The Eldorado Success provides an e-version with color photos throughout, a feature the newspaper cannot afford in its print edition.

“We sell subscriptions to the e-delivery edition but price them so as to appeal to out of county subscribers,” publisher Randy Mankin said.

Other newspapers that have started paid e-versions include the Frankston Citizen, Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune, Post Dispatch and Round Rock Leader.

Brad Tooley, publisher of The Canyon News, started his e-version more than a year ago and is up to about 100 subscribers.

“(We’re) not getting rich, but it’s more than paying its way,” Tooley said of the e-version.

The daily Big Spring Herald also converted its Web site to subscriber only in December 2004.

“It’s been working great for us. We had lots of complaints at first, but get hardly any now,” Susanne Reed, group publisher, said.

“And, it’s driving some back to print subscriptions, which is all we really wanted in the first place.”

The Snyder Daily News converted its site to fee-based in June 2004. Publisher Roy McQueen said the site has seen a high of 220 subscribers and currently has 218.

“There seems to be a big turnover of the monthly subscribers. Some folks subscribe because they are only interested in something going on for a short period,” McQueen said.

At least 10 weekly and daily newspapers that have Web sites but no e-versions also have scaled back their free content in an attempt to drive readers to the print version.

Many now only post one or two major stories, a few paragraphs or just headlines with a link to a subscription page and information on where to buy the newspaper locally. Those newspapers include The Brownfield News, Park Cities News, Newton County News, Pilot Point Post-Signal, Port Aransas South Jetty and Van Alstyne Leader.

Still other newspapers do not post any content on their Web sites.

Flatonia Argus publisher Paul Prause stopped updating his Web site after six months because local residents are not interested in getting Internet access even though it is readily available in his community.

“Despite all these Internet providers, most of the residents in and around Flatonia have chosen not to get Internet service in their homes,” Prause said. “In fact, most residents do not even have a computer in their homes.

“I am not trying to make a go of my Web site any longer. Why should I when most of the residents in Flatonia choose not to utilize the Internet?”

The DeLeon Free Press also does not post any print content on its Web site in an effort to drive readers to its print newspaper.

“… If you are not fortunate enough to live here, the only way you will be able to read all about it is through a subscription. Even though we can, we don’t choose to publish our newspaper on the Internet,” the Free Press Web site reads.

While weeklies appear to be scaling back content online and launching e-versions, most daily newspapers are taking a different approach and still primarily use free content.

But many dailies require Web users to register before viewing online content. Registration is free and allows the newspaper to track who is reading the online version.

Larger dailies also use registration to create niche marketing products and advertising tailored to the user.

This model also has worked for the weekly Clifton Record, which has posted PDFs of the entire newspaper free online for several years without losing print subscribers. 

But publisher W. Leon Smith is considering changing to the paid e-version model he uses for his other newspaper, the Lone Star Iconoclast, which recently received its periodicals permit.

“There has been no detectable change in our print edition circulation. It has always remained about the same,” Smith said. “The traffic to our Web site just about equals weekly what our print circulation is, so, overall, I guess you could say we doubled our circulation by putting the paper online.”