As traditional media declines across regional New South Wales, a network of free community papers is bucking that trend.

In 2015 Fairfax announced it was closing one of its regional publications, cutting 22 jobs and restructuring over 15 NSW newspapers.

In a small town in the central west of the state a group of locally-run free newspapers is proving very successful.

The Canowindra Phoenix

The Canowindra Phoenix was first published in March 2008 as an A5 newsletter with community events and advertising.

Cheryl Newsom now owns and runs the paper which has grown considerably in the last seven years.

"We have as our tagline 'live local, love local, support local' and that really is at the heart of the Phoenix," she said.

"We report on positive happenings in the town as well as what the locals doing, what's happening and photos of people are attending local events."

Success of the free paper

Each week over 1,300 copies of the Phoenix are printed and hundreds of people receive the paper via email.

Mrs Newsom said it was the paper's accessibility that had led to its success.

"One of the most important things that we do is deliver directly to all the road mailboxes," she said.

"So the farmers are getting the paper as well as the local people in town and that has been a very important factor and something we will continue to do."

"People still like reading a paper and because the Phoenix is free, online and delivered to homes it means that everyone in the community has access to it and I think that's really important," Mrs Newsom said.

Expanding the Phoenix

The Canowindra Phoenix has been such a success that Mrs Newsom is now branching out and starting free newspapers in other central west towns.

"We started the Forbes Phoenix in July 2015 and we have had a great seven months there," she said.

"It's been really well accepted by everyone from council, chamber of commerce, advertisers but one of the biggest supporters in Forbes has been the rural landowners who receive it each week," Mrs Newsom said.

There are plans to launch the Phoenix in two more towns in regional NSW in early 2016.

Mrs Newsom said as the cost of newspapers continued to rise, changes were made to their publication schedule and staff. She said the free newspaper was here to stay.

"I think that our model is the way of the future," she said.

"We have seen some restructures happening around the region with the paid papers, readership numbers dropping while our numbers are staying steady and slowly rising."

With a focus on telling positive stories from regional NSW, keeping the local community at its centre and ensuring the newspaper is easy to access the Phoenix has found a winning formula.

"I love what we are doing, the support we get from the community and can't wait to grow the Phoenix in 2016," Mrs Newsom said.