GET STARTED

From sign-up to set-and-forget in 10 minutes.

AuthorMailingLists is built so you spend the first ten minutes setting it up, then weeks at a time ignoring it while it keeps your readers warm. Here's the path most authors take.

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Sign up — 30 seconds

Email + password. No credit card needed for the Free tier (500 emails / month, 2 lists).

/register — sign up with email and password

Tip: Use the same email address you'll send from — we'll use it as the default sender on your mailings, and it inherits your domain's existing reputation.

Create your first list — 1 minute

Most authors start with one general list. If you write across genres, create one per genre — subscribers self-select what they want.

Dashboard › Lists › New list

The fields: name (what subscribers see in the confirmation email), description (optional, internal only), reader-magnet URL (a free chapter or short story you offer for joining — optional but lifts conversion ~2×).

Collect subscribers — pick one or both

Two ways to grow the list. You can mix them.

Embed the widget

Paste a single <script> tag onto your author site, blog, or landing page. Subscribers join via double opt-in (we send the confirm email).

Each list has its own embed code — from the list detail page, click Embed code.

Import from Mailchimp / ConvertKit

Native CSV importers map columns automatically. We re-confirm imported subscribers (one-time email) so your sender reputation stays clean.

From the list detail page, click Import.

List › Embed code — one snippet, drop it anywhere

Upload a book — 2 minutes unlocks AI

This is the trick. Once a manuscript is in, we extract themes, tone, characters, and quotable passages — and use them to draft email content that sounds like you, not generic newsletter slop.

Dashboard › Books › New book

Formats: .epub, .docx, .pdf, or .txt. Theme extraction takes 30–60 seconds and runs in the background — you don't have to wait around. The book detail page shows status (extracting → ready) and what we found: genre, tone, themes, and quotable lines.

Turn on Always-On — 30 seconds recommended

This is the “set it and forget it” part. Always-On auto-generates one fresh email on whatever cadence you pick (weekly, biweekly, monthly), drawing from your book catalogue, with 90-day anti-repetition so subscribers never get the same angle twice.

Campaigns › New campaign › Always-On (Evergreen)

Approval mode: the default “Review or default-ship (24h)” is what almost everyone wants. Each draft sits for 24 hours — you can edit or cancel, or do nothing and it ships. Best of both worlds.

Watch it run

From here forward you mostly just check in. The Campaigns page is your control tower — everything that's emailing your subscribers, in one table. Filter by Always-On / Sequences / One-offs.

Dashboard › Campaigns — one table, every type

To change which books Always-On draws from later: click the Source cell or the Edit button on the row. The settings panel pops open with the source-books picker ready.

Going deeper

Always-On covers ongoing engagement. Two other campaign types fill in the rest.

Sequence from a book

For a launch push or a finite re-engagement run. Pick a book, pick a template (5-email launch / 12 weekly themes / 3-email re-engagement), AI drafts every slot, you review and bulk-schedule.

Try a sequence

One-off email

A single email you write yourself — for announcements, news, sale alerts. Send now, schedule, or save as draft. Optional A/B subject-line testing.

Compose a one-off

All three can run on the same list at the same time. See the FAQ for how they interact.

Ready to start?

Free tier covers most authors getting started — 500 emails a month is plenty of weekly sends to a couple of hundred readers.