Printcasting - Printcasting's Blog - Bakersfield.com

Printcasting paid ads launch along with revenue sharing

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:56:38 PDT

Hi! This is Dan Pacheco, the founder of Printcasting.com. I'm posting here while Tom is out of town, but going forward I will also be posting more things here (along with Tom) when we have cool new things to talk about from Printcastingland. And this week, we do!

But before I get into that, we have a new, free Printcasting e-mail newsletter for Printcasting news. We'll use it to talk about new features, highlight cool Printcasts people have created, provide tips and tricks, and more. If that sounds like something you're interested in, we welcome your subscription.

With that out of the way, we have a couple of big announcements ....

First, Printcasting ads are now paid.

Why should you care? Because you as a publisher can keep most of the ad revenue!

Up until now, ads in Printcasts have been free. But what good does that do you as a publisher or writer? There are real costs associated with creating and distributing content, and that's where our new paid ads feature can help.

As of this week, all ads placed on Printcasting.com cost $10, and publishers have the ability to mark up the cost of ads for their Printcasts. But even more exciting: 60 cents of every dollar in an ad will go right back to publishers, with the other 30 percent set aside to share with content contributors on a regular basis.

We're happy to send 90 percent of ad revenue back to Printcasting network participants because we know that you are the ones who will make Printcasting a success. Ad revenue will help you cover your printing and marketing costs, and hopefully eventually make you a nice profit.

So what do you need to do to get paid? Only two simple things:

1. Provide us with a filled-out W-9 (sorry, the taxman requires that), and ...
2. Put your Paypal e-mail address into your user profile.

That's it! Of course, you also need to get the word out to local businesses about your publication so they can advertise in it. We have some tools that help you do that, too. You can read more about how Printcasting advertising and revenue sharing works on the official Printcasting.com blog.

And Second ... Printcasting Goes National

You may or may not know this, but Printcasting is run out of The Bakersfield Californian, but is primarily funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. We received a grant to develop and test Printcasting in Bakersfield. When it was ready, the idea was always to make it available in other cities through strategic partnerships. From the beginning we were approached by newspapers, and other types of organizations, from around the world that wanted to know if they could use Printcasting in their cities of operation.

We're thrilled to announce our first partner: MediaNews Group -- one of the largest U.S. newspaper publishers. It has 54 daily newspapers in 11 states, including The Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News. MediaNews Group will be using Printcasting to create targeted niche publications in Denver, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. You can read more about our partnership here.

So what does that mean for Printcasters in Bakersfield? It doesn't change much for them at all, except they may be able to use content from marquee media brands like The Denver Post. Of course, you can already use all of the content from The Bakersfield Californian, which is more local. But what if you're a gardener and need more content for a gardening magazine you create? The more topical content our media partners provide, the better for you. And we also hope that bloggers in those towns register their content.

The other thing you will notice is that the Printcasting.com home page has a new addition: Find Printcasting Near You. If you type in a Bakersfield ZIP code or browse to the Bakersfield page, you'll see a page that features only Bakersfield Printcasts. If you click the "make this city my home" link at the top, the Bakersfield page will be what you go to first whenever you log in. Soon, the directory and feed finder will also bubble up local content first -- while still letting you choose content from outside of Bakersfield.

So those are our updates for now. As always, please let us know if you have any questions, suggestions or other feedback about Printcasting.

- Dan Pacheco, Founder of Printcasting.com

Help Files on Printcasting

Mon, 04 May 2009 08:35:14 PDT

Printcasting: People-Powered Magazines

www.Printcasting.com

Hi Printcasters,

This week I'm switching up the focus to talk specifically about where the Printcasting experience goes awry. A lot of you may have tried Printcasting in the past and got somewhere halfway through the product when suddenly you reached a roadblock, a dead end, or a fork in the road with no clear markings. This week I want to find all of those points where first time users may get bogged down and put up roadsigns.

If you're publishing your own magazine now or once tried to and couldn't quite make it to the end, now is the time to jump in and let me know where you got stuck or where you had to catch your breath and take a leap into the unknown. As some of my teachers used to say, "You're probably not the only one who has that question" and by asking the question and adding the help, you can not only help yourself, but help all those who come after you.

Thanks and hope to hear from you.

Tom Webster

-Printcasting Team

Printcasting At Home and Around The World

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:27:05 PDT

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to pop in and say hi and see what's happening in the b.com world and answer any questions you may have about Printcasting. We've got some great printcasts coming out soon from some really cool organizations. One of my favorite bits about Printcasting is that you can browse other magazines that have been created and subscribe to them online. All without having to talk to Judy the Time-Life operator.

We've got some great local content on there and some people are creating their own custom magazines just for themselves based on the feeds already available.

While I'm pounding the pavement here, Dan Pacheco is going on a world tour starting in May to talk about Printcasting on 3 continents. One of the best parts of Printcasting is that while the end product is hyperlocal, the system itself is already being tested and used around the world. And all of this coming from a corner of a basement right here in Downtown Bakersfield. :)

Anyway, for those of you already Printcasting or those on the edge of the pool, drop a comment below and let me know what you're doing, if you're having any problems and what you see as the future of Printcasting.

-Tom Webster

www.printcasting.com

Custom Headers Are Now Live!

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:10:19 PDT

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share a few new things that have just rolled out or on their way to roll out on Printcasting. The big one that everyone has been clamoring for is the custom masthead. For those of you who played with the ad tool, now you can do the same on the Printcast. Even better, those custom graphics even show up in the Printcasting widget, so you've got a consistent look for your magazine no matter how you put it out there.

We also have a ton of new content available on Printcasting now, from Julie Jordon Scott to the Kern County Library and a number of our b.com bloggers (who of course have the best content). As always, much of the Californian content is available as well so if you want to browse, jump right in.

In the coming weeks and months, we're going to be rolling out our commerce package which means our Printcasting contributors and publishers can start getting paid. Right now, the revenue sharing is going to be 60/30/10 with 60 percent going to the publishers, 30 percent divvied up among the writers whose articles appeared in a Printcast and 10 percent to feed the hamsters whose tireless work on the wheel keeps the generators going and the lights and servers on.

In the meantime, Printcasting will continue to be a "free for all" and I'd like to thank everyone who has jumped in and made Printcasting one of their new homes on the web.

Printcasting Feeds Help

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:47:32 PDT

Just as a quick note, there's a line through the blog about halfway down. That's where the actual helpful stuff starts if you don't want to take the meandering path at the top.

Hi Folks,

Wanted to give a quick update on Printcasting and also add an FAQ on RSS feeds. Printcasting itself is rolling right along and we've got a few neat tools that are coming online in the next couple of days. We also have a ton of new contributors from the blog right here, from a few other notable bloggers and even the first of a number of feeds coming from the Kern County Library. We're doing outreach to churches and schools right now and I'll be be back at this time next week with a few stories on how that goes.

In the meantime, one of the big challenges I'm seeing over and over is from people who have a blog somewhere other than Bakersfield.com. Why they do that, I'm not really sure. All I know is that sometimes I have to leave b.com and go out and deal with the rabble so here's a bit of help for those folks who are using Blogger.com to host their blogs.

Many people who use blogger set their RSS feeds to "summary" which means that when someones RSS reader picks it up, they only get the first paragraph or so without clicking to the originating site. Some people believe that this increases traffic to their site, though people disagree (and because it's the internet, they disagree quite vehemently and colorfully). I won't try to solve that argument right now because we want to get to the helpful part. For those people who set their feed to summary based on the lug-headed notion that it drives traffic to their site, here's how to fix the problem and get your Blogger blog ready for Printcasting:

________________________________________

How do I change my Blogger RSS feed from summary to full?

First: go to http://www.blogger.com/home and log in.

Once there you'll be looking at the "dashboard". Under the title of your blog is a link for "settings". Click that and then you'll be in the "Settings" tab and the "Basic" category. Five to the right of "Basic" is "Site Feed". Click there and your first option is "Allow Blog Feeds" with a little drop down menu. Click that and pull down to "Full". Remember to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click the big, orange "SAVE SETTINGS" button and you should be done.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know below or email me at tom@printcasting.com

--Tom Webster

Printcasting Team

Local Media for Social Change Conference

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:33:02 PDT

Hi Everyone,

As we do more outreach, sometimes I get the chance to travel to some really cool events and meet cool people I might never have had the chance to meet otherwise. Last Saturday was on of those days when I went to the "Local Media for Social Change".

The take away messages from the conference were that the local media all relies on local newspapers and that there is no way that a local paper can be all things to all people. While this conference was targeted towards people on the political left, there were lessons for everyone no matter where you stand politically or socially or on any other metric we use to to divvy ourselves up into us and them.

Joe Biden recently made a joke that newspapers were still relevant because "[Y]ou can't housebreak a puppy on the Internet." Compare that to Dominique DiPrima who hosts a radio talk show on KJLH in Los Angeles who said at the conference:

I work in radio, I've worked in production and in TV. When we needed to know what was going on, what was the first thing we did? We checked the paper.

As strong as the love was for our local papers, lots of communities feel underserved by them. They feel like ADA issues or on indigenous people's issues or bike riding aren't covered the way they could be. This is the gap that Printcasting bridges.

If you or you and 3 friends really enjoy fly fishing or are interested in green construction for farms or local food sourcing or issues facing heath care workers or teaching, you can put together a magazine and email or *gasp* print it and send it to friends, families, or a whole subscriber base.

People who came to this conference were a special breed. They were content creators or looking for ways to get a bigger megaphone for the work they were doing. They saw Printcasting and they got it. They were quickly working through how Printcasting could work, how it could link micro-communities or be used for large organizations with local and regional chapters.

If you haven't tried Printcasting yet or know of an event where we should be, drop a comment below or email me at tom@printcasting.com.

If you've tried it and are having any issues, let me know and I'll walk through it with you.

Printcasting demo on Sunday at Dagny's!

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:14:26 PDT

Wow. Another week gone and printcasting is rolling. I've met with public officials and the public library, bloggers, vloggers, and even a jogger. We're definitely off the ground and flying. If you haven't jumped in yet and would like to get together to walk through it, I'll be at Dagny's from noon to 2 on Sunday for a demo or two. There will be schwag aplenty as well so come down to hang out with your fellow bloggers and pick up a pen.

There's a lot of news to relay as well. Dan Pacheco, the founder of Printcasting, maintains a few blogs about printcasting on the PBS MediaShift Idea Lab site and on the Ning community dedicated to Printcasting. One of our big announcements for this week is blogger ID badges. This is a link from your blog that has a super-spiffy personalized image and a link to your Printcast. More than that, b.com bloggers can add them to their blog. If you've got a Printcast, let me know and we'll do a bunch of really intricate, super, um, codey-wodey stuff to make your badge appear on your blog.

If you tried Printcasting before and had any issues, this is the place to post them. We've solved a lot of technical issues that were brought to our attention at the beginning of the open beta so if the water was too cold before, it may be just right now.

As always, the floor is open so feel free to ask questions and give feedback on your experiences.

--Tom Webster

First Week in Open Beta

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:59:52 PDT

www.printcasting.com

Hi Everyone,

First of all, let me just say "THANK YOU!" to those of you who saw the post last week and decided to jump in with both feet and an armful of great ideas. The team is working around the clock to get your ideas into the system and work out any issues you've helped us discover. The difference between practice and theory is a lot greater in practice than it is in theory and your dedication to the success of this project is helping us to bridge that gap.

We've had a huge week of new software rollout and upgrades based on your feedback and you can read about many of them here: printcasting.ning.com

We've also made a big splash in the news this week. BusinessWeek did a wonderful write up of the project and the project is buzzing on Twitter. You can join our growing Facebook fan page and connect with other printcasters as well.

For those of you who were waiting, now is the time to jump in. Register your blog from the Californian to get started and then create a Printcast to publish it. We are still in beta and we're building the plane while we're flying it, but your input now will help set the direction for the technology and help create a finished product that is tailored directly to your needs.

Thanks again and the floor is open for comments and questions, rants and raves.

-Tom Webster, Printcasting Team

Join now: http://beta.printcasting.com/

Welcome to Printcasting!

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:06:21 PST

Hi everyone and welcome to the first in a series of blogs about Printcasting. In the coming weeks and months, I'll be posting here with news, tutorials and answers to frequently asked questions about Printcasting. In the meantime, here's a primer for you and some links to the site and sample pages.

Last year, The Californian was honored with a grant from the Knight News Challenge to build Printcasting, a new idea for local news that allows anyone to quickly and easily create professional-looking printable magazines. Now Printcasting is up and running in "beta" test mode, and we're hoping you'll take a few minutes to try it out and let us know what you think.

Just go to beta.printcasting.com and click on Create Your Magazine to get started. From there, you just choose a topic for your magazine, pick and design and select from available articles (we've seeded Printcasting with Californian content, with more to come from community bloggers and groups).

Then, just wait for a minute or so and Printcasting will create a magazine for you. For an example, see beta.printcasting.com/publisher/micro/12

Any feedback you have -- positive or otherwise -- would be much appreciated. In fact, telling us about things that are confusing or otherwise don't work is what we need most right now to improve Printcasting, so don't be shy! Send your comments to printcasting@printcasting.com. There might even be a free mousepad or notebook in it for you!

Congratulations to Dan Pacheco and Ron Robinson of our New Products team for bringing Printcasting to life! There's still lots of work to do to fulfill the complete vision for Printcasting, but we are off to a good start and grateful to everyone in the company for supporting this new idea.