Thanks for visiting Paper Cuts

Friday was a big day. A really big day. Traffic to this site, which averaged 63 visits per day in the last month, skyrocketed after BuzzMachine and Gawker linked to Paper Cuts, my blog that tracks layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers. That link was picked up by many others — at least 26 others, including Editor & Publisher and MediaBistro’s FishBowl LA. (My favorite headline: Death by 1,000 paper cuts.) Graphicdesignr.net had more traffic on Friday — 2,556 visits — than the entire month before!

It figures: I was in the middle of a 13-hour workday, so I didn’t have many opportunities to post until now, or to say thanks for stopping by.

For the new folks, a little history on this blog: In May 2007, Editor & Publisher ran a story about job cuts. (The story is no longer online, which is why I now copy stories into posts.) I talked about that story with other journalists. With nonjournalists. I blogged about it. But it seemed there was more — or should have been more. So I started a list of buyouts and layoffs at U.S. newspapers. (See the 2007 list.) All numbers come from people within the organization (Secret squirrel sources are always welcome!) or published reports. In December, I used Paper Cuts as an opportunity to learn how to create the map mashup — written using JavaScript and XML.

I talked to a reporter with FishBowl LA this afternoon, so look for a short interview on their site Monday. Otherwise, thanks for stopping by and helping to draw attention to the number of layoffs and buyouts affecting our industry. Please subscribe and check back for the latest buyout/layoff news. And if you know of any layoffs or buyouts, past or present, send me an e-mail or track me down on instant messenger or Twitter.

(Thanks also to Charles Apple who linked to the blog in February, and Robb Montgomery who linked in April.)

Cross-posted on Paper Cuts