The Mailing Service I Use For My Newsletter

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Finding a mailing service that actually fit my (very basic) needs turned out to be a nerve-wracking process. After trying out about a dozen platforms over multiple weeks—and fully setting up a few of them—I finally settled on MailerLite.

This isn’t a sponsored recommendation. I just want to document what I’m doing as I try to build an audience for my writing. There may be even better options out there, and if I come across one, I will switch. But for now, MailerLite checked all the boxes I cared about:

  • A free entry-level plan
  • A built-in (and free) autoresponder
  • No overbearing marketing nonsense
  • An easy-to-use dashboard

Currently, MailerLite lets you use its service for free with up to 500 subscribers. I’m nowhere near that. At the moment, my mailing list has exactly two subscribers—both from personal connections.

I expect my numbers to stay low for months, maybe even years. That’s why I wasn’t looking for a pricey provider that would charge me $20 monthly just to send an email to two people—something I could easily do manually as well. If I ever grow a real audience and start making money from my work, I’ll happily pay. But until then, I don’t want to fund my writing project with money from other projects. So free was a must.

The biggest dealbreaker with most services was their so-called “free tier.” Many offered it, but without an autoresponder. I specifically needed an autoresponder so that new subscribers would automatically receive a free book I’ve written exclusively for them, called Endless.

For example, Mailchimp doesn’t include an autoresponder unless you’re on a paid plan, even if you only have a handful of subscribers. MailerLite, fortunately, does.

Another point that mattered to me: I didn’t want to be bombarded with marketing and sales pitches the moment I signed up. The worst experience I had was with a service called Kit. On paper, it seemed perfect—free plan, autoresponder included, easy setup. I spent about an hour getting everything ready, only for them to lock my account after the setup until I scheduled a mandatory sales chat with one of their reps. My entire setup was deactivated until I listened to their pitch for a paid plan. Honestly, that was one of the most disgusting business practices I’ve ever seen. My advice: avoid Kit completely.

So far, MailerLite hasn’t annoyed me once. Setup was smooth, everything works, it just does what I need it to do, and it’s all free.

For now, if you’re starting out and looking for a mailing service for your own list, I can recommend: MailerLite

You’ll need to sign up for the mailing list again to get the free book (sorry!).

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I apologize to everyone who already subscribed, but Mailchimp restricted my account because I refused to give them my phone number. As a result, I no longer have access to the old list and can’t import it into the new email provider I set up yesterday.

So, if you were already subscribed and you’d like to get the free book, I can’t send it to you directly—you’ll need to re-enter your email address using the form here: Newsletter. Once you do, you should automatically receive an email with the book.

Sorry again for the inconvenience.

The bottom line:
Having a mailing list is just another thing you don’t truly own. The provider controls it, and they can do whatever they want with it. It’s like social media—your account can be banned and years of work can vanish in an instant, leaving you no way to reach your audience.

That’s the reality of much of the internet today.

Setting up a mailing list is painful

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Oh boy, setting up a mailing list turned out to be a huge pain in the butt. It was an odyssey I didn’t need.

I remember doing it more than 10 years ago, and back then it was pretty easy. I used Mailchimp, which was intuitive and even offered fair free plans for beginners.

So naturally, my first impulse was to return to Mailchimp. But wow, things have changed. The backend is such a mess that just finding your way around is so consuming. Sure, designing forms and emails comes with way more options nowadays, but beginners don’t need all that. Give us a simple, clean interface to get started—don’t confuse us with dozens of options we can’t even use on a free plan anyway.

Yet, what really killed it for me was that Mailchimp no longer offers autoresponder emails on free plans. Since I wanted to give away a free book to new subscribers, this was the one feature I needed most. I don’t have an audience yet, no big mailing list to import—I’m literally starting at zero. So why would I pay right away for a service that won’t make me money in the foreseeable future? Once the list grows, I’ll gladly pay. But not before.

And then came the final straw: they told me today that unless I hand over my phone number for two-factor authentication, I won’t even be able to sign in anymore.

Give us your money. Give us your data. Give us your soul.

So yeah… adios, Mailchimp.

Next, I tried Kit (formerly ConvertKit). At first, things looked promising. The interface was so much better—clean, intuitive, perfect for beginners. And they even offered autoresponders in the free tier. I thought I had finally found my service.

But not so fast, kiddo. Just an hour after setting everything up, most of my account functions were suddenly disabled. The only way to unlock them? Go through a forced conversation with support about how their service could “elevate my business.”

Excuse me? I don’t have a business. I’m an indie author starting from scratch. I don’t want to buy—I just want to try. Maybe in a few years this will turn into more than a hobby, and then sure, I’ll pay. But not before I even get my first subscriber.

So after wasting two hours building a mailing list with an autoresponder, Kit basically locked me out unless I sat through a sales pitch I never asked for.

Therefore: Goodbye, Kit.

For now, I’ve moved on to a smaller service called MailerLite. They seem to allow free autoresponders, at least until you hit 500 subscribers. Who knows, maybe in an hour, tomorrow, or two weeks from now they’ll pull the same nonsense as Kit and Mailchimp.

But at the moment, the mailing list is working. I’ve tested it myself. If you haven’t subscribed yet, go check it out—you’ll get a free book in return for your email address.

And if MailerLite also starts annoying me, well… the odyssey will continue. And I’ll definitely keep you posted.

Get My Latest Book “Endless” For Free

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I finally finished setting up my newsletter form. It’s been quite an odyssey, and I’m still not 100% sure if it will remain stable in the future. But I tested it today, and it definitely works for now.

If you sign up with your email here: https://michaelbrig.com/newsletter/ you’ll automatically receive an email from me with a link to my latest book, which you can download as a free PDF (in English and German).

I hope you enjoy reading it!

Best regards,
Brig

Starting is Always the Hardest Part

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The more new things I try, the more I realize that everything works the same way. Whatever you do, it’s not the doing that’s difficult—it’s the starting.

When you want to write a book, reaching 60,000 words feels like an impossible mountain to climb. But all it really takes is sitting down and writing the first sentence. Then, somehow, the next ones follow. Before you know it, you’ve finished your first page. If you keep at it every day, writing a full novel in a month or two no longer seems like a huge challenge. It becomes the natural result of habit.

The same thing happens when you look in the mirror and notice your belly is a bit bigger than it was in your twenties. “Oh, boy, I’m getting fat. I need to start hitting the gym.”

That moment—the choice to get off the couch and move—is what separates people who never lose the weight from those who get in shape. You don’t need to spend three hours a day in the gym. All it takes is committing to five minutes of exercise daily. Once you start, those five minutes often turn into a full 30-minute workout. Again, the habit then creates the result of being fit and in shape.

Writing (and publishing) this blog post took me half an hour. At first, I hesitated. I have a novel to finish, a mailing list to update, a YouTube video to produce, a workout to do, clients to deal with, and my apartment to clean. But as soon as I opened my word processor and typed the first sentence, the rest appeared almost effortlessly. The inner voice telling me to procrastinate and write that post tomorrow went quiet.

With everything I ever did, I realized that doing is easy—once you’ve done the hard part: starting.