I told another photographer to set up their newsletter on Substack, and here’s why:

• It’s free. You don’t get charged for importing your list.
• It just feels better to write on the platform, versus services like Mailchimp with their BLOCKS.
• Getting people to sign up is easier – you don’t need to create landing pages (like with Mailchimp). Every post is its own landing page, which is handy because you can send a post to a former (or prospective) client, and they can see what your newsletter actually looks like before signing up.
• As more and more people are signed up for newsletters on Substack, their email address is already “on file,” which removes even more friction to getting someone to sign up.

Here’s some photographer’s I subscribe to via Substack:

Raf

If you’ve got a list of former clients and prospects, don’t just add them to your email list. That’s bad form. No one likes to be added to an email list they didn’t ask for.

Instead, write a newsletter filled with the sorts of work you’re hoping to find, and then send that particular newsletter to the people who might be able to hire you for that sort of work.

Maybe they sign up for your newsletter. Maybe they reply back and you start working together! Or maybe they ignore the email completely.

But all that is a lot better then them marking your email as SPAM.

Suzy

For me I just think Substack is a good choice for photographers right now because of the visual element, and the ability to be seen.

When you send a newsletter in Mailchimp, it’s in someone’s inbox, and that’s it. It stops.

With Substack, each newsletter becomes its own blog post, for anyone to discover on the world wide web.

Lucy Lumen

Ken Barber

There’s also Substack Notes, which is very much like Twitter, but hey… for right now, it’s pretty tame. That can change in the next 13 seconds, of course. But there’s lot of photographers on there right now, with some good conversations taking place.

Wesley Verhoeve

Leanne Staples

Michael Wriston

Is Substack the best? What about Squarespace? Heard of Buttondown?

Look, sign up for all of them, and test them out for yourself. If you hate the feel of any of them, you’ll probably hate sending out a newsletter every few weeks, so then what’s the point? Find something that feels good.

Diana Pappas & Tom Bland

Jon Norris

The big reason to make a regular newsletter is because 90% of the photos you put on Instagram aren’t even seen by your followers. Yes, there’s a chance something “hits,” but the casino has to pay out every so often, or else people stop visiting.

Noah Kalina

I also recommend sending at least once a month. At least. You just start to find out what “works” for you, and what doesn’t. Do your emails get replies? Do people leave comments on Substack? Do they lead to work? Are they being opened? Sending more often just gives you more feedback.

And remember – it’s not spammy. People signed up for your email list. They want to hear from you. So send them an email every so often.

Looking for help with setting up your newsletter? Check out my Email Guidance offering.