For almost 70 years, this publication has been printed and delivered to our readers free of any subscription price. Until two years ago when we initiated a voluntary membership drive, virtually the entire cost of bringing neighborhood news to you was borne by local businesses and organizations that realized our avid local readership added greatly to the value of their advertising dollars.
For nearly seven decades, that business model worked. It doesn’t anymore.
More than 2,000 newspapers have closed across the United States in the past two decades—more than 100 of them alone since the onset of the pandemic in 2000. Local newspapers continue to face daunting challenges to stay in business, and many of them are not expected to survive the decade.
At the same time, there is increasing recognition of the value of local newspapers by people who understand that when their local newspaper closes, their community suffers in multiple ways. MyVillager is fortunate to be among the increasingly rare surviving publications of its type.
But survival is not guaranteed. Far from it.
So now more than ever, those who have become members of MyVillager are getting substantially greater returns on their investment in local news. It’s our hope that you’ll also see the value in that investment and join them.
In the past few years, we’ve done everything we can to remain afloat, from freezing staff salaries to, in my own case, eliminating it altogether. From trimming employee benefits to leaving departed staff positions unfilled. From moving our office to less expensive quarters to reducing circulation in South Minneapolis and Mendota Heights.
Donations from hundreds of generous readers, the infusion of funds from the federal Payroll Protection Program, and the thousands of readers who have answered our invitation to become paying members have all helped, and we’re grateful for all of it. However, the pandemic cut deeply into what had already been falling advertising revenue, and together with soaring inflation now threatens to undo the pivoting business model we’ve embarked on. Like never before, we need readers like you to recognize the absolutely vital role they play in sustaining this operation.
But not all is doom and gloom. As part of the pivoting business model that I mentioned, we’ve invested in new technology to make digital publishing more streamlined. From the more than 7,000 readers who now follow us on Facebook, to the more than 18,000 readers who visit us regularly at MyVillager.com on their phones, laptops and home computers, we’re attracting a substantial and rapidly growing audience for the type of local news content those readers can’t get anywhere else.
We’ve striven to make that digital content even more valuable by providing frequent updates to stories and publishing news content that our smaller print editions can no longer accommodate. We’re publishing e-newsletters that MyVillager members regularly receive via email. And we’re publishing online something we could never before do in print: an archive of past publications that we’ve printed since the first edition in March 1953 up to December 1976, and we’ll eventually add all those editions from 1977 up to the present.
All of that has been done not only to better accommodate the growing number of readers who want to get their local news in the medium of their choice, whenever they care to access it. We also hope to attract more and more advertisers who appreciate the added value of reaching our readers with these new channels.
So now more than ever, those who have become members of MyVillager are getting substantially greater returns on their investment in local news. It’s our hope that you’ll also see the value in that investment and join them.
For more information about becoming a member, see the ad below or go to MyVillager.com.
—Michael Mischke
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