We’ve put a lot of work into crafting your hometown newspaper. Behind the scenes, this is a lot of work that our team of news, design and sales experts do week in and week out.

From time to time, we get notes from our readers. We’ve received thank you notes for doing what we do.

And we get some constructive and not-so-constructive criticism. Last week, a reader called to tell me everything she doesn’t like about the newspaper. My column was included on that list. I don’t take it personally. It’s not for everyone. Maybe I should stop writing it. We don’t have as many family adventures to write about now that our nest is, for the most part, empty. I can’t embarrass my kids like I used to, with unbelievable tales from family outings. I can only drag my beautiful bride into this so much before she turns on me. And maybe I don’t get out and about as much as the 49-year-old me did. I work longer hours now than I ever have in my life, which leaves less time for play.

I think from time to time, it’s necessary to step back and take a look at what we’re doing. Our only goal is to publish the best hometown newspaper we can, week in and week out. A lot of newspapers have published their own obituaries in recent years. We’re planning to live a long, prosperous life.

Our subscribers and our readers are our lifeblood. We’re a reasonably-priced paper. A new subscription starts at just $30. We need to keep growing to support our growth. It’s so far so good on that front! You, our readers, have made us the fastest-growing newspapers in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.

So, what do you think? You’ve taken the step to get to know your community through our newspaper. Are we doing a good job? Can we do better? What do you like? What do we need to do better at?

If you have the opportunity, jot down your thoughts and send me an email. Give me a call if you’d rather. Heck, you can even send me a fax! I’ll even accept a text message if it’s in complete sentences. I’ll even go first: One area I know we need to improve is on our websites. We built them intentionally as a tool for people to be able to subscribe to our newspapers. Some people think they should be able to click that way and see the news – like for free. A lot of newspapers did that for a lot of years, and many of them no longer exist. We need you to buy our newspaper for us to survive. That being said, we are in the planning stages to work to take our websites to the next level. Stay tuned!

What are your thoughts? I look forward to hearing from you!