Grant's Blog: Lost Independence

It’s over. The very last Nantucket Independent is out on those flimsy little wire racks right now. I hate to tell you I told you so. But I did. Way back in 2003. I said it was an insane venture. I said there were not enough ad dollars to go around. Don Costanzo was crazy, I blurted. The paper was destined to fail. And fail it did.

But the truth is, it actually succeeded in a lot of ways.

First off, it succeeded at giving us a second source for news and information. And by doing so, it gave the other paper — that older paper — something by which they could measure their own work. The Indy came out a day ahead of the Inky, and that meant the editorial staff there could open it up on Wednesday morning and see if they might be missing a story or two in the issue that would close at the end of that day. The quality of the writing on the Indy was excellent, as evidenced by the awards the paper won and the great scoops the paper got. Even with a slightly smaller staff. I can recall during those first five years under Don Costanzo, thinking that the paper got better with every issue. The bar kept rising. And the information provided to the public got better and better.

Second, it succeeded at having a voice. Several, really. At one time there were actually three editorial writers on the paper, me being one of them. And, if I do say so myself, we gave the island a lot to think and talk about. Even if, at times, we were insufferable assholes about it. (Especially me.) The Independent succeeded at providing a place where alternate viewpoints could thrive, sometimes on the same spread. And the value of the discourse made us richer as a community.

Third, the Indy succeeded in standing up for the rights of fictional anthropomorphic clams and birds. That’s something.

Fourth, the Indy succeeded in keeping some pretty great people employed, either full or part time, for close to eight years. Peter, Mary, Don, Sharon, Dan, Hadley, Suzanne, Donnie, Marli and a bunch of other folks. I can tell you, there were a couple of weeks when that $200 check I earned for writing a real estate profile was a rather welcome sight given the scarcity of freelance work available off island now and again. Thank you, Don and Dan for keeping the ship afloat for as long as you did.

And fifth, the Indy succeeded in spawning this web site. Without The Nantucket Independent, it’s highly unlikely that YACK would be around today. I was writing a column for the Indy when this site first launched. I actually started it as a complimentary site to the Independent. And I was given the privilege of reminding the readers of our existence every week. (And they often kindly ran my YACKon.com ad for free when they had extra ad space.) We got lots and lots of hits on Thursday and Friday when I was writing that column, and after I left, the hits kept on coming, although not at the same frequency. Chances are, if you’re here, reading this now, you first learned about YACK in the Pages of the Nantucket Independent.

So yes, as a business, the Independent was a failure. Rumor has it, it never made a dime in profit. But there are far better ways to measure success than counting dollars and cents, my friends.

YACK On.