![]() What about your operation is your biggest source of pride right now? Although we are four people working this project, my journalists and editor do most of their work from their home or in the field. ![]() Second, you do not need a desk for every employee. I would avoid PayPal and use an established system that interfaces with your accounting software. First, the subscription process needs to be seamless and simple to your readers. What is something you wish you had known when you were starting out or would do differently now that could perhaps serve as advice for others? ![]() Many of our subscribers describe being addicted to Fiddlehead Focus. We also put news stories up within hours of a breaking event such as a fire, accident or crime. ![]() We create digital jigsaw puzzles for our readers using local images, maintain a community calendar, and we have French/English translations of all our content. Our site is unique in that we provide other perks besides news. By putting a price on our news stories, this reestablishes journalism as the "product" for readers instead of using our readers as the "product" we sell to marketing firms. I once thought it was the other newspaper down the road, but it is painfully clear that people are finding inaccurate and prejudiced information online that reinforces their own biases rather than the accurate and timely information that a trained journalist can provide. What do you consider your competition as a local news or information source? We are launching a T-shirt line in the next few weeks. Our income streams include subscriptions, long-term advertising sponsorships, week-to-week advertising, and we provide marketing services in the form of press release creation. We utilize a paywall, but all visitors to the website may see headlines and ledes, classified ads, and business advertising. We are a for-profit (occasionally) online news outlet. How would you describe your operation and business model? After a layoff at the local school, I dusted off the business plan and decided to give it a try. During that time, i wrote the business plan for Fiddlehead Focus. I soon had "ink in my blood" and advanced as far as I could over eight years as a journalist, earning several awards from the Maine Press Association. When we moved to Fort Kent, I was the primary caregiver for my kids, and I stumbled into reporting as a part-time job at the local paper. I grew up during the computer revolution, having taught myself programming as a preteen on an Apple II in the '70s and working in a variety of telecommunication positions over the years. My background is in technology, mathematics, public education, and quantum physics. What was your background before becoming an independent local news publisher? We also hosted the World Cup Biathlon a few times, the most popular sport in Europe that combines skiing with sharpshooting, and our communities host the Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races each year. But our fame is much more than a rural town where an uninfected nurse decided to take refuge. Additionally, the largest town here, with a whopping population of just over 4,000 people, is Fort Kent, which many LION members will recognize as the town where Kasey Hickox, the Ebola Nurse, moved following her incarceration in New Jersey. The local population is made up of mostly French Acadians, an ethnic population with strong family pride, a regional French/English dialect, and their own way of doing things. I created the news outlet because the local print newspaper was providing poor coverage and ignoring the online audience completely. John Valley at the northern tip of Maine, bordering New Brunswick and Quebec, Canada. When did your site launch, what geography does it cover and why was it founded?į launched in June of 2010 with one employee (me) and covered the Upper St. A Q&A with LION member Andrew Birden, publisher of Fiddlehead Focus in northern Maine.
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