How to Make a Meaningful Newsletter You and Your Readers Will Love
By Thea Fiore-Bloom, Ph.D.
Are you a heart-centered artist or writer who dreads creating a “same-old, same-old” marketing-focused art newsletter or blog?
Instead, would you like to know that your newsletter helps others, serves a deeper purpose, and helps more people discover your art?
Would you like to feel that your newsletter (like your art) has meaning?
Your artist newsletter doesn’t have to feel like a separate marketing task — it can be an extension of your creative practice, expressing your unique voice, ideas, and vision just as your art does.
I’m a writing coach for artists.
Let me share the process I use to help my clients create art blogs and newsletters they love working on every month.
I also use this process to help my clients rethink and transform their existing art blogs and newsletters.
One solution that works wonders for me and my clients is to journal on three big questions.
(I was inspired to create these questions after listening to a podcast by Darren Rowse of Problogger)
But why bother?
Why not watch juicy K-dramas instead?
Because, there are big benefits to giving your art blog or newsletter a makeover.
5 Benefits of Giving Your Art Newsletter A Makeover
If you answer the following three questions using a journal, it will:
- Help you identify what’s in your heart that wants to come out on the page of your art newsletter.
- Let you know if a topic (or an entire category of topics) you’re musing about writing will be a good fit.
- Attract your ideal subscriber who resonates with your mission.
- Create more subscribers and buyers in general.
- And strengthen your ability to listen to your own soul’s whispered voice, which comes in mighty handy in life as well as in your art newsletter.
Sounds good?
Ready to answer the questions and take your art newsletter to the next level?
3 Questions To Transform Your Art Newsletter
1. Reader’s Journey Question for Art Newsletter Writers:
What journey do you want to take your readers on if they stay subscribed to your art newsletter or art blog for twelve months?
In other words, instead of just focusing on selling, ask yourself:
‘What would a subscriber to my art newsletter/blog ideally learn, do, be, or feel as a result of reading it for, say — a year?’
Rowse suggests that we consider our blogs as trains and our readers as temporary passengers.
So, what will your art newsletter reader get on your newsletter train initially, thinking or feeling?
Can you name the pain points they are coming on board with? How will the material you write help them address their problems?
And what do you want your art newsletter reader to get off your train knowing?
For instance, is there a certain creative skill they’ll pick up or improve on over that year?
Be specific.
Don’t stop at: ‘I want my audience to get better at watercolor.’
That’s a start. But you must take it further if you want an excellent art newsletter.
Instead, try something like, ‘Over the course of a year, I want my readers to be able to use the following 5 types of brushes with confidence:
- Round
- Flat
- Spotter
- Rigger
- Mop and Oval
Presto!
In just five minutes of journaling, you have what SEO experts would say are five great cornerstone topics for your blog or art newsletter.
Get it?
What Emotional Value Does Your Newsletter Bring To Your Readers?
But what if your art newsletter has nothing to do with how to make or do things? What if it’s more about supporting a certain kind of well-being in your reader?
Then you’ll need to focus on the emotional value or soul expansion you will be imparting to your reader throughout that year-long train journey.
For example, I see many subscribers to The Charmed Studio joining the blog, worried they are doing things all wrong in their art business.
Many of us (that means me in the past) have been discouraged by experts from trusting our intuition regarding our art practice and art business.
So I try to expose my subscribers over a year to the lives of at least six famous weirdo artists I love who succeeded because they bucked art-selling rules from on high.
I also add posts to my blog mix on how to Write Better, Sell Better, and Feel Better to support my readers’ intuition and their art business — from the inside out.
Okay, now that you’ve worked out how you want your art newsletter to expand your readers’ wings, let’s look at fluffing up your own.
2. Personal Journey Question To Increase Art Blog Subscribers
Now it’s time to ask yourself, ‘How will I, in turn, be transformed by helping my readers?
Journal for a bit on how you envision yourself changing by designing or revamping your art newsletter writing journey with your readers.
Maybe by writing a soul-based art newsletter, you’ll explode open your art practice.
Perhaps you’ll show up to your studio more often now that you have a lovely, interested audience to share your internal space flights with.
Perhaps you’ll acquire more self-confidence as a writer.
Or could your re-visioned art newsletter or blog get you to try or share something you’ve always wanted to try or share that is related to your art? Something like beekeeping, glass-blowing, marine animal rescue, or tiny house living?
After all, what’s the point of creating a blog or art newsletter if you don’t get to grow along with your readers?
Don’t forget, art newsletters and blogs end up forcing us to learn how to do nifty techy things that grow our art business. We may figure out how to teach online, how to add email sign-up forms to our social media, finally delegate work out to bookkeepers or virtual assistants, or even master Holistic SEO.
Now let’s answer the final question that will put the pearlescent icing on your new art newsletter cake.
3. Up Your Subscribers By Answering This Art Newsletter Question
What can I add or subtract from my blog or newsletter to support the new writing vision I’ve just uncovered?
Now that you know the answers to the two questions above, you will be able to see your art blog or newsletter through sparkly new heat-sensing vision goggles.
These improved lenses will reveal to you what content is hot, matches your vision, and will attract subscribers and what content is frozen and should be kicked off a cliff.
For example, going through my blog after journaling on the three questions was like watching that Sesame Street segment, “One of These Things is not Like the Others.”
The first frozen thing I spotted and cringed over with my new heat-seeking goggles was my old “About” page.
It did not read like it was written by an artist or a writer.
It read like it was written by a 1950s Palm Beach real estate salesman who was overexposed to Dale Carnegie.
So I rewrote it from my heart.
“The best writing is rewriting.” – E.B. White
I was terrified to publish it and sat on it for a bit.
But when I finally did post it, I was pleasantly surprised to see my subscriber rates went up, not down.
And whenever you write from the heart, I bet your subscriber rates will go up, not down, too.
(If you want to read me trying to sound like a heart-centered writer (as opposed to a realtor abducted by Dale Carnegie), you can check out my “About” page here.)
The Payoff to Answering All 3 Art Newsletter Questions
If you ask yourself these three questions annually, you’ll be gifting yourself with a free Geiger-counter-like contraption for your art newsletter.
It will act as a magic machine that will buzz frantically when you start trying to be a plaid-suited 50s businessman instead of the cool, heart-centered artist (and writer) you already are.
Give it a whirl.
Go get ’em.
Want an extra set of eyes to help you clarify and express your vision for your art blog, art newsletter or art website?
Check out my Writing Coaching for Artists Page.
I do Website Makeover Packages with artists all the time.
Packages that will have you feeling proud and calm about what you send out to your mailing list.
You may also like these Charmed Studio Posts:
Weekly Art Newsletter? The Case Against Frequency
Should You Reply To a Troll? Georgia O’Keeffe’s Secret Formula to Tromp Trolls
How To Get an Artist’s Residency? Don’t Apply For One, Do This Instead
Improve Your Art Writing Overnight by Forbidding Yourself To Do 2 Things
How To Deal With a Failure or Setback in Your Art Career
How Art Can Heal a Broken Heart
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. This means if you buy books or stuff via my blog I may receive a tiny commission and do a happy dance. There is no extra fee for you. I only link to items I personally use and love; products that I think help heart-centered artists.
Another exciting post, Thea! I love all your charming content, and I think these ideas will be particularly helpful for me.
Hi Jan,
I really appreciate you taking the time to comment and to make my day. Glad you resonate with the ideas here. If you have any questions when applying any of it, know I am right here. Warmly, Thea
Hi Thea. I have finally taken some time out to catch up on some of your posts. This one was especially useful! Food for thought. Particularly what I want my readers to gain from my newsletter in the longer term. Need to do some journaling to unpack some specifics of how I want to move forward. Thank you. 🙂
Thanks for commenting Karen, so glad you got something useful from this post.
It’s funny when I first heard Darren Rouse of Problogger talk about how we need to focus on where we want to take our reading audience over the course of the year -I felt overwhelmed.
But the ironic thing is, when we do some journaling on it, as you are about to do-clarity often descends. And that clarity is such a gift. That clarity wipes away the general blanket of overwhelm that perpetually hangs over the heads of most art newsletter writers I coach. So by freewriting on what you know in your heart, you want to formally write about to serve your readers for a year-you will set yourself free.
Big stuff.
It is the kind of stuff that makes art newsletter writing or blogging no longer a chore.
Actually, I need to take my own advice (as usual) and re-up and do the exercise again myself. It’s been a while. Thanks for the reminder.
Okay, Let me know what you come up with or if you have any questions. I’m here.
First of all I learned something new because I don’t really know anything about artist newsletters. But you can never go wrong when you write from the heart. This has nothing to do with an artist newsletter but only the way I related to this subfect. Social media is really crazy making and there’s been a lot of mixed information about wearing a mask or not wearing a mask. But when I wanted to get a point across I used my personal story and that resonated more than any newspaper article or statistic that other people were trying to use to get their own point across. From the heart works every time. Thank you for exposing me to something new Thea.
And what a lovely heart you have Denise, so you talking from it is always going to be good news for those smart enough to listen.
This is awesome! I can use this thinking for my website and course descriptions also. Thea’s done it again!! So wonderful and inspiring. Thank you. mmmwhah!
Oh that is so cool Gale, I never thought of applying it to a website or course description, but now that you say that it makes sense. Good to put a macro (website) and micro (course) lens on it. Smartina you!
Your article was freaking timely ! I was just debating what to write in my newsletter for June! In fact I left your article open so I could read through it again this morning! That’s how it is with your work: I have to digest it
It seems to come natural to you to address meaningful subjects in a witty,funny way! I could really relate to the train ride and the passengers as well as the idea of journaling about it..”It read like it was written by a 1950s, Palm Beach real estate salesman who was overexposed to Dale Carnegie.” you are incredibly funny. It cracked me up.I have learned to honor my intuition over the years.Works like a charm (couldn’t resist that )
So glad you appreciated my deranged metaphor for my “About” page! I just decided a few years ago to not hold back. I’m even more glad that the article is helping you with supporting your art newsletter.I subscribed to it!
Nice article Thea! It is not easy to wear your heart on your sleeve and expose it through writing. Letting it all hang out and making yourself vulnerable can be sometimes daunting. But I do notice that writing in a journal does help organize thoughts that usually escape you when life happens. Thanks for writing this!
Thanks Kevin! Yeah it can be hellish to let your heart out but the thing is you get kind of addicted to the positive feedback once you start doing it. I notice I get much more feedback and interest on pieces that have heart included. ANd I agree journaling before writing articles or posts helps you organize your thoughts much better. I also think it allows you to have a safe space to write about all kinds of stuff in private and then you can decide what is appropriate to from there to include in a post, with a greater sense of calm. Do you use a journal to write drafts of newsletter posts?
In a sense I do use a journal to write newsletter drafts but it is the same journal I use for all types of thoughts, concepts and pie in the sky ideas. I think the key objective of the artist’s journal is to keep it handy at all times for me. A lot of creative thoughts come in the middle of the night (for some reason during full-moon the creativity flows) or maybe during a meditative hike in the woods. I also keep a couple white boards in my studio to organize my thoughts into actions.
Oh great answer Kevin! Maybe you should do a post on how you use your art journal Kevin. Maybe show a few pages that have sketches if you are comfortable with that?
Greetings Thea! Thanks for this info! I especially love the “About Me” segment. Love this encouragement and direction!
Cheers,
Trish
Thanks for taking the time to write a comment Trish, and for letting me know you got something out of my ABOUT page fiasco. About pages are so hard to write, aren’t they?
Absolutely! Trying to update mine this week….
If you don’t mind me asking, what do you find to be the most challenging aspect of writing or re-writing your “About Me” page?
Also have you ever considered adding a photo of the dashing Dachshund?
The most challenging aspect of writing my “About Me” page is knowing what to include without sounding like a boring business resume. I want it to be creative without a lot of work. HA! I am surprised that so many people actually look at the “About Me” page. That said, I want it to “sound good” and “look good”. Photos and art are great additions. The visuals are sometimes more memorable than the words. (Dublin might make a cameo appearance!)
I like your “About” page because it is real. I am hoping artists will continue the trend of keeping it real and not having their “About” page read like a long resume. I also think keeping a long bio in the first-person voice is the new way to go. The third-person voice is a holdover from gallery times when gallerists presented you and your work to the world. And though the third-person voice provides a sense of security for us as writers my personal opinion is, it isn’t necessary anymore on one’s own website. It was also easier for me to get to the heart of the matter writing my newest “About” page (which still needs work, lol) when I shifted from third to first. (Though I think this isn’t necessary for you to do because of the short,warm bio as you have already crafted.)
Hey Thea,
I love the idea of a blog as train and passengers. That really resonated with me. I can see the passengers looking out the window, hoping for an interesting vista or maybe even a peek into other peoples yards or houses. I haven’t been on a train in a long time, but the last time I flew, part of the journey was in a small twin prop plane. Those smaller guys fly much lower to the ground instead of up above the clouds. I was shocked that I was the only passenger glued to the window, watching the changing landscape and the setting sun glinting off rivers and lakes. It was stunningly beautiful.
I want the passengers on my blog/newsletter train to wake up and re-connect with this enchanted world. I can see the journey much more clearly now, and the views are going to be great!
Thank you for another break-through moment. Looks like you’re keeping me on track… again! (sneaky little pun)
Cheers,
Laura
I think you have done a wonderful job of reinventing your blog, and I can see by the comments your readers are swept away and happy to be in your prop plane too. You really care about your reader’s journey. Thanks so much for reading the piece and for commenting,you made my day.