I’ve never been big on postcards or snail mail<\/a>, but holding this piece of art in my hands, I understood the hype.<\/p>\n Shiroma, a 25-year-old architect-turned full time artist in Florida<\/a>, started her snail mail club in August, sending 5-by-7-inch prints of her artworks to subscribers around the US for $8.88 a month. She now has about 2,400 subscribers and earns about $16,000 a month from the gig.<\/p>\n “When I was working as an architect, this was more a documentation thing of my travels, something just for myself,” Shiroma said. “Then people told me that I should start selling them.”<\/p>\n She said that she started with commission work, priced above $200 per piece. However, her mail club became a way for her to make her art accessible and “get a steady income instead of going from commission to commission.”<\/p>\n Trinity Shiroma sends more than 2,000 snail-mail envelopes containing her architectural prints to her subscribers each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trinity Shiroma<\/p>\n Shiroma is one of many Gen Z<\/a> artists around the world who have figured out a way to guarantee a stable monthly paycheck: subscription-based snail-mail clubs.<\/p>\n The concept is simple: an art print\u00a0wrapped in a letter from the artist arrives at your doorstep\u00a0every month\u00a0you’re subscribed. The print often doubles as a postcard, and the artists also include additional interactive elements, such as coloring pages or stickers.<\/p>\n Most are priced under $10 a month, perfect for cost-conscious, analog-loving Gen Zers who like to spend on small luxuries and collectibles. As with all letters, you don’t know exactly when it’ll land, so recipients get a pleasant surprise from what feels like a pen pal.<\/p>\n Niloofar Abolfathi, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Singapore Management University, said the rise in popularity of snail mail fits a familiar pattern: the reemergence of products once thought obsolete, like film photography.<\/p>\n The hustle of packing hundreds of envelopes<\/p>\n Josephine Simon is a full time artist in NYC who mails her architectural prints to subscribers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Josephine Simon<\/p>\n Josephine Simon, like Shiroma, quit her architecture job to pursue art full time in August 2024. The NYC-based artist<\/a> started her art business with detailed pen sketches of buildings, which took about three to four hours each with fine-tip pens.<\/p>\n She said she quickly felt burnout setting in and tried to find a way to get her art out to more people without painstakingly drawing every piece.<\/p>\n “I was taking 30 commissions a month, which was crazy,” Simon said. “I realized if there were a way to get freedom and be able to work for myself, that would be the ultimate goal.”<\/p>\n Simon’s art prints feature sketches from places she’s traveled to.\u00a0<\/p>\n Josephine Simon<\/p>\n In August, she launched her print club, sending prints of her travel sketches from trips to Greece, Patagonia, Guatemala, and other places.<\/p>\n Simon, 26, now dedicates a week every month to her print club and the other three to working on commissions and other projects.<\/p>\n The most demanding part comes at the very end: packaging by hand for her 400 subscribers.<\/p>\n “It’s crazy to be doing this all yourself, but I see it as a nice break from other things I’m doing,” she said, adding that her family members sometimes help her out with the packing.<\/p>\n Shiroma said her parents help her pack thousands of envelopes monthly\u00a0<\/p>\n Trinity Shiroma<\/p>\n Shiroma said her process takes about a week from start to finish. She dedicates the first four days to making the art and writing the letter.<\/p>\n And the last three days are all about packaging. Her parents help her package 2,000 envelopes, and she handles the other 400.<\/p>\n A smart second stream of income<\/p>\n Kiki Klassen said she earns more from her art side gig than her full time social media job.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kiki Klassen<\/p>\n For Kiki Klassen, a Toronto-based artist, the snail-mail club began as a side hustle<\/a> in October 2024. Her art prints feature whimsical and colorful illustrations, and her letters center on gratitude and everyday observations.<\/p>\n “I started this side hustle mail club art project as a means of escape because I was working as a barista,” Klassen, 28, said. “I didn’t like what I was doing, making coffee all day. It was a little bit grueling.”<\/p>\n Then she got a job as a social media manager at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Toronto, where she now works four days a week. Klassen said her “Lucky Ducky Mail Club” art side hustle<\/a> now earns about 10,000 Canadian dollars, or about $7,200, monthly, close to double what she earns at her full-time job.<\/p>\n She said she’s too scared to quit her job and go into art full time<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It’s still so new, I’m worried it’s all going to go away on a moment’s notice,” Klassen said. “At this rate, it’s only been growing.”<\/p>\n Klassen said she’s nervous about quitting her full-time job, even though her side hustle brings in more money.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kiki Klassen<\/p>\n Abolfathi, the entrepreneurship professor from SMU, said that creative work often comes with highly variable income, making monthly subscriptions more reliable.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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