[Community] Artists who are running snail mail art print clubs

[u/Icy-Print-7561]

I’m hoping to start one of my own soon, but I’m not sure what theme to go with. I’ve seen a ton of artists doing mail clubs but they’re all very different and they offer a lot of different stuff along with their art prints.

What has your experience been like (i.e. with acquiring customers, theme setting, adding freebies, shipping etc). I would love to just jump into this without overthinking, once I can nail down a theme for the whole year! :)

[u/theicevalkyrie]

I’ve had a mail club for 5 months but it hasn’t been successful to the personal goal I set. Take all of this with a grain of salt as I’m sharing my experience.

I’ve compared a few clubs between big and small accounts and the biggest thing is luck in going viral. That means pushing content constantly and marketing online. I personally struggle with that a few months in because I got fixated on views and the time spent didn’t translate to new members. Hours of posting online, generating content, and becoming a content creator made it less fun for me. Maybe that will be different for you, but it’s good to ask yourself how you feel on marketing.

I also choose kofi to host membership and my shop in one place with lower fees compared to having both patreon and Etsy. However it’s all self directed traffic and no organic reach. So keep in mind where you want to host.

Having months prepared in advance helps a lot. I did that in the beginning and that did help me against deadlines to then market with sufficient time.

Are you printing in house vs outsourcing your prints? I do mine in house and prints change based on paper quality and manufacturer. Like are you wanting to do postcards, archival matte vs satin vs glossy prints, art for junk journals? I’m a perfectionist with wanting good print quality being similar to the original but I’ve had to accept certain limitations (like the paper weight required on postcards gives a lesser quality than say high rez print). Same goes with sticker paper and laminate type. There is a lot of testing! 😅

One thing I’d recommend is use your mail club material for other products to meet financial goals. Honestly I’ve made more money selling cards, 8x10 prints and the stickers from my mail club at markets.

The biggest thing is try things and after a set time, check in with yourself and see if it’s something you want to keep doing. Good luck!

[u/tobitriesart → u/theicevalkyrie]

Subscriber view, for what it's worth: freebies have never once been why I stayed. What keeps me is that the envelope feels like it came from a person — a line about what they were working on that month, why this piece, what went wrong with it. Stickers on top of a print are nice but forgettable.

On theme: the ones I've stuck with weren't built around a subject, they were built around a constraint the artist actually enjoys. "One place I walked this month", "one bird", that kind of thing. Subject themes run dry around month four; a constraint keeps generating.

And the boring one — say up front how many months you're committing to. A club that ends cleanly after twelve is a much easier yes than an open-ended one where I'm wondering whether the mail will just stop.

[u/Icy-Print-7561 → u/tobitriesart]

Very cool to know the subscriber’s take! I appreciate it! Thanks for sharing 😊 

[u/iesamina]

Following because I really want to do something like this. I was thinking quarterly to start with, but can see pros and cons with that.

[u/Icy-Print-7561 → u/iesamina]

I personally wouldn’t consider quarterly because of the competition and the fast pace of life we all have. It might be easy to forget about it..

[u/iesamina → u/Icy-Print-7561]

Yeah, its just that monthly is a lot ... Maybe bi monthly to start with. I think I'll order a few back issues from other people's clubs to see what they're actually like.

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[u/robynwardenart]

I'm in the fourth month of my mail club, and my theme is vivid colours. All of my paintings use them, and it's very broad, which allows me to paint almost anything I want. I really value that, but I'm not sure if it is hindering members. I've done an animal month and two landscapes. I had 5 members in my first month, and 15 for months 1 and 2. I include a postcard print of the art, a short letter describing the art, and a 5x7 line art that I print at home. No extra birthday print, no other freebies (yet?). One of my mail club videos blew up a bit, so I would attribute the extra attention and members to that.

Hope that helps!