Mail Chimp or Mailerlite or ...

[Ricky Roma]

So I've gone over my limit on Mail Chimp and will need to either go premium or switch to a new platform. Anyone using Mailerlite? Something else?

[Gregg Bell]

I'm using EmailOctopus. I had MailChimp and it got really expensive, so I switched. When I shopped around for alternatives I liked Mailerlite, but it was pretty expensive too. I've had EmailOctopus now several years now and couldn't be happier. They're very reliable and very economical. I have a link with them I put in all my ebooks to give away a free short story in exchange for a signup to my newsletter list. Beyond that they have a ton of other features that I don't use. I love their editor, and the customer support is friendly and quick to respond and very helpful.

[Jeff Tanyard]

I use Substack because it's free.

I'm reluctant to recommend it, though, because I have no idea what your particular needs are, and Substack wasn't designed for exactly this purpose, so it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that a traditional mailing list service would provide.

Regardless, there's an option for your consideration.  Hope that helps. 

[Ricky Roma]

I'm in that zone where I have close to 2,000 email signups. Mail Chimp used to be free to this poitn, but it looks like they've changed their rules. Will give EmailOctopus a try, can't beat the price!

[alhawke]

I went from mail chimp to Mailerlite. I prefer Mailerlite. It's cheaper and there's no difference in functionality. They're both expensive when you get >2000 readers.
... I'll have to check out emailoctopus.

[Lorri Moulton]

I like Substack for what I'm doing at the moment.  It doesn't have all the features, but it works for serializing a story.

[LilyBLily]

I use MailerLite. It has a good rep. Honestly, if your list isn't engaged, it doesn't matter which company you use; you're just throwing money down a rat hole.

[Bill Hiatt]

I've had good experience with Mailerlite. Uptime is good, technical issues are few, and tech support is strong. I also like the newsletter creation process better than I did Mailchimp's.

I will briefly repeat what I've said about Substack in other threads. As Jeff and Lorri point out, Substack is really designed for a different purpose, so how you use your newsletter makes a big difference. If it really is a newsletter in the traditional sense--that is, if you just advertise new releases, sales, public appearances, etc., then that's indeed not the purpose of Substack. A Substack newsletter can include those kinds of announcements, but it's designed for the distribution of serial content. There's no reason you can't do whatever you want with it, and it is free, but keep in mind that at some point, Substack, which makes money through a 10% cut in paid subscriptions, might get fussy about people who aren't making any effort to get paid subscriptions (which you aren't going to get just from an announcement newsletter). In other words, you might have to switch at some point in the future.

For that reason, I'd recommend Substack only for people who want to publish serialized content. (If you think you have subscribers who just want the announcements, you can make the other content a separate section and give readers the option of signing up for it or not.) What Substack does very well is get eyes on your content, which appears not only in your newsletter but on your own personal substack. In other words, it's a combination newsletter/blog platform. If you do blog, you'll find that things you post on Substack will normally outperform things on your own blog unless you've built up a huge blog audience. I can get ten times the views on Substack without working up a sweat, but usually, it's even more than that. As all Substack uses are free, you can maintain an email list, create blog posts, create podcasts, and even create video, all for free. For new authors, it's worth at least trying because it's cost-effective. Be warned, however, that building subscription income is a time-consuming process. But if your posts lead logically to your published books, some of your Substack subscribers (even the free ones, who will be far more numerous) will buy your books. Building an audience also requires time--if you want people to interact with you, you need to interact with them). Interaction will probably be more productive than on other social media platforms. 

[alhawke]

The substack option does sound appealing because it's free. But I get what you're saying about content. And since I don't want to contribute shorts at the moment, I'm not changing to it. But I bet a lot of writers are just simply using it as a free email service. I wonder.

I took a look at EmailOctopus. It's affordable, but still more than Mailerlite for my 2500-5000 plan. Mailerlite never forced me to change from their old plan so I still get the old pricing--could be more worth it it to change over if you're just building your readers/fans though.

[Bill Hiatt]

As a matter of fact, Jeff just said he was.

There might come a time, however, when Substack cracks down on that. They have explicit language in their TOS that states a Substack account can't be used only for promoting another business. Whether they would regard an author who used the email feature but never posts to Substack as falling in that category, I don't know, but it does seem to be at least a possibility.

As far as writing shorts are concerned, if you already blog, you might consider testing to see if posting the same material on Substack attracts an audience there. I know at least a few authors who have an active external blog but find it worthwhile to post the same material on Substack. My experience is that such material typically gets more views.

If you don't currently blog, you might considering publishing your WIP, one chapter or so at a time. I've tried that, thinking I would hate it, and it's working out OK so far. That creates no additional work, since it's writing I'd do, anyway. It does move the work around a little. I spend more time editing prior to posting on Substack than I would on a first draft, but I figure that's just a different workflow, not a longer one.

As far as shorts are concerned, I stopped writing them when they stopped getting sales on Amazon, but I have written some for Substack, with good results. I like what I've produced, and it's pulled in new readers. I've also had success with serials (end product approximately novella length. I tie them into one of my existing series, which gives me a good way to draw Substack readers into my backlist. That also works for me, though it does create extra work. But as with the shorts, I'm liking the material I produce.

Teasers also get a surprisingly good reception.

To go back to the actual topic, posting on Substack periodically would be a way to avoid a possible future crackdown that could come from just using it as an email service. Whether or not it's worth it will depend on your individual   business plan and the time you have available. Full disclosure--I still have my Mailerlite list. I tried to nudge them over to Substack and didn't get many takers. There will be some people who will sign up for my list who are averse to being connected to an entire ecosystem.