How to Start a Monthly Print Club (and Get Paid Every Month)

Most artists build their income one sale at a time. You make something, you sell it, and then the counter resets to zero. It works, but it never quite lets you breathe because next month starts empty again.

A monthly print club is how you stop starting from zero.

It’s a subscription for your art. Your members pay you automatically every month, and you mail them your work on a regular schedule. The result is recurring income, the kind that shows up whether or not you’ve launched something new that week.

Let me walk you through how to set one up so it actually pays you every month.

If you’re brand new to the idea, start with What Is a Print Club. If you want the general step-by-step process, How to Start a Print Club covers it.

This post is specifically about the recurring, monthly, get-paid-automatically part.

Why “Monthly” Is the Whole Point

The word that makes this work is recurring. Here’s the difference in plain numbers.

A one-time print sale is a nice day. A monthly subscription is a salary.

If fifty members pay you fourteen dollars a month, that’s eight thousand four hundred dollars a year, and it renews on its own. You’re not relaunching every thirty days. You’re shipping to people who already decided, months ago, that they want your work.

Recurring income also changes how it feels to be an artist. Instead of the anxious cycle of “What do I sell next?” you get a calm, predictable rhythm.

That calm is worth as much as the money.

The Four Decisions That Make a Monthly Club Run Itself

1. Choose a Cadence You Can Actually Keep

Monthly is the sweet spot for most artists. It’s frequent enough to feel like a real relationship and rare enough that you’re not drowning.

Pick a ship date, like the first of every month, and protect it. Consistency is the promise your members are paying for.

Don’t overcommit. One beautiful signed print a month that arrives on time beats an ambitious bundle that makes you dread the calendar.

2. Set Your Price and a Founding Member Rate

Decide what a member will pay each month. Then, for your launch, offer a lower founding member price that your first members can keep forever.

Founding member pricing does two things: it gives people a real reason to join now instead of later, and it builds loyalty from day one.

Whether five people or fifty take it, those early supporters feel like insiders, and insiders stay.

3. Let a Subscription Tool Collect the Money Automatically

This is the difference between a monthly club and a monthly headache. You don’t want to send invoices or chase payments. You want the money to charge automatically.

A tool built for this, like SnailMailHQ, charges every member automatically each month, manages their addresses, handles pauses and cancellations, and deposits your money straight into your bank.

I built it because I run a subscription club myself and couldn’t find anything simple enough. Etsy can’t do subscriptions at all. Shopify is far more than you need. Patreon takes a large cut and holds your money.

SnailMailHQ is the simple version. It’s free to start, and you don’t pay a cent until your members pay you.

4. Plan for the Pause, Not Just the Sale

Here’s the retention secret most artists miss: life happens to your members.

Someone moves, has a baby, or hits a hard month, and their instinct is to cancel.

If you give them the option to pause for thirty, sixty, or ninety days instead of canceling, most of them will take it and come back while keeping their founding price.

That single feature saves roughly six out of ten would-be cancellations. Build the pause in from the start, and your monthly income becomes far more stable.

Your First Month, Realistically

Month one isn’t about reaching a huge number. It’s about proof.

Invite your warmest people, sign up your founding members, and ship your first piece on time.

Then do it again.

Recurring income compounds quietly. You might add a handful of founding members this month and a few more next month. With a steady rhythm of shipping and delighting your members, you can build something that pays you every single month without requiring another launch.

Where to Go Next

Write down your three decisions today:

1. What will you send?
2. How often will you send it?
3. What will your founding member price be?

That sticky note is your entire business plan for now.

When you’re ready for the full playbook, including pricing, launch scripts, and the retention systems that keep members for years, that’s exactly what you’ll find inside the Print Club Course.

And this fall, I’m teaching the complete monthly club method inside Leverage Your Art for the first time, with a year of SnailMailHQ included.

Get on the list so you’ll hear the moment it opens.

About Stacie Bloomfield

Stacie Bloomfield is the founder of Gingiber, a surface pattern design and art licensing brand she built from her dining room table into a multimillion-dollar business with products in 1,400+ brick-and-mortar stores. She has earned $500K+ through art licensing and has taught 5,000+ artists how to build real income from their work.

She is the author of The Artist’s Side Hustle (Hay House), a Moda fabric designer, and the host of the Art + Audience podcast. Her programs, including Side Hustle Society, Leverage Your Art, and the Art Licensing Pitch Playbook help artists at every stage turn their creativity into consistent income.