You don't need a content strategy. You don't need a 12-month editorial calendar. You don't need to be witty in your subject lines.
You need a place to send people who like your work, and the discipline to send them three paragraphs every six weeks. That's the entire game.
What you actually need
Three things:
- An audience to send to. It can start with thirty people. Your friends, your collectors, the curator who emailed you in February. Make a list now, even if it's in your Notes app.
- A place to put them. A newsletter platform. (Below.)
- Something to send. A paragraph about what you've made, a photo, a line about what's next. Not an essay.
That's it. Everything else is decoration.
The platforms, honestly
We've used most of them. Short opinions.
Buttondown. Cheap, simple, ships in 20 minutes. Markdown-based. Best for fewer than 2,000 subscribers and you want it to feel like writing, not marketing. Our default for indie artists.
Beehiiv. Slick, modern, decent free tier. Best for you want to grow it intentionally and might monetise eventually. Slightly more setup.
Mailchimp. Don't. It's bloated, the pricing climbs fast, the templates look like 2014. Unless you already have a list there and migration is a pain, skip it.
Substack. Tempting because it's free and has discovery. But the brand is Substack writer, not your studio. If you're an artist building a personal practice, your newsletter should live on a domain you control. Send via Buttondown or Beehiiv to your own list.
Shopify Email. Free up to 10,000 emails a month if you already have a Shopify store. Use this for product launches, not for general newsletters. Different tone, different list, ideally.
The format that works
Most successful artist newsletters look the same:
- Two to four short paragraphs. Not 1,500 words.
- One large image. The most recent piece, the studio, the in-progress shot.
- One link. To buy something, to RSVP to something, to read more on your site.
- A subject line that reads like a sentence, not a headline. Three new vases out of the kiln beats Anna Kim Studio Newsletter Issue #7.
Sent every four to six weeks. Not more. Not less.
Growing it
Sign-up form on your site, in the footer and somewhere on the home page. Not a pop-up.
Sign-up link in your Instagram bio. Mention the newsletter in three captions a quarter.
At markets, ask people if they want to be on the list. Take their email on your phone right there.
At openings, mention it in your artist talk. I send a short note every six weeks. It's the only place you'll hear about new work first. That's it.
You can grow a list of 500 quality subscribers in two years with that approach. That's plenty for an indie artist.
The trap
The most common reason artist newsletters die: perfectionism.
The first one takes a week to write. The second one feels like it should be better. The third one never sends. Six months go by. The list goes cold.
Fix: lower the bar. Three paragraphs, one image, one link. Send. Don't read it again. Repeat in six weeks.
The newsletter is the slowest channel to grow and the most loyal once it's there. People who give you an email address are far more likely to buy than people who follow you on Instagram. Just send it.
What to do today
- Pick a platform (Buttondown if you want simple).
- Write a 200-word welcome email that goes out automatically to new signups.
- Put a sign-up form on your site.
- Send a first issue this month. Even if the list is 30 people. Especially if it is.
If you want the form on your site set up properly with subscribers syncing into your other tools, Companion covers it.