Old Mission Gazette is Ten Years Old – How You Can Help Support It

Hello, Dear Readers!

This year marks ten years since I’ve been publishing Old Mission Gazette. My first post way back in May of 2015 was a photo of the barn where my horse Copper lived when I was a kid. That barn is still in use on my family’s farm, Johnson Farms, just north of Mapleton. The farm and barn where I grew up is one of my favorite subjects here on the Gazette.

From time to time, I like to give you a little behind-the-scenes look at how the Gazette operates. This is one of those posts.

I started publishing the Gazette in 2015 after decades of writing for other publications like the New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and hundreds of other newspapers and magazines. Around that time, the publishing industry was starting to change. It was getting tougher to make a living as a freelance writer, and the pay rates were starting to plummet, as well.

Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of publishing a newspaper on the Old Mission Peninsula. In fact, I “published” my first OMP newspaper when I was about eight years old. As soon as I could write, I was creating little newspapers with columns “written” by the Johnson family dogs and cats and horses.

In 2015, the time seemed right to do it for real. So, I built a Gazette website and started writing. But I still had a mortgage and bills to pay (I still have a mortgage, and with my May payment, I’m officially into the $185,000 range that I still owe — woohoo — making progress!). I had to figure out how to make money off this newspaper.

I came from an industry where most of the revenue of the publications I wrote for was generated by advertisers, so I initially went that route with the Gazette. However, ad space is limited with a digital publication, and no one — including me — wants to deal with annoying pop-up ads you have to click to get rid of. That’s how many websites make money through Google ads and other platforms. I promise to never do that to you.

I do have a few advertisers, some of whom have been with me since the beginning. Thank you, Ted Schweitzer, for believing in me and meeting me that day at Bad Dog Deli nearly ten years ago and saying, “I want to be part of this.” I will never forget that day!

Other advertisers followed, but with limited ad space, it was tough paying the bills with advertising revenue only.

I was describing all of this to an OMP friend one day back then, and she said, “Would you take donations from readers?” I had to think about that for about a year before I finally made the leap and set up a donation page. Wildly enough, donations starting coming in. Hmm, I thought. Maybe this could work. Readers would pay me to write about my beloved homeland? Ok, let’s give it a whirl.

It was an “If you build it, they will come” situation.

Now, ten years later, reader donations are my main source of income here on the Gazette. Near the top of each story and in every weekly email newsletter, you’ll see a little note that says, “Old Mission Gazette is Reader Supported. Click Here to Keep the Gazette Going.”

That link takes you to a donation page where you can donate however much you’d like to help fund this newspaper that provides local news to OMP residents. Old Mission Gazette is my full-time job. I don’t have other income to keep the mortgage paid and keep things rolling along over here on Bluff Road. I don’t have any big corporate sponsors.

So, if you love reading the Gazette, this is my long-winded way of saying that after ten years, I hope you’ll help to keep it going by making a donation. Without your support, the Gazette goes away.

You can find all the info about ways to donate here, including by credit card, PayPal, Venmo and paper checks. I’ve also included the donation form at the bottom of this story.

• Venmo: Send donations to @oldmissiongazette.
• PayPal: Send donations here.
• Checks: Make checks payable to “Old Mission Gazette” and mail to Old Mission Gazette, P.O. Box 14, Old Mission, MI 49673.
• Subscriptions: If you set up an ongoing subscription on the donation page or through the PayPal Link, that really helps me to gauge how much will be coming in from month to month.

A few more things…

Seeking Sponsors: If you know of any family foundations who might be willing to sponsor or help fund the Gazette, please send them my way. They can call or text me, (231) 590-4715, or email me, [email protected].

Advertising: If you have a business, I can usually fit you in as an advertiser somewhere. View my Media Kit here, which includes all of my stats, info and advertising options.

Sponsored Posts: Because not everyone wants to run a long-term ad, I recently created an option for “Sponsored Posts.” These are one-off stories about your business, and I’m happy to also include a display ad for one month along with the story. The cost for these is $300, and again, you can read more about that on the Media Kit, or feel free to call or email me. See examples here, here and here.

OMP Store: And then there’s the OMP Store. I set up this online store a few years after starting the Gazette, because it seemed like a no-brainer to sell OMP products to OMP’ers and generate some revenue that way. As with everything, though, I never seem to have enough time to really work on the store, add new items, and do fun things with it. However, I do have M37 and OMP tees, hats, stickers, coloring books and other stuff, so if you’re inclined, hop over there and order something. Note that items are created and shipped from elsewhere, so I don’t have things stashed here at the house; they need to be ordered from the store.

Photos: I’ve had lots of folks ask if my photos are for sale. I’m working on that. I think wrapped canvas is the way to go with those — easiest for me and for you. You can order it from the store, and when it arrives at your house, all you have to do is hang it on your wall. I’ll start with an aerial shot of the OMP that I took when I flew over the Peninsula with my brother Ward — that’s the photo at the top of this story. I’ll keep you posted as that photo and others become available in the store.

As always, thank you to everyone for your support now and over the years — both emotional and financial support. Even though I’m connected to a lot of writer-pals around the globe, there’s not a lot of people doing what I’m doing. Community newspapers like Old Mission Gazette are kind of an endangered species these days, so I really appreciate when you see me out and about and let me yammer on about what it’s like to publish one.

Old Mission Gazette isn’t just my newspaper, it’s also yours. The OMP community has gotten me through some very tough times over the years, and I hope you know how much I appreciate and love all of you.

– Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette

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