Printing a community newspaper comes down to five decisions: the format, the page count, the paper, how you prepare the files, and how the finished paper gets to readers. Get those right with your printer before you lay out the first issue and the rest is routine. Get them wrong and you find out on deadline that your 14-page issue can’t be printed or that your printer can only run color on some of your pages.
We started as the printing operation for Community Impact Newspaper, one of the largest hyperlocal news organizations in the country, and we print over 500,000 editions a week across 50+ publications a month. This guide is what we walk new publishers through: neighborhood papers, chamber and city publications, HOA and school papers, church and nonprofit newsletters, and specialty papers.
1. Choose your format: tabloid or broadsheet
Tabloid is a broadsheet folded in half. It’s the default for most community papers today:
- Easy to hold and read, with a magazine-style flow.
- Works well for full-page ads, which advertisers like.
- Mails efficiently and fits in a mailbox.
Broadsheet is the traditional full-size newspaper. It suits publications with a lot of content per page and readers who expect a classic newspaper feel.
If you’re mailing the paper to homes, tabloid is almost always the practical choice. Whichever you choose, build your pages to your printer’s spec sheet. Trim size, image area, and margins vary from press to press, and most newspaper formats don’t print all the way to the edge.
2. Plan the page count before you sell ads
This is where new publishers get caught. A web press doesn’t print single sheets. It prints from rolls and folds the paper into sections, so page counts come in fixed multiples set by the press. You might be able to run 8, 12, 16, or 24 pages, but not 10 or 14.
Ask about color at the same time. On many newspaper presses, color is only available on certain pages, set by how the press is configured, and publishers end up selling color ads around those positions. We can run full color on every page, so any page can carry a color ad or color photos.
Before you build an issue:
- Ask your printer for the page counts they can run and what each costs.
- Confirm which pages can carry color. With us, the answer is all of them.
- Sell ads to the plan, so every ad lands on a page that exists.
Your printer’s pagination plan is the most useful document you’ll get. Build every issue from it.
3. Choose your paper
Most newspapers are printed on newsprint: lightweight, uncoated, absorbent paper made for high-speed web presses. It’s economical, it’s what readers expect, and its light weight keeps mailing postage down.
Some publications upgrade to a brighter or heavier sheet for a special section or a more premium feel. Ask for samples. The upgrade changes both the look and the cost per copy, and if you mail, the weight affects postage too.
4. Prepare files for newsprint
Newsprint behaves differently from the coated paper used for brochures and magazines. It absorbs ink, and printed dots spread as they soak in. Files built for glossy paper often print dark and muddy on newsprint. Design for the paper you’re printing on:
- Respect the ink limit. Your printer will give you a maximum total ink coverage for newsprint. Heavy, rich blacks and dark photos built for coated stock exceed it and smear or set off.
- Open up your photos. Lighten midtones and shadows slightly so detail doesn’t fill in.
- Watch small reversed type. Thin or small white type knocked out of a color or black area can fill in. Keep reversed type bold and reasonably sized.
- Use the printer’s color profile and export press-ready PDFs to their specification.
- Check ad files too. Advertiser-supplied ads are the most common source of problems. A good prepress team preflights every page before it goes to plate.
5. Proof, print, and finish
Before plates are made, you’ll get a proof to approve. Check page order, ad placement, color pages, and anything that changed late. Approving the proof releases the job to platemaking and the press.
On press, the paper is printed and folded in one continuous pass. Depending on your publication, finishing can include trimming, stitching, inserting preprinted ads, folding down to a mailable size, and tabbing. Tabbing closes a piece that has been folded to letter size with tabs placed to USPS specifications, so a newsletter or self-mailer can qualify for automation letter prices, which are lower than flat prices. Tell your printer what you need when you get the quote, not on press day.
6. Deliver it: bundles or the mailbox
You have two basic choices for getting the paper to readers.
Bundled drop-off. Papers are counted, bundled, and delivered to racks, businesses, or your own carriers.
Mail to every home. Most free community papers are mailed as saturation mail: every address on the carrier routes you choose gets a copy, sorted in walk sequence, the order the carrier walks the route. That qualifies for the lowest USPS Marketing Mail rates. Paid or requested-circulation papers may qualify for Periodicals mail instead.
Where the mail enters the postal system matters as much as how it’s sorted. Mail entered at the delivery units that serve your readers costs less and reaches homes sooner than mail dropped at the Post Office next to the plant. We cover the numbers in our guide to destination entry and postage.
Because we print, finish, and mail under one roof and we’re a USPS Seamless Acceptance facility, your paper goes from press to mailstream without a handoff between vendors and without waiting at a BMEU to be accepted.
Getting a quote
To quote a newspaper accurately, a printer needs:
- Format (tabloid or broadsheet) and page count
- Color: full color throughout, or black and white on some pages
- Print quantity and frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
- Paper preference
- Finishing needs, such as inserts, stitching, or folding and tabbing for mail
- Distribution: bundles, mail, or both, and the areas you want to reach
Send us those details and we’ll come back with a quote and a pagination plan for your first issue.