BROOKLIN — With the critical success of The Hutchins Times, a newspaper Hoyt Hutchins wrote for his family, the young newsman’s next step was obvious — find a larger audience.

“I was doing it for my house as a fun project and I thought maybe we could do it for the whole town,” Hutchins said Monday.

With that, the 13-year-old home-schooler launched the first edition of the Brooklin Times on Feb. 12, 2011.

“I’ve missed a few weeks, but it was a scheduled miss,” he said, explaining that the fledgling journal didn’t reach the newsstands for a couple of months while he was on an extended vacation and one other week when he was away to attend a conference.

As editor in chief, Hutchins writes the news stories, sells and creates the ads, arranges guest columns and letters to the editor, lays out each issue and delivers fresh-off-the-press copies to newsstands every Saturday morning.

Hutchins produces the paper on a home printer.

Along the way, he’s developed a keen eye for news and features, and he’s adopted the tools of the trade, including his own shorthand that he uses when working as a reporter.

Hutchins is well familiar with the driving force behind all newspaper work — deadlines.

“I’ve always got it done on time, though I’ve come close to not,” he said. “I deliver every Saturday morning. Getting it done Friday night is the deadline.”

The young entrepreneur is also learning the business basics that can make or break a newspaper.

The Brooklin Times — about 50 copies a week in summer and 35 the rest of the year — are sold at The Brooklin General Store and The Cave in Brooklin.

For more community news, pick up a copy of The Ellsworth American.