Journalist Guide
Everything you need to know about publishing content on My Local Press and reaching your community.
Getting Started
My Local Press makes it easy to start publishing local news and community content. Whether you're a seasoned journalist or a community member with stories to tell, you can start sharing in minutes.
- Create an account and verify your identity
- Set up your profile with your Primary Contributing Location
- Start creating content - stories, classifieds, or podcasts
- Publish to your community and start building your audience
Understanding Location
Location is at the heart of My Local Press. Your content appears in feeds based on location, helping you reach readers in specific communities. Here's how it works:
Your Primary Contributing Location
This is your "home base" - the community you primarily cover. Set this in your profile settings.
- •Pick your community's hub: Choose a central point like the town center or city hall. Use the map picker to drop a pin on the exact location.
- •Why it matters: If you live 20 miles outside a small town but cover that community, setting your Primary Location to the town center ensures your content appears in that town's feed - even if you're writing from home.
- •Travel flexibility: When you're traveling, you can choose to publish content to your Primary Location instead of your GPS location, so your stories still reach your regular readers.
- •Change limit: Your Primary Location can only be changed once per month. This helps maintain authentic community coverage and prevents misuse.
GPS Location (Where You Are)
When you create content, we capture your current GPS location. This becomes the content's default location for appearing in local feeds.
- •Location-aware stories: If you're covering an event downtown, your GPS location helps your story appear in feeds for that area.
- •Privacy protected: Your exact coordinates are never stored or shown publicly. Readers only see city-level location information.
Choosing Where Your Content Appears
When publishing, you can choose which location to use:
- •Current Location: Use your GPS location if you're writing about where you physically are (covering a local event, reporting from the scene).
- •Primary Location: Use your home community if you're writing for your regular audience while traveling or working remotely.
Pro Tips
- • Set your Primary Location to the town center, not your home address
- • Readers within a certain radius will see your content in their local feed
- • The more precisely you set your community location, the better you'll reach your target audience
Following vs. Location Discovery
Your followers always see all your content regardless of location. Location only affects how readers discover your content when searching their local area. If someone follows you or your publication, they'll see everything you publish in their Following feed.
Publishing Content
You can publish several types of content on My Local Press:
Stories
News articles, features, opinion pieces, and community updates. Add photos and videos to bring your stories to life.
Classifieds
Local listings for jobs, items for sale, services, and community announcements.
Podcasts
Audio content for in-depth discussions, interviews, and local commentary.
Building Your Audience
Grow your readership by consistently providing value to your community:
- Be consistent — Regular publishing builds trust and keeps readers coming back
- Cover what matters — Focus on stories that affect your community directly
- Engage with readers — Respond to comments and build relationships
- Create a publication — Group your content under a publication name to build brand recognition
Earning Money
Unlike traditional media where you need a massive audience before you can monetize, My Local Press lets you earn from day one.
Revenue Split
90% of all support payments and advertising revenue goes directly to you. My Local Press keeps only 10% to cover platform operations.
Questions? Contact us at hi@mylocalpress.com