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.