The Forum published its municipal election print edition in March, its second print publication and a major milestone for the small-town New Hampshire publication that gets its content from volunteer contributors.
“This topic is one of the major reasons we wanted a newspaper,” said editor Maureen Mann.
With no regular local print edition offering coverage specific to the towns of Deerfield, Candia, Northwood and Nottingham, The Forum was the sole source for comprehensive coverage of town elections.
“We got a lot of positive response — from readers, town officials, and candidates – and circulation jumped about 400 unique hits compared to previous weeks as we were able to get results posted overnight, even faster than the town websites,” Mann said. “Deerfield town offices even referred callers to our site.”
Unique hits have regularly been over 1,000 per week since the elections.
A third print edition is planned for June. “They usually give us a boost [in web traffic],” Mann said. The forum is also trying to find a way to determine how many people in the Forum’s coverage area have computers to read its online edition.
As the publication settles into a routine, its staff has found one strategy to be most successful in soliciting citizen submissions: “harassment,” said Mann. “If someone mentions almost any topic, we ask them to write an article about it.”
As a result, more citizens have submitted content to the site. Still, most of the content is provided by a core group of dedicated volunteers, Mann. Members of municipal boards and local organizations make up some of the new contributors, submitting notices and press releases and writing articles on local issues. Mann said the site has also been receiving more submissions of photography, poetry and short fiction.
The Forum has also added several regular columns, including “Looking Up!,” a monthly astronomy column written by Mal Cameron, a Deerfield resident who is the education specialist for the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord, N.H., Candia resident Kathleen Weber is writing a craft column. A long series on letters and diaries written by a current resident’s grandparent during the Civil War is also planned.
To help offset the cost of publishing, The Forum hired an advertising representative who is paid on commission and began actively seeking advertisements in October. As of Jan. 31, The Forum had raised $3,764 through advertising.
The Forum is raising funds in other ways, as well:
- The Deerfield Fair Association donated $2,500 to The Forum in response to its coverage of the 2005 Deerfield Fair.
- The University System of New Hampshire sponsored The Forum, giving the organization $100 and access to articles through the UNH Cooperative Extension, which provides research-based education and information.
- Member dues totaled $350.
- Unsolicited donors gave a total of $40.
