Most email platforms open on an empty dashboard and leave you to work out the order of operations. AuthorSend opens on a short setup, and if you follow it you will have sent a real newsletter by the end of your first sitting. This is that first hour, in the order that works.
Start the trial and let Quill set you up
Sign up and you start a 14-day free trial of the plan you picked, with no card. You add one when you first publish or send to your readers, nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel before then.
The first thing you meet is Quill, the built-in assistant, with a setup that takes a few minutes:
- Your sending address. You can send right away from a shared AuthorSend address that is already authenticated. On the Growth and Pro plans you can switch to your own domain later.
- Your mailing address. Every marketing email legally needs a postal address in its footer. A P.O. box is fine.
- Your books. Search for your name and import your catalog, covers and all. Book blocks, book pages, and book links all draw on this, so it is worth two minutes now.
- Your look and your voice. Pick your colors, then give Quill a sample of how you write. Drafts sound far less generic once it has one.
Bring your readers over
If you already have a list, export your active subscribers from your current platform as a CSV. The import shows you where to find that export in MailerLite, Kit, Mailchimp, and others. Upload the file, check the columns, choose a list for the readers to join, and press Import. Email is the only column you must have.
Anyone who had unsubscribed or bounced on your old platform should stay off your list, so export only active subscribers. AuthorSend skips duplicates and disposable addresses for you and tells you what it left out.
Moving more than a list? Migration is free. Send us your export and we bring your tags, templates, and suppression list across as well.
Put one signup form to work
A list that is not growing is shrinking. Before you send anything, give new readers a way in:
- Add a reader magnet: a free story, a first chapter, a bonus epilogue.
- Create a signup form and attach the magnet to it. AuthorSend delivers the file the moment someone confirms.
- Put the form where readers already are: your website, the back matter of your books, your link in bio.
If you do not have a website, AuthorSend builds one from the books you just imported. That is covered in Publish a website.
Send your first newsletter
Create a campaign and pick a template, or start blank. The editor is drag-and-drop: drop in a book cover, write in rich text, and switch to the phone preview before it goes anywhere.
Three habits worth forming on the very first send:
- Send yourself a test. Read it on your phone. Tap every link.
- Write the subject line last. Ask Quill for a handful of options, then rewrite the best one in your own words.
- Send to the people who asked. For a first send, your whole imported list is right. Later, segments let you send the launch news only to readers of that series.
New accounts warm up over their first days, which means very large lists may go out over more than one day at first. If you are importing ahead of a launch, set up a few days early.
Then build the one automation that pays for itself
Once the first newsletter is out, build a welcome journey: an email that goes out when someone joins, and another two days later with your best starting point. It runs for every new reader from then on, and it is the highest-value half hour you will spend in any email platform.
After that, open the campaign report. It shows who opened and who clicked, by name, which is where you learn what your readers want more of.
