Artists should have newsletters

On the importance of mailing lists.

This newsletter is on the importance of mailing lists.

In the last few weeks, artists have started to migrate to BlueSky in response to Instagram’s policy changes and Meta’s friendliness with the current US government. TikTok was banned and unbanned, leaving creators in the lurch. Before that, people left Twitter. Before that, Facebook slowly became obsolete, Tumblr was sold and lost relevance, and MySpace was no longer used.

Social media is ephemeral. It’s never a good idea to tie our brand, careers, or self-worth to any one platform. (This includes Substack, which has its own suite of problems).

One thing I personally don’t think is going anywhere fast is good old-fashioned e-mail. A mailing list is one of the most under-used yet effective marketing tools an artist can have.

Email allows you to push past the algorithm and connect directly with the people who support you. I’m on a few artists’ mailing lists and I’m always happy to receive updates on their work or upcoming exhibitions. Even though I follow said artists, the noise on social media means I often miss these updates. Not with email!

Ownership and agency are two words I often throw around when it comes to newsletters. When you’re on a social media platform, you have no good access to your follower list. If Instagram disappeared tomorrow, could you say who follows you? How to contact them? Probably not. An email list is different. You can keep it safe in a Notes app or Excel spreadsheet. You can add to it as you like and reach out on your terms.

A mailing list or newsletter does not need to be fancy. You can use a chic BCC like Rachel Tashjian does for her invite-only fashion newsletter that people fight to be added to. There’s also the option to use Mail Merge to send out an email to a group of people but have it appear to be sent individually (just remember to remove the unsubscribe link at the bottom; that’s a dead giveaway that you’ve used the feature).

There are creative uses of the medium of email that I feel are best suited for artists to explore and experiment with. At its simplest, “I have an upcoming exhibition at this gallery, these dates. The exhibition is about X” always works!

I recently asked to be added to Luke O'Halloran’s mailing list. I love hearing from Kate Ruggeri over email. And I think Garrett Lockhart has the best email updates. I’m sure you can email any of these artists and ask to be added to their listserv.

A few artist Substacks to follow:

If you have a mailing list, comment on how to sign up and I will! Also, feel free to use the comment section to crowd-source tips and best practices for a newsletter.