I started writing for newspapers over thirty years ago, and my byline was Nick Litchfield. Dozens of articles and thousands of copies landed on doorsteps nationwide. I kept at it for years, and the way newspapers were syndicated, articles were fed into different sister papers across neighboring towns and counties. Some were weeklies, some dailies. They were tabloids, they were free, and the circulation was impressive.
But did I keep a copy of the editions where my articles appeared? Ah, I don’t think I really did. And what I stored in the attic managed to find a terrific hiding place.
Who keeps physical newspapers anyway? I doubt even newspaper offices house back copies or maintain filing cabinets anymore. What made it onto their microfiche readers? Everything or nothing at all? What happened to the microfiche reader, for that matter?
Why even mention old articles? It’s all old news.
Twelve years ago, my novel Swampjack Virus appeared in many newspapers across Britain. I held a copy of the Lancashire Evening Post in my hand and saw newspaper ink on my fingers.
Disappointingly, some of those presses have since disappeared. The Chorley Guardian is permanently closed, and while others remain, they have shrunk, they have merged, and their websites no longer exist. Bridlington Free Press, Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, Fleetwood Weekly News, The Garstang Courier, Leigh Observer, Leyland Guardian, Longridge and Ribble Valley News and Advertiser, Lytham St. Annes Express, and The Visitor have no website. Pendle Today (the website for Barnoldswick & Earby Times, Coln Times, and Nelson Leader) is also long gone. The archives, with all those old news stories, have gone, too.
My new novel, When The Actor Inspired Chaos and Bloodshed, hit the news cycle this week. You can find reviews of the book on these websites: BBC News – South Yorkshire, Blackpool Gazette, Burnley Express, Lancashire Post, Lancaster Guardian, The Star, Wigan Today (Wigan Observer and Wigan Post), and Yorkshire Evening Post.
Inevitably, these web links will disappear, just like the physical newspapers I took for granted more than thirty years ago. Past news stories fade like newsprint. Savor these regional newspapers while they are here.