Newsletters are a powerful tool for growing and engaging your overall audience. A free newsletter can help you attract new fans, and it’s the best way to start. Once your newsletter is taking off, then you can also experiment with a paid version. This can increase the value of your membership. In this article, you’ll learn some tips to help you start your newsletter on Patreon.
Advantages of creating a newsletter on Patreon
Creating a newsletter on Patreon lets you reach your fans directly while keeping all your community and content in one place. You can deliver engaging experiences without worrying about multiple tools or extra fees.
- One home for your community. Your mailing list, listeners, followers and more in one space
- Bring fans out of the inbox. Send engaging emails and publish podcasts, videos, galleries and more – all from one simple, code-free editor
- No additional email fees. Only pay a percentage of earnings when you start accepting paid memberships or one-time purchases
- Built-in monetisation. Easy for fans to become paying members
How to start?
The first step is deciding what you want to offer. A newsletter can be anything you want it to be. Think about what you can commit to delivering on a minimum monthly basis, and how it ties into your goals for your newsletter and what you already offer. Check some tips below, depending on your objectives:
- If your focus is on growing your audience, regular touchpoints keep free members engaged, encouraging them to upgrade, and remind paid members of their benefits. Try using your newsletter for:
- Personal updates: Post life updates, journal entries and work in progress
- Curated links or lists: Share articles, products, films or books you’ve loved lately, and add in your insights or takeaways
- Promotion and release schedules: A heads-up about merch, events, upcoming/recent Patreon content, collabs, discount codes and offers
- If you want to increase the value of your memberships, you can use a newsletter to go deeper into work you only want to share with your paid members, such as:
- Exclusive/early access: Release bonus episodes, drafts that were never published, or extended/behind-the-scenes details of something you shared publicly.
- Community feedback: Create polls, ask for questions from your community or add links to livestreams.
Name and brand it
Give your newsletter a name and style that reflect your creative world. On Patreon, a newsletter can be more than words. It can be audio, video, comics, performance updates or RPG adventures, for example. Use concept-driven, playful naming to make it feel distinctly yours and instantly recognisable to fans.
- Use fun or inventive names (“Whateverletter”, etc.)
- Highlight the format or type of content you share
- Make it consistent with your Patreon page and overall creative voice
Thinking about starting a newsletter? Check out “Make a newsletter about anything (yes, even soup)” on Patreon for Creators. Currently, Patreon for Creators is only available in English.
How to create a newsletter
Your newsletter is a Patreon post that you also send as an email. Start with an eye-catching header that can either stay the same across issues or change with each edition. Include a subject line that acts as your post title, along with the main text and any media you want to add. It’s a good idea to include a call to action, and you can add a paid section if you choose.
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- Select Create
from the left navigation and select Post. You can choose the Newsletter template at the bottom of the editor to get started, or create your post from scratch
- While creating your post, click on the buttons in the top menu area to add your header media.
- Choose from an image (recommended 1600x400 px, 4:1 ratio), video (.mov, .mp4, .mpeg, .ogg) or audio/podcast episode
- Video and audio posts display a play icon in inboxes, but fans will need to open Patreon to play them
- Add the title for this edition of your newsletter
- Start typing and highlight any text you want to format
- To add inline media, a paywall, customizable buttons, dividers, or attachments, hover on a new line and click the + icon
- For in-line media, you can also drag and drop
- In the Settings sidebar on the right side, you can define the audience with Free or Paid access.
- Additional options may appear depending on the chosen audience. For more details, visit our article on controlling audience access to your posts
- Then, you can manage notifications in the Emails and notifications section
- Email and app notifications are turned on by default
- Decide whether to show just a preview of the post in an email, or the full post for those who have access (those who don’t have access will still get a preview)
- To add the newsletter to a collection, select it from the dropdown menu in the Add to collection section. To create a new collection, click the Create collection button in the dropdown menu
- You can schedule a post by toggling on the option Set publish date in the side panel. If you want to publish it right away, click on Publish
- Select Create
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- Tap the
- The editor will open. While creating your post, tap the + icon in the top menu to add your header media
- Choose from an image (recommended 1600x400 px, 4:1 ratio), video (.mov, .mp4, .mpeg, .ogg) or audio/podcast episode
- Video and audio posts display a play icon in inboxes, but fans will need to open Patreon to play them
- Add the title for this edition of your newsletter
- Start typing to open the format bar at the bottom
- To add in-line media, a paywall, customisable buttons, dividers or attachments, hover on a new line and in the format bar, tap the + icon
- In the menu at the top, you can set the Audience to either Free or Paid access by tapping the corresponding button.
- Additional options may appear depending on the chosen audience. For more details, visit our article on controlling audience access to your posts
- Additional options may appear depending on the chosen audience. For more details, visit our article on controlling audience access to your posts
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Emails and notifications can be managed in the Audience section as well
- Email and app notifications are turned on by default
- Decide whether to show just a preview of the post in an email, or the full post for those who have access (those who don’t have access will still get a preview)
- To add the newsletter to a collection, tap the Settings button at the top and select it from the drop-down menu
- In the Settings, you can schedule a post by toggling on the Set publish date option, and once you’re done, close the panel by tapping X. Then select Schedule at the top. If you prefer to publish it straight away and not set a publish date in the future, tap on Publish
- Tap the
Additional tips
Feature the newsletter on your page
Create a newsletter Collection to highlight your publication. To do this, select Creator studio from the left navigation — you'll land on your Dashboard. From there, on your page, click Edit page to add the collection as a featured section. Each time you draft a new issue, add it to the collection from the editor sidebar.
Define your audience
We recommend making at least two or three of your first five issues fully free so all members receive them in their inboxes. For later issues, include a paid-only section but keep the preview engaging for free members.
Add a paywall
Use the draggable paywall to add a paid section within your post. Everything above the paywall is public, and everything below is for paid members. To add one, select the + icon and choose Paywall, dragging it to the desired spot, or change the audience setting to Paid. Keep at least 30% of each issue public so readers know what to expect. When sending an issue with a paywall, choose how much of the email preview to show. Showing the full post is recommended.
Already have a mailing list?
If you want to import an existing mailing list so you can send your newsletter through Patreon, we can help you with that. Please fill in this form if you’re interested, and we’ll check whether you qualify to have your mailing lists imported to your Patreon account.
Please be aware that if you selected to have a mailing list imported, these contacts will become free members:
- They will receive all emails you send to free or all members
- They’ll need to create a Patreon account (if they don’t already have one) to comment, vote in polls or participate in chats, livestreams, etc.
- You can send a one-time welcome email to them when they’re added to Patreon