Today marks the two year anniversary of the time I first pushed a blue button that read “publish” and sent The Raincross Gazette to less then a dozen subscribers. I marked our first anniversary with a few announcements including the launch of our new website, our shady away from “email only” news, and expanding our publishing schedule from just Tuesdays and Thursdays. After taking a break at the end of last year, we’re back with a handful of new announcements – and, hopefully, far fewer spelling and grammar mistakes!
Tuesdays and Thursdays are coming back.
From my earliest days as a communications student at RCC I have loved the rhythm of taking classes of Tuesdays and Thursdays. the single biggest feedback I’ve received since we we launched our website last February is that our readers miss receiving the news directly in their emails and the predictability of our publishing.
We will continue publishing new stories at our website as soon as they are ready, but we will be returning to emailing you every Tuesdays and Thursday at 6am so that you can know when you can expect to hear from us and the news you need will be right back in your inbox.
I will revaluate this after the first quarter of 2023 with the aim of moving the newsletter toward a daily publishing schedule as our coverages improves.
Advertisements are coming.
This is a big one for me. I have been grateful for the handful of sponsors who have supported us over our first two years and have gladly placed their names and logos in our emails, but we have never run advertisements. I have viewed this distinction as a major point of pride for The Raincross Gazette.
From the day we announced our launch, our website has always claimed “our subscriber funded business model doesn’t depend on mass click throughs, but reporting news that’s helpful enough for our subscribers to keep paying for it.” I still believe in this vision, but the fact is I have so far failed to publish content enough Riversiders believe worth paying for to make that business model sustainable. What we have done remarkably well is build a large audience of people who want to know what is happening in Riverside.
In the coming weeks The Raincross Gazette emails will each have a single spot for local businesses to advertise to our readers. If your business or organization is interested in advertising, contact us for more information.
I love hearing from our readers and would love to jump on a phone call or meet for a cup of coffee to hear your ideas about the future of The Raincross Gazette, if you are interested in connecting please just reach out to set something up.
Thank you all for an incredible two years of publishing. A community like ours deserves reliable local news; together we are brining that back to Riverside.
