, activities, businesses, and people. It's so nice to learn things about this wonderful community that we otherwise might not know about. Especially in this age of social media, AI, and mass media consolidation, it's wonderful to have this local source of news and information. The Roseville Reader gives me high-quality, well-written articles from a talented local journalist who cares about her craft and who believes in keeping others informed."—Mike Bierscheid
"I appreciate your coverage of (often boring) local government, so I don't have to sit through those meetings to find out what's going on. You make it possible for me to act and vote as an informed citizen. A prime example was the Reader's coverage of the sales tax questions on the ballot last fall. I was able to not only cast an informed vote but explain the issues to neighbors in my senior co-op, who vote but generally don't follow local government."—Linda Owen
If you haven't taken this survey yet, there's still time! Here's the link.
What's next?
People frequently ask me these two questions:
Are you hoping to make this your fulltime job?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: I have a fulfilling career in children's book publishing and I'm not looking for a career change. I am managing the Roseville Reader part time and I intend to keep doing so. Some weeks, coverage is lighter due to my own limited capacity. Some weeks, I burn the candle at both ends to report timely or in depth articles. I'm laser-focused on covering Roseville city government, school board, and community life; and limiting how many articles published each week to 2-3. I can't cover everything and I can't be everywhere, but this pace is working for now.
I also believe that in order to keep hyperlocal journalism sustainable for the long-haul, that a lean and nimble business structure is key. I am not setting out to create a full-fledged newspaper. However, I can't do it alone. I know I need more collaborators to keep this going. Which leads me to the next frequently asked question...
Is the Roseville Reader financially sustainable?
Short answer: No
Long answer: I am so grateful for the readers who are pitching in $5/month or $50/year, and the handful of you who are contributing at a higher subscriber tier. This money is powering the following budget items:
- Tech tools for reporting, publishing, and communicating
- Memberships to the Society of Professional Journalists and LION Publishers
- Business registration expenses
- Occasional freelance writers
- Marketing materials
- My own time as a professional journalist and editor
- And other miscellaneous business costs
Lion Publishers, a membership organization for local news entrepreneurs, has a framework around sustainability that looks like this:
The Roseville Reader has a long way to go to achieve sustainability. I am keen to avoid being broke, burned out, or ineffective! There are a lot of metrics for each section of this Venn diagram, but I'll spare you the details. The most important metric that I'm thinking about right now is this:
If the leader of the publication gets sick or can't manage the Roseville Reader for a week or more due to other obligations, would articles still publish?
Truthfully, no. Sustainability doesn't mean creating a large company or producing daily content, but it does mean having a healthy business structure and revenue to support it. Reliable, high-quality journalism is worth paying for. I'm committed to keeping most of the articles published here without a paywall and accessible to the broader community, but the business needs to be viable and sustainable for the long haul for this to continue. And part of that sustainability is paying additional freelance reporters to help carry the load.
The business plan and strategic goals are up to me to sort out, but you can help by paying for a subscription to the Roseville Reader. If you already are, thank you for your support!
Write for Us
Are you a writer or someone with journalism experience who is interested in doing some freelance work for the Roseville Reader? Please get in touch and we can discuss! Just email editor@rosevillereader.com to introduce yourself, share some writing samples, and express your interest.
The Roseville Reader is a hyperlocal news source focused on covering Roseville city government, Roseville Area School Board, and Roseville community life.
Local Advertising
A few local businesses and organizations have reached out to me to inquire about advertising in the Roseville Reader. This is something I would like to experiment with, but there are logistics I need to sort out still. If the Roseville Reader starts selling ads, we will be thoughtful about the kind of advertising we accept. My hope is that even the ads could be a useful source of local information, rather than clutter that distracts from the mission of this publication. Giving local businesses and nonprofits a place they can share information about their products and resources can be a meaningful service to the community too.
Spread the Word
There are over a thousand people subscribed to the Roseville Reader (wow!), but there are roughly 16,000 households in Roseville. Most of them don't know about the Reader yet. Could you help spread the word by talking about it with your neighbors or sharing articles on social media? The more people who are reading the information and stories we publish here, the more informed and connected our community will be.
Naomi Krueger
Thank you!
I am so thankful for each of you for reading, sharing story ideas, and contributing to the community in your own way. Your feedback, enthusiasm, and support makes a huge difference and gives me the fuel to keep going.
Happy Birthday to the Roseville Reader!
Cheers,
Naomi Krueger
Editor & Founding Journalist
P.S. In case you missed any of these, here are some of the Roseville Reader's most-read articles from the last 12 months:
Naomi Krueger
Naomi Krueger
Naomi Krueger
Naomi Krueger
Naomi Krueger
Contributing Writer
Contributing Writer
Naomi Krueger
