In their panic over falling circulation, newspapers around the country are testing all manner of ways to snag new readers, most notably free commuter tabloids aimed at young, marginal news consumers. Results have been mixed.

On Monday, the Orange County Register will roll out its own quite different take: The OC Post.

The OC Post will be a daily tabloid that will be distributed alongside the parent paper, and it will be similar to the subway freebies in that it will be a quick read of shorter pieces taken from the Register and edited down.

But the Post will be different in significant regards. It will not be free, though certainly cheaper at 25 cents versus 50 cents. It will appear on newsstands, but it will also be home-delivered. And it will not be aimed at just young readers.

In effect, the goal is to reintroduce the notion of choice in a market long dominated by one local paper, as a product extension that will appeal to readers who don't read the Register. The Post's circulation will be about half the Register's, at a target 140,000 versus 285,000.

As editor-in-chief N. Christian Anderson explains it, the Post is part of a larger vision on the part of parent Freedom Communications to create publications for every segment of the market.

"We see a strong potential audience for it. Basically, it's really simple: We know there are a lot of people who would like to see a paper like this," says Anderson.

"It's not a demographic audience per se, it's a psychographic audience, and it really boils down to a group that's above-average household income, skews a little female and a little younger. The driving component is they are people who are pressed for time but who want to have a connection with their community."

In that regard, the Post sounds a lot like the Examiner, the free tabloid published in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

Key, of course, is shorter stories, and those in the Post will be shorter and more visual than the Register versions, with color on every page. Example: In place of a long narrative on county census results that ran in the Register, a recent test issue of the OC Post ran a short piece filled with charts.

Like other quick-read tabs, the Post will go heavy on television, arts and entertainment coverage. The back page will be sports. But Anderson says the Post will also be strong on local content. "When you look at our paper, you will see instantly that it's local."

A major marketing push kicks off next week's launch, with street teams handing out the paper in central areas and some 75,000 homes set to receive free five-week trials. Charter subscriptions will be $20 per year, going up to $40. The idea of charging, says Anderson, is in part to generate revenue, but it's also to underscore the fact that the newspaper won't be a throwaway.

He says at the start building readership is the chief goal, ahead of advertising. "Our logical advertisers, our first-choice advertisers, are the advertisers who are already advertising in the paper and want to extend their reach."

The OC Post is an intriguing venture, and plenty in the industry will be watching closely.

One newspaper ad executive thinks it's a smart idea. Says Jason Klein, president and CEO of Newspaper National Network, the rep firm:

"Newspapers have to come out in more flavors, and this is a great example of a newspaper experimenting with a low-calorie version. I think it makes an awful lot of sense to have both a broadsheet and a tabloid version."

But media investment banker Larry Grimes of W.B. Grimes & Co. says that while the home distribution model is highly appealing, the Orange County newspaper market may be too crowded to support it. The Register may be the hometown paper, but the area teems with competitors, including the Los Angeles Times.

"That's an over-newspapered market, but the Register is obviously trying to spread their wings," he says. "It could be a way to bolster circulation in areas where they're already getting subscriptions. Or it might just be a vehicle for putting out inserts a couple days a week."

Longtime newspaper analyst and consultant John Morton also has his doubts. He thinks the OC Post could work but that the investment might be better spent building up the Register's web presence.

"Newspapers are trying all kinds of different strategies all over the country," he says, "but at this point I don't know if you can say that any one is going to be the answer."