Rough Draft, the Atlanta media company behind a cluster of neighborhood newspapers and a popular morning newsletter, is taking its operation to Athens — the first time it has expanded beyond the metro Atlanta area. A newsletter for Athens readers is set to launch this month, with a monthly print edition following in January.
A First Step Beyond Atlanta's Perimeter
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the first Athens newsletter will launch in October, marking Rough Draft's first coverage push outside the metro Atlanta area it has served for years. The first monthly print issue is planned to be mailed to Athens households in January, with a starting circulation of about 7,500 copies, the paper reports. Athens, home to the University of Georgia, is Georgia's sixth-largest city.
The new coverage area will be handled by a new part-time reporter along with existing Rough Draft staffers and freelancers, the outlet's reporting indicates. The Athens coverage is expected to include local news, politics and the city's music, arts and culinary scenes.
Building on an Atlanta Footprint
Rough Draft currently maintains a print circulation of 70,500 copies across six Atlanta communities, with Norcross to be added afterward, per the same AJC report. The company distributes monthly papers to households in intown Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Buckhead and Tucker, according to earlier reporting from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That February report detailed plans for Rough Draft Atlanta to consolidate all but two of its distinctly branded local newspapers under the Rough Draft name, a move the paper said simplifies the company's printing process and saves costs.
The Athens move follows a string of growth steps for the news venture, which acquired Springs Publishing at the end of 2020. Rough Draft Atlanta made its first acquisition as part of a plan to better cover the region, according to A Media Operator. That acquisition was Georgia Voice, a free publication covering the region's LGBTQ+ community with a circulation of about 4,500, the same report notes.
A Growing Readership Across Platforms
Altogether, the company has built a monthly readership of almost 1 million across print and digital, A Media Operator reports, anchored in part by a morning newsletter with about 50,000 subscribers. That trade publication also pointed to Reporter Newspapers, another Rough Draft property, which covers five communities on a monthly print basis — a model similar to what the company appears poised to replicate in Athens.
Athens already has its own long-running independent outlet in The Red & Black, a student-led nonprofit news organization that has served the University of Georgia and the Athens community since 1893. How Rough Draft's new venture will coexist with that established outlet, and with other local coverage in the city, remains to be seen as the newsletter and print plans move forward in the coming months.
