Announcement From The Founder
Friends,
It is with great sadness that I must report that, due to a lack of outside investment capital, The Printed Blog is ceasing publication.
Despite a significant personal investment on my part, and the additional support of six or seven credit cards, we were unable to raise the minimum amount of money required to reach the next stage of our development. This was a difficult decision for us, but the financial reality of the situation demanded that we suspend further publication immediately, and indefinitely.
Last year, I had an idea. I wondered what would happen if some of the business model principles that work online were applied to the troubled newspaper industry. The more I thought about it, the more the curiosity got to me. So I registered a domain name, developed an action plan, and started the process of building a new kind of newsprint publication.
Everyone said I was nuts, but I did it anyway.
16 issues, 80,000 print copies distributed, another 100,000 or so copies downloaded, and countless new friends, fans, and collaborators all around the world later, I may still be nuts, but I have zero regrets.
Creating a new breed of newsprint publication from scratch was an amazing experience, and it was humbling to have been so prominently included in the global discussion on the future of journalism and the print media.
I’m disappointed, to be sure, but also looking forward to the future. I believe the next few years will be among the most exciting times in the history of journalism. The industry’s landscape is on the verge of major change, and when redefined, it will look a lot different than it does today. It will also function considerably better.
The wheels are already in motion – from aspiring startup companies like ours to specially designated departments operating within the largest media corporations… the future of news is taking shape as we speak. These are definitely exciting times.
I won’t revisit our countless accomplishments here. Suffice it to say we achieved more than anyone thought we would – for two very good reasons. First, for how “crazy” it was, the concept of The Printed Blog proved to have exceptional merit. It won’t surprise me at all to find some of our ideas strategically implemented elsewhere in the months ahead, as I suspect our relatively short run will have some long-term effect on the evolution of newsprint.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we got as far as we did because of the dedication and support of the community we created. Part one of the two-part blog post below thanks the many individuals who made our launch and early successes possible. We enjoyed tremendous participation from countless contributors and collaborators from day one, and for their support I will be forever grateful. Part two of the attached blog post offers some words of wisdom based on the lessons we learned along the way.
I’ve been contacted a dozen times over the past 6 months concerning granting a license for or entering into another type of partnership with The Printed Blog. At this point, I’ll do my best to help anyone who can make use of the work we did… just drop me a line.
As for what’s next for me, I’m not exactly sure. I could help transform a traditional media company, such as Tribune Corp., Playboy or The New York Times. If an investment banker would like to buy the Sun-Times Media Group and hand me the keys, I have a plan to turn them around into a new media powerhouse. I’m interested in things that Google is doing, and Microsoft… maybe a venture capitalist needs someone to help a troubled startup meet some complex objective.
If you would like to stay in touch, please add me as a friend on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Thank you very much!
Kindly,
Josh
Founder and Publisher
The Printed Blog
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This will certainly not be the last we will hear of TPB. I imagine it will set the stage for conversations and planning in journalism schools around the world who thought they had already answered the question about the future of news on paper. A very bold endeavor. Congratulations, and I look forward to hearing about your next project.
[...] בכל זאת גרם לסגירה? יש הסבר של Josh המיסד והמו”ל. יש לו תובנות עסקיות ואישיות. אני חושבת [...]
[...] Karp, the founder of The Printed Blog, a Chicago start-up that we wrote about early this year, announced Wednesday that he would stop publishing the paper because he had run out of money and could not raise enough [...]
“16 issues, 80,000 print copies distributed, another 100,000 or so copies downloaded, and countless new friends, fans, and collaborators all around the world later, I may still be nuts, but I have zero regrets.”
Those are some really impressive figures for a crazy person.
It’s been great, I’m really glad that I knew about The Printed Blog from the very first issue. Good luck with whatever’s next!
[...] Karp, the founder of The Printed Blog, a Chicago start-up that we wrote about early this year, announced that he would stop publishing the paper because he had run out of money and could not raise enough [...]
[...] Chicago and other metropolitans — has folded due to a lack of outside investment, according to a blog post by the company’s owner and publisher Joshua [...]
josh plz call me. i am interested in funding a web/mobile concept and would like to discuss with you. you’ve got the equivelent of a harvard mba in start up and vc funding. best peter miller cell 312/437-7000
Well, if nothing else it was a helluva ride! I only wish I’d been closer to one of the epicenters instead of waiting (not so) patiently in the wings in Baltimore for our shot at sharing in the experience. I’m not an early riser, but I like to think I would have been out at the Light Rail, fresh TPB editions in hand for the morning commuters.
Every Thursday I’d hit the home page here & hammer the F5 key, hoping the new batch of TPB versions would appear. And when they did, I’d grab ALL of them even though the Chicago ones had the same content on the inside pages, I wanted to see all the different covers & not miss anything on the back pages either. And then, I’d make use of a nice, high-end commercial digital press at work to output them on some serious 100# Matte Text, and even managed an odd saddle-stitch binding. And, distribute a few copies to friends and co-workers!
Maybe it’s my background in the printing industry, and seeing things steadily going South, but the whole business is going through a massive upheaval and The Printed Blog was something fresh, cool and necessary to breathe a little life into a stagnant area of the profession.
My Thursdays will be a little less “fun” but I’ll follow you on Twitter & maybe this ambitious project will inspire others to be a little more daring, start something everybody says is foolish, and just try harder to bring something new to the world. Your whole team deserves congratulations, nobody every really knows what goes on behind the scenes but you obviously had a flawless group on your side. Thanks to all!
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would like to buy the Sun-Times Media 半自动打包机 Group and hand me the keys, I have a plan to turn打包机 them around into a new media powerhouse. I’m interested in things that Google is doing, and Microsoft