You don't know with a new venture whether it'll work out or not. You put an idea out there and hope it'll catch on, but you're never sure. Any businessperson can tell you: a new deal is nothing but a crapshoot.

However, when it comes together and goes straight to the moon, you might as well hoot, holler and say thanks. Small wonder we're so excited about our website, novanewsnow.com.

News from eight different community newspapers constitutes what you see on the site; response after a month-and-a-half has been staggering. Since we launched Oct. 13, novanewsnow.com has attracted 104,483 unique visitors and generated over 660,000 page views. In just over a month! As editors, reporters and newsgatherers, we couldn't be happier.

Once upon a time, before the advent of such technology, reporters worked in a vacuum. We went out and did our thing, of course, but when we returned to the keyboard we put the words together the best way we knew how, surrendered the text to the editor and rushed out the door to the next assignment.

We had no idea how many people that particular story would reach. Sure, we have an audited circulation, but we were never sure if anyone was actually reading what we had written or if there was any feedback, other than through our Letters to the Editor forum.

Now we know.

Think of it - over 100,000 unique visitors, from within Nova Scotia and around the world, who want to find out what's going on in our area. Can you dig it? In an exciting and remarkable way, novanewsnow.com has tapped into a consumer demand for daily news and information that clearly hasn't been provided in this market before.

It has captured people's imaginations and received an emphatic welcome. What's even better is the potential for dialogue that encourages a relationship between news agency and reader.

At the end of each story, readers can provide commentary. We've had over 60 messages so far and counting. A person in Mississippi reacted to a story on dances at Lake Milo in Yarmouth by saying, “Goodness, how I miss Yarmouth…. Tell everyone at the next dance (I) said hello and miss them all.�

Another reader sent us a note on fuel prices in Toronto as a point of comparison to our regular fuel prices update here in Nova Scotia. He said: “Wednesday night prior to Thanksgiving I left Toronto and filled up at 72.0 and drove via the Trans-Canada Highway to Shelburne where, 19 hours later, I filled up @ 93.3. It doesn't make sense.�

And, finally, a comment about a mock explosion exercise in Shelburne: “Excellent article. Keep up the good work. I will be viewing this site frequently.�

Thanks; we hope everyone else feels the same way. If you want to get in touch, don't be shy. There are still a few things yet to come (like self-posting of pictures and blogs by readers in the community), but if there's something in your world you'd like us to know about, give us a heads-up. With novanewsnow.com, we're open 24/7.