11/08/2025
I’m so glad the — Black Rock City’s hottest new newspaper — read this article in our last issue in 2023:
How to publish your own playa newspaper in 16 easy steps
1. Get the word out that you’re making a newspaper and looking for interesting articles about Burning Man culture.
2. Get content. Find good writers. Write your own pieces. Find comics and infographics. Add photographs. Have a strong editorial point-of-view. Credit everyone.
3. Do an Out/In List. And Playa Lingo. Adriana said that it’s okay.
4. Edit everything. Mercilessly. Including your own. Everyone writes way too much. Listicles are good. No word salad.
5. Find a local printer who prints double-fold broadsheets on NEWSPRINT. Get the correct print specs for your layout.
6. Do layout in Adobe InDesign or similar desktop publishing software. It won’t be enough editorial room. You will p**s off at least one writer who gets cut for space.
7. Proofread. Proofread again. Get others to proofread. Don’t worry when you still find typos after everythng’s been printed.
8. Put it to bed! Generate a PDF and send it off to your printer. Crack open a beer.
9. Pay your printer $1000 or so for around 20,000 copies, give or take a bit.
10. Pick up the bundles of newspapers from your printer. Get some help, it’s gonna be a lot. Pack it up for the playa.
11. Get some bankers boxes. Print your newspaper’s masthead and tape it to all the boxes. Schlep it all to the playa.
12. Put 2 or 3 boxes of newspapers in Center Camp. Keep these filled every day.
13. Deliver newspapers around BRC. Make your campmates help deliver papers.
14. Find other distribution spots around BRC. If Black Rock Station is out in deep playa, make sure their old-school metal newspaper box at the train station is filled with newspapers. Bar camps with high-traffic and visibility are also good.
15. Retrieve all the newspaper boxes at the end of the week, from Center Camp and elsewhere. Leave no MOOP!
16. PRO TIP: Publish a photo of yourself in every single issue so maybe you can become “playa famous!” Also wonder if anyone even reads newspapers anymore. Repeat every year until you burnout.
