Your First Fanbase: Choosing a Newsletter Service for New Authors

Let's talk about one of the most tried and true marketing tools for authors.

Newsletters are used by thousands of authors, both independent and traditionally published, to build and interact with their fanbases. 

Today, we’ll cover whether you should consider newsletter marketing as part of your budding career as a novelist, and, if so, which service you might want to choose.

Should You Consider Newsletter Marketing?

Newsletters are great marketing tools for authors for a number of reasons. They allow you to connect directly with your readers, share updates, and build a loyal following. They give you more control over your communications with your fans than most other platforms, and they allow you to send your communications directly into your fans' inboxes.

If you are just starting out and writing your first book, however, you may not have given much thought yet into what sort of author voice you will have or even where you'll go to find your true fans. You may not have a story yet that is ready to publish. In that case, beginning a newsletter at this time might not be right for everyone…but sometimes it will be.

To decide whether you should consider newsletter marketing at this time, consider your goals. Setting up a newsletter service might be right for you now if:

• You are writing a book you intend to publish for sale, such as on Amazon’s KDP platform, Kobo’s Writing Life platform, or through a distributor like Draft2Digital and you intend to write more similar books in the future that you expect to appeal to a similar audience.
• You are writing a story you intend to publish to a free reading site, such as Wattpad or Ream, and you are hoping to build an audience in anticipation of publishing future books.

If you already have a newsletter service that you are happy with, the rest of this email isn’t particularly relevant to you, so I give you permission to skip reading the rest of the article and to get back to writing your next work in progress!

For the rest of you, first ask yourself if newsletter marketing is something you are willing to do. We strongly recommend newsletter marketing simply for the reasons laid out above, but if you know you are just not willing to write and send newsletters on a regular basis (once a week, once a month, etc.), then you don’t want to waste your time setting up a newsletter service and trying to entice readers to subscribe.

Once you have decided you want to use newsletter marketing, using the right service will make your job much easier.

Comparing Services

Today, let’s compare three popular newsletter services: MailerLite, Kit (formerly ConvertKit), and Author.email:

1. MailerLite

• Key Strengths:
  • User-Friendly Interface: MailerLite is known for its intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, making it a great choice for beginners.
  • Affordability: It's generally considered one of the more budget-friendly options, especially for those just starting out, as it has a generous free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails sent per month.
  • Web Presence: MailerLite makes it easy to create not just landing pages but also simple websites without requiring a third-party hosting service.
  • Simple Automations: You can create simple automations even on the free plan.
• Potential Drawbacks:
  • Identity Verification: You will need to confirm your identity. For example, that your domain name belongs to you. You will be able to create an account and check out the interface, but they will not allow you to send emails using their service until after they verify you are who you say you are.
  • Customer Service: MailerLite transitioned away from their legacy plans over the past couple of years, and switching from the classic version to the new version was not as seamless as one would hope. That said, it’s unlikely that there will be another major change in their platform in the foreseeable future.

2. Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

• Key Strengths:
  • Designed for Creators: Kit is built specifically with creators in mind (including authors), offering features like tag-based segmentation and automated email sequences to help you build relationships with your readers.
  • Strong Automation: Kit excels in automation capabilities, allowing you to create complex workflows that trigger emails based on specific actions your subscribers take (but not on the free tier; see below.)
  • Monetization: Kit offers several ways to monetize your newsletter service, including selling ebooks, courses, and other creative content, as well as setting up subscription-based newsletters and tip jars. These may not all be available on the free tier and you will need a significant number of subscribers before monetizing your newsletter will be successful.
  • “Free” Tier: You can have up to 10,000 subscribers on Kit’s “free” tier, as well as unlimited broadcast emails and landing pages.
• Potential Drawbacks:
  • “Free” Tier isn’t actually free: While the “Newsletter” tier doesn’t cost any money, you do have to include Kit branding in your emails, and are required to show the Free Recommendations window after somebody opts in, which points your readers to other people’s newsletters.
  • Limited automations on Free Tier: You can only set up one basic automation on the free tier. The rest of your emails will be broadcast emails.
  • Higher Price Point: Kit is generally more expensive than MailerLite, especially as your list grows. At 1,000 subscribers, it costs almost twice as much as MailerLite if you want access to more than one automation.

3. Author.email

• Key Strengths:
  • Specifically for Authors: This service is designed with the unique needs of authors in mind, offering features like integrations with book platforms and tools for tracking sales. They don’t allow anyone other than authors to use their service, and so have a better time managing their sender reputation.
  • Price: Author.email will be the cheapest option of these three; they only cost $11 per month if you have fewer than 10,000 subscribers and you can send unlimited emails.
• Potential Drawbacks:
  • No Free Tier: They do have a 30-day unlimited free trial, but you will have to pay to use their service on an on-going basis.
  • Waiting List: Author.email onboards every customer one at a time, so you will have to join a waiting list and be vetted before they will allow you to try their service.
  • No Website/Landing Pages: Subscription forms will need to be embedded on your site rather than being hosted by Author.email.

Here's a quick comparison table:

Feature	MailerLite	Kit	Author.email
Ease of Use	Generally easy	User-friendly, more complex	Generally easy
Price	Reasonable	Most Expensive	Cheapest
Automation	Good	Strong	Minimal
Author Focused	No	No	Yes
Deliverability	Good	Good	Good
Free Tier	1k Subscribers, 12k emails/mo, no expiration	10k Subscribers, Unlimited emails, no expiration	Unlimited Subscribers, Unlimited emails, 30 Day Trial
Availability	Requires Identification	Instant	Waiting List
Customizable Domain	Paid Option	Yes	n/a

Choosing a Service

These three aren’t the only newsletter services out there; there are literally dozens of them available to choose from. 

We have used a lot of different services over the years, and most really aren’t appropriate or cost-effective for a new author. They are either too complicated, too expensive, or cater to other types of marketing professionals that have different needs than your average author.

Once your list has grown, and you find that you do have more complicated needs (perhaps to manage in-person events, or to sell directly to your customers, or to be managed by staff instead of yourself), then at that point it might be worth looking at the alternatives.

At that point, you may even want to look into hosting your own service like we do, but that’s definitely overkill for most authors who will be better served by letting a third party provide their newsletter.

So for now, here are some questions to ask yourself which of these three might be right for you:

• If you're on a tight budget and need a simple, user-friendly option: MailerLite is probably the best option here.
• If you need advanced automation and are willing to invest more: Kit is a powerful choice and will give you the most options. 
• If you have a sizable number of subscribers and want to make more money from those subscribers: Kit has built-in options for offering more products to subscribers.
• If you want a service built specifically for authors with book platform integrations: Author.email could be a good fit.
• If you are just starting a newsletter for the first time and have no current subscribers: MailerLite is probably the best option with no up-front costs.

Still not sure what’s best for you? Then your next steps should be to…

• Research: Click the links above to dive deeper into each platform's website. Look for pricing, specific features, and reviews.
• Free Trials: Sign up for free trials to test out each service. See which one feels most comfortable and intuitive for you.
• Consider Your Needs: Think about your specific needs for your newsletter and what you want to accomplish.
• Don't Overthink It: Remember, you can always switch services later if your needs change. The most important thing is to get started building your list.

Our New Author Recommendation:

You can’t really go wrong with any of the three we’ve highlighted above. There is one service that we recommend that authors start with as a general rule, though, and that is MailerLite.

MailerLite offers the best combination of a free tier, functionality, and easily learned user interface while providing room to cost-effectively grow when you need more advanced features or have built a larger list.

It’s also easy to export your list from MailerLite, which you should do on a regular basis anyway as a backup, so that you can move to another service if you decide it will work better for you.