How to use writing to build your art business without the headaches

I Have the Means — Dave Conrey

This is a hill I will die on.

An email list and a newsletter are hands down the single best way to grow and maintain an engaged audience.

You may repel from that statement because writing a long-form newsletter gives you the scaries, but stick with me because I share my thoughts on all the most common objections by the end.

Before I dig into that, though, you need to know something about me.

I was a writer before I was an artist.

• Creative writing was my minor in college
  (before I dropped out and became a graphic designer instead)
• I wrote my personal blog in 2005
• I started my first business blog in 2007
• I wrote my first book in 2013
• I wrote a total of four books in three years
• I now write a long-form newsletter twice a week to thousands of readers.

I was confident writing the newsletter because of my experience writing the books. I consistently wrote long-form blog posts, which became the framework for my books. The long-form blogs started because I was compelled to expand on the short-form ideas I shared on early social media sites…