Setting up a mailing list is painful

by Leave a Comment

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.

Author In Progress Report – August 2025

by Leave a Comment

I’m still working on setting up the system I have in mind for everything. As a result, most of August was spent finishing a free novelette that I plan to give away as a “freebie” to mailing list subscribers. Everything else moved a bit slower this month.

Website

I only wrote a handful of blog posts, since I focused most of my time on the mailing list project. Once that’s fully set up, I’ll get back to posting more regularly. Still, I’ve promised myself that no matter what, I’ll always write at least these monthly updates.

Newsletter

This was my main project for August. My goal was to finish it before September, but I didn’t quite make it. The good news: I’m almost done. Writing and editing of the novelette are finished, and the translation is about 60% complete. After that, I still need to design the cover and switch to a better mailing list provider. I’m confident I’ll wrap it up fully in September.

Free Books

My STORY52 project continues, though in August I only published two new short stories:

  • Book 5 | Those Who Go To War (US – DE): German 14 – English 11
  • Book 6 | The Red Button (US – DE): German 21 – English 7

Writing

My main goal for 2025 is to establish a system that allows me to write (and publish) a new book every month in 2026. The writing system is already in place. For the pulp genres I usually write in, 50–60K words is a good target for a novel. That translates to about 2,000 words a day—something I can already handle comfortably.

Alongside that, I’ll be focusing on a single series, and I want to limit myself to that before diving into additional multi-novel projects.

Projected releases:

  • Endless – free novelette for mailing list subscribers | Writing: finished | Editing: finished | Translation: 60%
  • October release: 17 (Book 1 of my new series) | Writing: finished | Editing: 75%
  • November release: Therapy (a thriller-satire) | Writing: finished | Editing: 15%
  • December release: Crowley (a thriller) | Writing: 85%

The overall release plan: about 9–10 standalone titles each year, plus 2–3 installments of the ongoing 17 series. That would give me a new release on the 1st of every month starting in 2026.

X / Twitter

I’m still following people to build up some refollows, but I’m not sure yet what kind of content I should post. Without an audience and interaction, Twitter feels pretty dull.

For now, I share the occasional movie review when I watch something. If I ever build a small audience there, I might also post writing updates and progress. At this point, it’s mainly just a place where I’ve secured my handle.

Instagram

Same story here—I’ve reserved my handle but don’t have a clear long-term strategy for content yet. At the moment, I’m posting the book covers I design. In the future, there’ll be more, but I’m still figuring out what.

YouTube

This month I had some health issues that cost me my voice, so I couldn’t record many videos. I should be back on a regular schedule soon, though.

My tutorial channel now has 11K subscribers, but I don’t expect huge growth from here on.

To Conclude

August was a slower month, with most of my energy going into behind-the-scenes work. Still, the system I envisioned is gradually taking shape.

Author In Progress Report – July 2025

by Leave a Comment

My first real month as an author is officially done. I published my debut novel at the start of July and gave it away for free to more than 600 readers. A handful of people purchased it afterward, and I’ve been getting about one new reader per day via Kindle Unlimited (KENP). Not exactly a bestseller success story—but it’s a start.

Here’s a breakdown of how everything went:

Free Book Giveaways

As I’ve mentioned before, my strategy is to give all my books away for free in order to build a readership. Being free is really the only “selling point” I have as an indie author trying to break into an oversaturated market where nobody knows who I am. So, free it is.

STORY52

This is my weekly short story project where I release a new short story ebook on Amazon which allows me to give it away from Monday until Saturday. Here are the download numbers so far:

  • Book 1 | Black Market Dreams (US – DE): 18 German – 10 English downloads
  • Book 2 | The Last Portrait (US – DE): 19 German – 16 English downloads
  • Book 3 | The Companion (US – DE): 16 German – 6 English downloads
  • Book 4 | Statues (US – DE): 8 German – 3 English downloads

Amazon’s KDP system allows me to offer books for free for 5 days every 3 months. After a year, I’ll have enough content to give away a new short story each week, every year—until I get old and wrinkly.

The goal is not to make money from short stories, but to create promotional material that gets readers interested in my other work at no cost. Frankly, I don’t think it’s even possible to earn anything substantial with short stories on Amazon.

My First Novel: Forever

From my perspective, this is a success. Forever was downloaded 630 times in German and 44 times in English, resulting in 13 ratings on Amazon. With an average rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars, new readers can see that I don’t write complete trash—but actually offer some real entertainment.

As mentioned earlier, the book also brought in Kindle Unlimited readers—roughly one new reader per day—and led to a few purchases of the digital version.

To everyone who bought or reviewed one of my books: You’re awesome—thank you!

If you haven’t checked it out, grab it here: US – English | DE – German

My Website

Still very much a work in progress. I’m experimenting with scheduling and trying to figure out what kind of content would be interesting and helpful to you.

Newsletter

Short-term goal: Finish a novelette to give away to new newsletter subscribers.
Long-term goal: Once I reach 100 real subscribers, I’ll begin sending out weekly emails with updates, tips, behind-the-scenes content, and more—for readers, writers, and anyone curious about this author journey.

The website itself

Last month, website traffic increased even though I barely touched it, which is a good sign. That said, I haven’t received many comments yet—just the usual spam. The main purpose of the site is to become a central hub for the community I hope to build. So if you’re reading this: drop a comment and say hi. You might be the first to do so.

X/Twitter

I’m still figuring out a posting routine here. What I’ve already learned: You won’t gain traction unless you follow people first.

At first, I wanted to be “that cool guy” who follows no one but gets tons of followers anyway. After a month, I realized: if you don’t follow anyone, nobody even notices you exist.

Unless you bring an audience from somewhere else (which I don’t have), you’re essentially invisible. So, my new approach is to follow about 10 new people daily—mostly in certain communities—and get some traction with follow backs.

Content-wise, I post daily thoughts about movies, shows, and books—kind of like a mini review each day. I’m planning to write more about writing and the author life too, but only once I’ve built up an audience that actually engages (likes, comments, retweets).

Follow me here on Twitter if you’re interested: @michael_brig

Instagram

I secured my handle and uploaded a few book covers. That’s it.

So far, I have absolutely no idea how to grow on Instagram or what to post there. I’ll focus on figuring that out later—after I’ve established a working system for the platforms that currently matter more to me: Twitter, my website, and Amazon.

You can follow me here and say hi: @michaelbrig

YouTube

My tutorial channel is holding steady at around 10,000 subscribers. But honestly, it feels like there’s not much growth potential left—I might never hit the 100K mark.

To be honest, I believe YouTube has placed my entire profile in a kind of sandbox. Creating videos often feels like I’m fighting windmills. My two author channels, OnPaper and StoryLines, barely get any impressions, even though I see brand-new channels pulling in 100 views per video with far worse thumbnails than mine.

There’s not much I can do about that. All I can do is evaluate whether YouTube is still worth my time and effort.

Writing

I’m super happy with how writing went in July. I’ve found a routine that really works for me—one that might even allow me to finish a new book each month in the near future.

Right now, I’m juggling:

  • Two series
  • One standalone novel
  • A weekly short story for my STORY52 project

The 17 Series

I’m already writing Part 5, even though I haven’t published Part 1 yet. I’m about 15% into the newest isntallment.

D.E.A.D.

This is my second series—think Harry Potter, but in a secret school for spies and criminals. I’ve written about 25% of Book One.

Crowley

This is my next standalone project: a serial killer thriller with ties to Aleister Crowley. I’m roughly 10% into the first draft.

Editing / Translating / Publishing

AI tools have been a game-changer for me—they catch way more typos than I ever could. That’s helped me move much faster than before in the editing stage. Still, editing and translating remain the parts I enjoy the least about being an author.

I’ve made a commitment: until I earn money from my writing, I won’t spend money from my other projects on it. My author career has to stand on its own two feet or not stand at all.

Next Release – Endless

A novelette I plan to give away for free to anyone who signs up for my newsletter. I aim to put it out in August.

September Release – Part 1 of the 17 Series

A mix of James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and Jack Reacher. I’m in the final editing phase, so this should go live in September 2025.

October Release – Therapy

I finished writing this one in July. Next up: the first editing round. If all goes well, it will be released in October 2025.

To Conclude

There’s still so much to learn, to test, and to figure out. But the most important part? It’s fun. And for the first time, with Forever, I feel like I’ve found a way to attract some readers.

I’m still a long way from being able to call myself a “real” author—but the journey has begun. And the good thing about starting from zero is that the only way from here is up.

Thanks to everyone who reads my stuff. Writing wouldn’t be nearly as fun without you.

See you next time,
Brig

I Started A Newsletter

by Leave a Comment

Everyone says you need a mailing list. I’m not sure if that’s true. But I was banned from Medium a year ago, and YouTube has been shadow-banning my account for political content I posted nearly a decade ago.

If I’d had a list, I could’ve stayed in touch with my readers from Medium. Since I didn’t, I had to start over from scratch — not a great experience. But that’s exactly how the social media overlords designed it.

This time, I want to be at least somewhat prepared. A mailing list seems like a good tool to have.

I don’t expect it to grow overnight. Like I said, I’m starting from almost zero, trying to build my author project. But the goal is to eventually have a tight-knit inner circle — people who support each other online by sharing links, insights, and checking out each other’s projects.

This isn’t meant to be a spammy or scammy thing. I hate spammers and scammers as much as any sane person. For now, I only share links when I’m offering free books or discounted new releases on Amazon. As the list grows, I’ll keep adding more value to the newsletter.

If that sounds interesting, you can sign up here:

Join the Newsletter

I’ve Updated My About Page

by Leave a Comment

Trying to become an author is now my main online project. I’ve updated my About page to reflect that more accurately. Over the past few days, I also spent some time figuring out how Twitter works. I think posting a weekly progress report there could be an engaging format for readers.

But Twitter moves fast—very fast. Posts get buried quickly. Either they catch attention within ten minutes, or they disappear into the void. There is a Highlights feature, but I doubt many people would scroll through all my weekly reports there. That’s why I’ve decided to link those tweets here on my website on the about page —for easy access and a clear overview of my progress as an author.

I also made some changes to the link structure. Linking to my tutorial channel didn’t really make sense anymore. I’m still doing daily tutorials, but that project runs independently on YouTube without any cross-promotion—so I’ve removed it from the About section.

More adjustments will follow as I continue testing and evaluating what works best on each platform.

For now, my focus is mainly on writing updates on Twitter, producing at least one video essay per week, and publishing my short stories here and on Substack for free. Next up is finding out how Amazon’s in-build promotion methods work. I have an idea about using them to find readers, but I don’t know if it’s going to work.

All these plans might change and evolve, but I hope to have a solid system and publishing schedule set up across all platforms I care about by the end of the year.

I’ll keep you updated here on the blog.