This message from janine@uppercasemagazine.com is sent to everyone on a general list, whether or not you have a print subscription to UPPERCASE magazine. If you do have a subscription to UPPERCASE magazine, renewal notices and subscription-specific messages always come from shop@uppercasemagazine.com. Not sure about your subscription's status? A personalized letter with the subscription period is included with each issue. Refer to your purchase receipt or use your email address to log in to uppercasemagazine.com (person icon in the upper right corner) to view your order history. Visit the Help page for more information. Please always direct subscription and customer service questions to shop@uppercasemagazine.com. Thank you!
Collage by Tracey Budge: "I discovered four of your magazines in our little free library! I POUNCED on them with glee and put on a very successful collage workshop, with so many fine pieces produced! I am going to devour as much of them as I can harvest."
Dear Reader,
In whatever way you've discovered UPPERCASE—whether via social media, a friend, the library, a shop or, like Tracey, a lucky find at a Little Free Library... I'm glad you're here on my newsletter list!
There's one very important next step, though...
Please make sure you also subscribe to the print magazine!
cover art by Lora Slobodian lettering by Lilla Rogers
"I'm so glad I finally treated myself to an UPPERCASE subscription—the amount of inspiration and goodness in the latest issue was worth it just for that! I'm going to get it for a friend as a gift, too. I really had no idea what to expect in the magazine based off the enews, and now I understand that the magazine is really the main event and I was missing out! So glad I got on board!"
UPPERCASE magazine is entirely supported by its readership. This magazine doesn't have any advertisements, sponsorships or government grants. Subscribers make it possible for me to produce this beautiful, high-quality print publication four times a year.
The magazine is printed here in Canada on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Paper, packaging, postage and freight costs are considerable and always increasing. Importantly, all writers, photographers and illustrators commissioned to create for UPPERCASE are compensated for their work. Each issue costs between $105,000 and $115,000 for content, production and shipping. (This does not include compensation for my efforts, paying the business loan on my studio, utilities, storage, technology costs, etc.) Producing a print magazine is an expensive enterprise!
I just finished filing my corporate taxes, so numbers are on my mind right now. I find it very useful and generous when other small businesses and creators share their numbers, so that's one reason I've mentioned these costs today. You can do the math to figure out how many subscriptions and renewals I need each quarter just to cover production costs. It's a lot. And it is not getting any easier. So I'm thinking about ways to reduce costs and some of the more burdensome aspects of my business. Maybe some of the past methods that I kept simply because they're familiar need to be changed. I'm looking, evaluating, considering.
It's important to pay attention. To your own life. Your mental health. Your finances. Your creative business. And to what's happening in the world around us.
Our collective present reality is not the future I could have imagined all those years ago when I started this magazine. (But, to be honest, when I published that first issue in April 2009, I didn't think that I would still be at it in 2026!) The magazine has evolved in beautiful and fulfilling ways over its 17 years, and I'm very proud of what it has become.
I'm working on the 70th issue right now. I'm committed to reaching at least 100 issues of UPPERCASE magazine. That's only seven and a half more years. Thirty issues from now, I'll be 60 years old!
It's weird to be considering existential threats—climate change, wars, AI, the ongoing pandemic—while planning the next few years of my one-person publishing business. And it's probably "bad for business" for me to remind you of these harsh realities in a weekly newsletter that is supposed to be about creativity and optimism.
But what I'm working through right now, personally and professionally, is how to hold on to hope, authenticity and beauty without ignoring the uglier realities of our time. To create and share in a way that acknowledges and doesn't diminish the truth. To hone in on what's important, focusing on core values and sustainability. Perhaps it is smaller, more distilled. Concentrated, in a time of attention scarcity.
Something that sparkles a bit more brightly in the darkness.
Use the code take10 on purchases over $100 to get $10 off. Cannot be combined with other codes or retroactively applied, but the code can now be used more than once if you're returning for something new!
In the UK? Central Books will receive Quilted by late April. In Australia? Can Do Books has placed an order.
SHIPPING NOTE I can ship subscriptions, books and back issues to Canada, USA, UK, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia. There are no tariffs on publications from Canada to the USA; for all other countries, customs are at the discretion of the recipient's country and are the customer's responsibility.
POPULAR TITLES
Volume A: Art Supplies
The enduring appeal of art-making ingredients, materials and accessories to inform and inspire your creativity!
All subscriber copies are the post. Don't expect to receive this issue until April!!! The postal system takes time and service times vary greatly.
Martina Flor'sThe Lettering Seminar enrollment closes TODAY. Through this 8-week seminar, learn how to turn your hand lettering craft into a career. This page has extensive information about what's in the course. (affiliate links, thank you! They may take a moment or two to load in your browser.)
Open Calls for UPPERCASE #70
Projects of repetition and the search for perfection
Is there any truth to the saying, "practice makes perfect"? Do you often repeat an idea, a motif or a creative process? How does repetition inform your creative practice? Does repeating something over and over change you or your work? Deadline: April 1st at 5pm MDT → Submission details and form
Circles: concept, symbol & motif
Share your creative projects—artwork, crafts and designs—where the circle is a primary feature, concept, symbol or motif. Deadline: April 1st at 5pm MDT → Submission details and form → view all open calls
Comments & replies to Janine
I am happy to hear from you and welcome your comments!
100% of sales from Little U are donated to UNICEF for humanitarian aid in Gaza. $31,420 was donated from 2023 to 2025. 2026 to date: $1,300 has been raised—let's get it to $2000 by the end of the month, before my quarterly remittance to UNICEF.