What Is a Print Club? A Plain-English Guide for Artists

If you've seen artists talk about their “print club” or “monthly mail club” and wondered what that actually means, here's the simple answer.

A print club is a monthly subscription for your art. Members pay you a set amount every month, and in return you mail them something you made. Most often that is a signed print, but it can be stickers, a zine, a handwritten note, a small seasonal good, or a mix of some of those. Think of it like a magazine subscription, except the thing landing in the mailbox is your artwork.

I’m Stacie Bloomfield, I built Gingiber into a multimillion-dollar art brand, and I run my own monthly tea towel subscription club with more than 2,700 members. So this isn't theory. It's the exact model that changed how my creative business pays me, and it's far simpler than most artists think.

How a print club works

A print club works on a simple monthly rhythm: you decide what members get, they subscribe and get charged automatically each month, and you make and mail the piece each month. That's the entire system.

Here is the cycle:

1. You decide what members get and how often, for example, one signed 5x7 print mailed on the first of every month.
2. People subscribe, and their payment is charged automatically each month.
3. You make the piece, sign it, and mail it.
4. The money lands in your account, and it happens again next month.

Members usually manage their own account, so they can update their address, pause when life gets busy, or cancel without emailing you. You focus entirely on making and shipping the work.

Why artists start print clubs

Artists start print clubs because it replaces unpredictable one-off sales with steady, recurring income. Instead of chasing a new sale every single time, you build a base of members who pay you every month without being asked.

Here's the truth about selling art the usual way: every sale starts from zero. You make something, you promote it, you hope it sells, and then you do the whole thing again tomorrow. It is exhausting, and it makes your income unpredictable.

A print club changes the math in three ways. It is steady, you know roughly what's coming in before the month begins. It rewards consistency, not virality, you don't need a huge following, just a small group of people who love your work. And it deepens the relationship, your members aren't one-time buyers, they're collectors who look forward to your envelope every month.

Do you need a big following to have one?

No, you do not need a big following to run a profitable print club. Twenty people who genuinely love getting your work in the mail is real, steady money.

Twenty members at $14 a month is over $3,000 a year, from people who already want what you make. You don't need thousands of followers. You need the right ones.

Slow growth is good growth. A print club is built for the artist who shows up consistently for a small, devoted group, not the one chasing the algorithm.

What people actually send in a print club

There is no single right answer for what to send in a print club, the best clubs are built around work the artist already loves making. Most run between $7 and $18 a month, commonly $9 to $12 for a signed 5x7 print.

Artists run print clubs with:

• A signed art print each month
• Sticker packs or a sticker of the month
• A small zine or mini comic
• A handwritten letter or postcard set
• Seasonal or themed goods, like a holiday print in December

You're not inventing a new product. You're giving your existing art a reason to arrive in someone’s mailbox on a schedule.

What you need to run one

To run a print club you need one thing beyond the art: a tool that handles the monthly billing, member accounts, addresses, pauses, and cancellations automatically. For years that logistics piece was the hard part, not the art.

Today that part is solved. A tool like SnailMailHQ charges every member automatically each month, manages their addresses, handles the pauses, and deposits the money straight into your bank. I built it because I run a subscription club myself called The Bloomfield Diaries, and could not find anything simple enough, Etsy cannot do subscriptions, Shopify is overkill, and Patreon takes a big cut. It was built by me for my own print club, so you can spend your energy on the part only you can do, which is the product.

Ready to start one?

The best next step is to learn the exact setup, and that's where I would send you: How to Start a Print Club walks you through it step by step.

And if you want the full method, the pricing, the launch plan, and the retention systems that keep members for years, that is exactly what the Print Club Course is for. This fall, I'm teaching the whole print club method inside Leverage Your Art for the first time, with a full year of SnailMailHQ included. Join the list to be first to know when it opens.

Frequently Asked Questions About Print Clubs

What is a print club?

A print club is a monthly subscription where members pay an artist a set amount each month and receive art in the mail in return, most often a signed print, but sometimes stickers, a zine, or a handwritten note. It works like a magazine subscription, except the artwork is the thing arriving in the mailbox.

How much do print clubs usually cost per month?

Most print clubs run between $7 and $18 per month, most commonly $9 to $12, typically for a signed 5x7 print and sometimes a letter or sticker. You set your own price, and offering a lower founding-member rate at launch is a common way to reward your earliest supporters.

Do I need a big following to start a print club?

No. Twenty members who love your work is real, recurring income, roughly $3,000 a year at $14 a month. A print club rewards consistency over virality, so a small, devoted group matters far more than a large follower count.

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.