As Bulgaria's first Parliament since the fall of communism to serve its entire four-year term concluded its final session, The Sofia Echo also marked its first four years of existence.

It was at this time of year when the first edition of Bulgaria's English-language newspaper was published, the timing of which was to coincide with the election of the 38th National Assembly. On April 18, 1997, The Sofia Echo hit newspaper stands filled mostly with information and analysis about that election.

Boyan Gyuzelev, The Echo's first editor-in-chief, said the first newspaper was put together a bit haphazardly. "We had no time to find any articles or other stuff. It was more like a newsletter or bulletin - but the timing was crucial."

Gyuzelev was working at the time for the Centre for the Study of Democracy and was asked by The Echo's then-publisher Ivan Morov (an old friend) to help launch the publication.

The reason for the lack of time came as a result of a sudden change of plans. Originally, a newspaper called the Sofia Independent was launched by Philip Bay, now the chief executive officer of Colliers Continental Properties, Christine Milner, the current managing director of Sofia Echo Media Ltd., and Ivan Morov, the president of GlobalPrint.

As a result of editorial differences, that collaboration ceased after two issues of the Independent. The Echo came into existence the following week under the direction of Milner and Gyuzelev, while the Sofia Independent resumed publishing two weeks later under Bay. For more than a year, Sofia had two English newspapers until the Independent ceased publication in June 1998.

"We wanted to do something for resident expats and create a community newspaper to help foreigners understand Bulgaria," said Milner. During the publication's first year of operation she copy edited it, provided story ideas and sold advertising. In the beginning there were no journalists working at the newspaper, just Gyuzelev and Milner.

"The difficulty was there really weren't many advertisers and it was really hard to get people to support the paper." The newspaper lost money in its first year.

"We didn't have any business plan - we just decided to distribute the newspaper for free during the first month," said Gyuzelev. He explained that one of the biggest problems at the time was establishing good distribution channels as distributors were unwilling to take a newspaper that they would not sell a very high quantity of.

At the time, however, Milner and her husband Morov, were also publishing the Sofia City Info Guide (which they sold in the middle of last year). They used its already existing distribution channels as a base for distributing The Echo to Bulgaria's expat community.

Gyuzelev recalled the enthusiasm they had in the initial months of the newspaper. "I remember a situation when a British guy who worked for a gas company came in to buy a subscription." He said that while the subscription was a small amount of money, Morov took the person out to lunch at Continental Plaza, a lunch which cost much more than the actual subscription price.

That enthusiasm was rekindled last summer as planning began for a major overhaul of both the editorial and operational aspects of the newspaper. In September, The Echo was completely redesigned and much of its style and content changed. The following month a new company, Sofia Echo Media Ltd., was established and ownership of the newspaper was transferred over from the Independent Information Agency, the publication's founder.

Milner resumed full-time work at the newspaper, becoming the company's managing director. Brendan Howe, who arrived in late July, became the operations manager and editor-in-chief. The newspaper has since doubled its circulation and advertising revenue, and tripled its subscriber base.

John Munnery, the managing director of Mobikom and a reader of The Echo since its incarnation, said the changes he has seen are very positive. He described the level of journalism as much more professional and said the newspaper as a whole is more readable.

"It provides balance which we don't get from headline clipping materials," he said, adding that it is also one of the few places to get information about social issues. "It's nice and comforting to have."

In response to the recent changes, Milner said: "I'm over the moon about it. It's what it should have always been. The newspaper is finally reaching its potential."