Blogging turns to print in US under free ad-supported model

by Staff, Brand Republic 22-Jan-09, 11:40

SAN FRANCISCO - A Chicago start-up called The Printed Blog is planning to launch dozens of newspapers that contain reprinted blog posts surrounded by local ads, which will be distributed for free in big cities.

Despite the newspaper industry struggling with dwindling ad sales, The Printed Blog is unveiling two weekly newspapers in Chicago and San Francisco on Tuesday next week.

They will contain blog posts alongside other web-like content such as user-submitted photographs and readers' comments, as well as about 200 ads.

Each newspaper will be printed on three or four 11- by 17-inch sheets of white paper and laid out like a blog instead of columns.

The Printed Blog is launching the newspapers as weeklies initially, but hopes eventually to publish free neighbourhood editions twice a day in many US cities.

Joshua Karp, the founder and publisher of The Printed Blog, told The New York Times: "We are trying to be the first daily newspaper comprised entirely of blogs and other user-generated content.

"There were so many techniques that I've seen working online that maybe I could apply to the print industry."

So far more than 300 bloggers have given The Printed Blog permission to reprint their blog posts in exchange for a share of the ad revenue.

Users will eventually be able to log onto the site to choose which blogs they would like in their edition and editors will decide which posts are published in the paper.

Large cities like Chicago could have 50 separate editions tailored to individual neighbourhoods.

Ads are set to cost between $5 and $10 for classifieds and $15 to $25 for business ads that reach 1,000 readers.