The Printed Blog

I’ve been asked to speak at a conference in June and below is the abstract. Let me know what you think. Thanks, Josh.

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009: 5:00am. It’s 4 degrees without the wind chill. Joshua Karp, six unpaid interns, and a camera crew race between three CTA stations, handing out the very first issue of The Printed Blog, a brand new print newspaper comprised entirely of blogs and online, user-generated content. In the midst of the meltdown of the newspaper industry, this small, completely bootstrapped team, has successfully launched a new print newspaper. A few days later, Time Out Chicago asks, “Is he crazy?”

Later named one of American’s Most Promising Startups by BusinessWeek, The Printed Blog redefined the print industry and the nature of journalism by actually launching a newspaper based on a completely new business model. Going from idea, to launch, to internationally
recognized newspaper brand in less than three months, The Printed Blog now publishes nearly 7,000 weekly papers in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and in four different communities in Chicago (Wicker Park, Lakeview, Loop, and Gold Coast Editions). In March, 2009, Editor & Publisher magazine asked its readers to consider: “Is this really the future of newspapers?”

Come join Joshua Karp as he tells the story of The Printed Blog; the ups and downs, the media frenzy, the business model, and the role of social media, and listen as gives his vision for the future of the newspaper industry. You can decide for yourself, “Is he crazy?” or is The Printed Blog what the future looks like… the newspaper for the next 100 years.