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About
Howard Owens is a digital media pioneer. He started publishing local news online in 1995 when very few local news outlets had web sites. The header image on the site depicts the film camera he used early in his career and the press pass from his year on the staff of the Carlsbad Journal. For more on Howard's professional background, read his LinkedIn profile.
HowardOwens.com is the personal web site of Howard Owens and covers his range of interests -- political localism and libertarianism, music and personal interests, as well as his professional interests.
Howard is currently publisher of The Batavian and lives in Batavia, N.Y.
Howard on the Web
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- Anonymous on Chris Tolles brings some stats to the anonymous vs. registration debate
- Anonymous on Chris Tolles brings some stats to the anonymous vs. registration debate
- A Weekly Roundup of Small-Business News - NYTimes.com on Paywalls create opportunities for local news entrepreneurs
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Monthly Archives: August 2011
Consumers should have the option of buying drugs where they choose
My libertarian friends tend to believe the only kind of bigness that’s bad is big government. I’ve come to believe that all bigness is bad. Big companies are just as soul crushing and rights denying as big government. Consider big … Continue reading
Tagged bigness, localism
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The newspaper harvest is underway
Harvest market position. This is the “take-the-money-and-run” plan. Because newspaper customers are such creatures of habit, it could be quite seductive. It means raising prices, reducing quality, and taking as much money of the firm as possible. I know of … Continue reading
Tagged newspapers
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Migrating from Drupal to WordPress
Some years ago, I stopped blogging on howardowens.com for personal and professional reasons. With the site dormant, it became an easy target for script kiddies. I had a major problem with spam being injected into the site. I didn’t have … Continue reading
Tagged blogging, cms, drupal, wordpress
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Helping your online efforts
Pretty much weekly, somebody calls on me — either via e-mail or a phone call — to help them with some aspect of their online strategy.
It’s very flattering, of course.
But I also think I have some value to share. I’ve been in online publishing since 1995. I’ve been involved with and in charge of online news sites that have won national awards. I have an established track record for running sites that grow revenue. I currently run a local news site that is at the forefront of building sustainable online news businesses. I get quoted in local media coverage often. It’s not like I’m some hick in the sticks with a few screwball ideas. After all, you’re the one calling me, for a reason.
I’m not surprised when I get the calls.
About 3/4 of the calls at this stage are either from people who have started a local news site or are thinking about it. I’m happy to give them 20 minutes or so of my time at no charge to share a bit of what I’ve learned. I realize at this stage, they have no money to give to a consultant and I’m eager to see independent news sites succeed. I’ll do what I can to help.
However, about 1/4 of the calls are from legacy media companies.
Now, I’ve worked at legacy media companies. I know, even in these tough times, they’ve got money to spend and if the CEO decides a consultant is needed, $10K or $100K is nothing. Chump change. I’ve seen it happen time and again.
But when I ask for $100 for an hour of my time — click. Or my reply e-mail never gets answered.
Look, if you’re a legacy media company and you want my thoughts on how to build a better web site, attract more audience, have a better comment community, or, especially, help you make more money, and we both know I can help – why are you surprised that I would want to get paid for my advice?
Tagged consulting
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