I’ve said in the past, and I’ll most likely end up saying it again, the hardest part of managing expectations is managing my own. But I might have over-managed.
Your response to the last three weeks of the Progress series and especially to last Saturday’s paper has gotten my attention.
You liked what you saw. You want more of it.
It was a short-term series, but that doesn’t mean we can’t carry that spirit through.
So here’s what’s happening: Today’s paper is a breather. This is the standard product that we have been delivering and we hope you’ll see it with fresh eyes. And while you’re looking at it with fresh eyes, we’re planning our next steps.
What are those next steps? Great question, glad you asked, I can’t wait to tell you (apologies to Elyse Myers, an influencer who has all but trademarked that phrase).
First, we have a special section coming up March 26 that I’m really excited about. It’s one we do every year, but this year, I really want us to lean into it. The theme is one that’s close to my heart: Who cares for the caregivers? Who heals the healers?
We are not paying lip service to doctors for our Doctors Day special section. We’re reaching out to ask the hard questions — who do you turn to when it gets hard? How do you support a colleague who is struggling? We’re planning to talk to professionals who specialize in counseling doctors, and doctors who have faced hard conversations with their peers about personal health concerns — because they hit different when you’re in that life.
If you know someone who might be interested in sharing their story, have them call me at 417-256-9191, or email me at abbyh@westplainsdailyquill.net. If you have ideas about “healing the healer,” call me or email me. If you’re a doctor with insight to give, call me or email me. And if you’re an advertiser who wants to show support for doctors, especially in light of rural health provider shortages, email ads@westplainsdailyquill.net. Our team will be happy to set you up.
Also on March 26 is our deadline to be included in the Church Directory ahead of Easter. New this year, we are offering an interactive online directory for all participating churches — this directory will be accessible to everyone who visits the page. Contact our sales reps to learn more.
The second step we’ll be taking to answer your call for improved coverage is to, well, improve coverage. We currently have a team of four writers, not counting myself and weekly columnists, producing content for this publication. I am hoping to expand that by two more by the end of the month.
What this will mean is more bylines: More focused features on specialized topics, like business, health, farm and agriculture, arts, outdoor living — the things that you loved about the Progress series. It also will mean more so-called “hard news” such as coverage of local government or school board meetings, election candidates. I’m also planning on bringing back the Auto page in time for car show season — in fact, we have a Car Maintenance and Care Guide that we are planning to publish April 26, and the coverage we have planned for it even has me excited.
We’re going to do all of this. But to do it sustainably, we need your help.
We are going to have to go up in pages to accommodate this extra news that you’re asking for. I mentioned last week that readership is going up. Advertising is, too. If I could, with this column, nudge it just a little further, I hope you won’t fault me for trying.
Here’s the challenge: I want 500 more subscribers by April 12, and a dozen advertisers to commit to supporting the Car Care and Maintenance Guide — one for a full page ad, two for half-page ads, six for quarter-page ads and three for business-card ads — plus six months of advertising to sustain a weekly auto page through a bundled deal.
We wouldn’t cry if we exceed that goal, but that’s it. That’s the target. With your help, we can do it. Five hundred subscribers and 12 businesses.
And if you like what we’re doing after we do all that? Well I guess we’ll just have to keep it going, won’t we?
