News Guru by Kevin Slimp

Kevin Slimp has been a popular speaker and consultant in the newspaper industry since developing the PDF remote printing method in the mid 1990s. He can be reached at kevin@kevinslimp.com

Is it finally time to make the switch from Adobe InDesign to Affinity Publisher?

I’m not suggesting that everyone go out and replace InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, but Affinity Publisher might be the right tool for some of my readers.

How to use (and not use) AI

Newspaper publishers share their feelings about artificial intelligence

What you want to know

My inbox and physical mailbox stay full with requests from readers

Artificial intelligence: It's crucial to make a plan before you jump in too deep

Recently, I’ve heard from a lot of folks asking for advice related to artificial intelligence.

Pick it up or put it down?

The area above the fold determines which choice potential readers will make

Where did my email go? Kevin lists effective ways to help make sure people get your messages

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about lists in my recent columns, so I will strike while the iron's hot. This month's list is Kevin's Five Ways to Keep Your Emails From Ending Up in Someone's Spam ...

Know when to use more of something and when to use less

After completing my work with the staff in Florida, it dawned on me that much of what I recommended in Wyoming and Florida came down to knowing when to use less of some things and more of others.

Headlines from the past remind me that 2024 could be a great year

I’ve made a career out of making good bets on the newspaper business. More times than not, my bets were not popular among “experts,” but I somehow kept picking the right team.

As 2023 ends and 2024 begins, Kevin puts on his coaching cap

Kevin’s Top 10 Tips for 2024

New tools in Photoshop elicit warning

I would never suggest it’s OK to use AI to generate or change images used in stories or other types of news content. But there are times when Photoshop’s generative AI will be useful when designing ...

MAKING MORE SPACE — Simple changes invite readers to pick up your paper

I’m thrilled to show the publisher, editors and others on staff the issue with bigger headlines, bigger photos and easier-to-read text. For a moment, I feel like a magician. Unlike any magician ...

Kevin shares ideas to prevent font and photo errors — fixing problems before they appear on the page

Kari’s email caused me to think of other problems that show up on the printed page but not always on the screen in the design process. ... The other most common issue I experience with newspaper ...

Sharing the good news: Everywhere I turn, I see healthy, growing newspapers

Having finished several major redesign projects in June, I’ve recently traveled to speak at several newspaper conventions and visit some newspapers on-site.

How to improve your newspaper

Story ideas came from the groups. Methods of interacting with subscribers were discussed. Before the 30 minutes ended, the group began planning a billboard campaign.

You think I’d have learned this advertising lesson long ago

After so many years leading webinars, you would think I’d know just about all there is to know about the webinar business. It wasn’t until three or four years ago I noticed a significant trend.

Questions posed by New York publishers; Small changes can make a big difference in how readers see your paper

I often found myself involved in conversations with publishers and others who came by my room immediately after a session or approached me during a “meet and greet” to ask for my advice.

Taking control of your time; Kevin shares tools that increase his productivity

Time is my most important commodity. I make a great effort to get the most out of my time. Maybe I can’t control a website host in Eastern Europe or an email server across the country, but there ...

The secret to growing papers is giving the readers what they want

This particular focus group was a little different than most. The paper had gathered 15 seniors — the minimum age requirement was 60 — to spend three hours discussing recent issues of the newspaper ...