Dear Gilchrist County (and residents of other counties who have supported my venture),
Thank you for your support in 2023.
I wrote in the first edition about how I was floored by the amount of support I had received before even publishing the first paper.
Twenty editions later, your support continues to blow me away.
In the past four and a half months, 304 people have bought paper subscriptions as well as 66 who have bought digital subscriptions.
I cannot properly express how thankful I am for all of you.
The paper is continuing to grow, and it is slowly reaching the 10 percent threshold it needs in order for me to fulfill our local governments’ requirement for posting legal notices.
This is a win-win-win for me as the owner of the newspaper, as it provides me with a steady stream of revenue to pay for the paper; for you as the reader, as it will make it easier to keep up with the important items that are voted on by our local governments and affect your daily life; and for the local governments, which will be able to send their legal notices to a paper that is based in Gilchrist County.
If you know someone who has not purchased a subscription, please let them know the benefits of subscribing to the paper (or you could buy them a subscription as a late Christmas gift!).
I also want to specifically thank Mr. John and Mrs. Cindy Jo Ayers. Allowing me to work for them at the Journal while I was in college has made this transition as easy as possible. Because of them, I didn’t have to learn how to format a paper or spend a ton of time looking for a printer (Florida Sun Press is amazing, and they have been the nicest people to work with. I am incredibly thankful for them). I knew all of the newspaper stuff I needed to get started, and I would not have been able to do this without them.
I do have one favor to ask.
In order to make it to this point next year, I need advertisements.
Ads are how any news or media company, whether it be television or print, makes money.
Thank you to my three weekly advertisers, Gilchrist Building Supply, Joy Powell, and my mom with Cuttin’ Up, who has gone above and beyond the cost of her ad to help pay for the paper. They have been a great help in this first few months, but I need more.
I also want to thank everyone else who has advertised at any point. You have certainly helped in a big way.
It is over $800 per week for me to print and mail the paper right now. Adding pages to the paper will only increase that number. There have only been a few weeks in which I have brought in that much money.
Spending more than you make is to be expected when starting a business, but I do not have an endless reserve of capital to fund the paper for another year without turning a profit.
I taught for the first five years after I graduated from the University of Florida, and teaching is not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme.
If you own a business or are running for political office, I am asking you to please consider advertising in the Herald.
I am striving to bring you the same coverage that Mr. John and Mrs. Cindy Jo provided with the Journal.
In order to do that, I need to be able to buy a building and hire staff, and I am sure you know how expensive that can be.
If you pay for at least nine months’ worth of ads up front, I will take 20 percent off the price of those ads, no matter the size.
If you do not want to pay for a year, we can do a weekly, monthly or quarterly payment plan, and you can end your run any time.
Thank you again for all of your support so far.
Thank you to everyone who will help in the future so I can live up to your expectations now and in the years to come.
Matthew Harrell