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Free lessons for making more money.

Attention student media: Are your sales up year over year? Is your ad revenue enough to sustain and grow your operations? Do you feel like your organization is innovating enough to keep up with the times? If so, stop reading. This isn’t for you.

Paper Money is a free program that matches your organization with a proven sales professional for personal (and in-person!) solutions. First, you consult virtually to define your concerns. Then, a Paper Money pro visits your campus, training you and your staff over 1-2 days.

Will It Work?

It did for The Alestle at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where the paper saw “an increase of about 26 percent in sales,” according to program director Tammy Merrett. “We also had more commitments on the books for the spring by the end of the fall semester than we usually do. Of our clients this past semester, 27 percent were new.”

Likewise, The Daily at the University of Washington saw huge gains. “This was a fantastic and helpful experience for us,” publisher Diana Kramer says. “Even the basketball Game Dailies are solid. Last year’s total sales were a whopping $880. This year we set a goal of $12,000. We’re already at $12,520 – and are continuing to sell.”

What's The Catch?

There is none. But there are rules…

  • You must fill out the entire form below to qualify.
  • You must be a college media news outlet at a public or private university or community college within the United States.
  • Winners will be chosen by a panel of three: a representative from Flytedesk, SPJ, and a Paper Money Pro.
  • The deciding factors: Your desperate need to sell more, your solid commitment to learning how, and the cooperation of, or at least ambivalence from, your editorial department. (If your editorial department is hostile to sales, this won’t work.)
  • Within a week of the site visit, you write us an honest report of how the training went (so we can do better). By the end of the semester, you owe us another report with specific sales figures that show any or no change (again, so we can get better).
  •  If Paper Money works for your newspaper, you agree to provide us a glowing testimonial with a photo of your awesome self. That’s so we can use your kind words and smiling face to apply for more grants, so we can do more onsite training.

Why Do This?

It's time to buck the status quo. The Society of Professional Journalists, the nation’s largest and oldest journalism membership organization, has funded this one-year program because it realizes there’s no future for journalism if there’s no revenue for news outlets.  Meanwhile, Flytedesk knows that with proper education and the right products and tools, student media is the best place on campus to reach college students. When more organizations have better products, the entire ecosystem is more attractive. Together, SPJ and Flytedesk are planning for Paper Money to lead to a permanent program for a sustainable press, something that all media outlets can benefit from. Questions? Comments? We want to hear from you.

Paper Money Application -
Due June 25th at 11:59:59pm EST

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First Name
Job Title
Email Address
School Name
Publication Name
How Bad Is It?
Where Does It Hurt?
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