Author.Email

Author.Email is the only email marketing service built specifically for indie authors, founded by Nick Thacker (USA Today bestselling thriller author, VP of Author Success at Draft2Digital) and Kevin Tumlinson (co-founder of Draft2Digital). Running on Amazon SES infrastructure, the platform passes its low delivery costs directly to authors — $10.99/month for up to 9,999 subscribers with unlimited sends is significantly cheaper than comparable tiers on Kit, MailerLite, or Mailchimp.

Plans and Pricing#

All plans include unlimited email sends and unlimited lists. Subscribers counted as unique across all lists.

• Author — $10.99/month: Up to 9,999 subscribers
• Indie Pro — $19.99/month: Up to 19,999 subscribers
• Publisher Pro — $49.99/month: Up to 59,999 subscribers
• Enterprise — $69.99+/month: Unlimited subscribers

The 30-day free trial grants full platform access with no payment required to start.

What You Get#

• Pre-built author sequences: Email workflow templates for book launches, reader magnet delivery, and ARC reader onboarding — ready to activate without building from scratch
• Affiliate links permitted: Author.Email explicitly allows Amazon affiliate links in all campaigns — a meaningful differentiator vs Mailchimp (known for banning affiliate accounts) and MailerLite (permits with restrictions)
• Segmentation and tagging: One-click subscriber tagging with auto-segmentation by opens, A/B test results, and custom fields
• Time-zone-based sending: Campaigns delivered based on each subscriber's local time
• BookFunnel integration: The primary integration pathway; BookFunnel handles reader magnet and ARC file delivery, syncing subscribers into Author.Email lists automatically
• Migration support: CSV import and a one-step migration tool from other platforms

ARC Reader Workflows#

Author.Email's ARC functionality is email sequencing, not ARC management. The platform provides a pre-built onboarding sequence — welcome email, read reminder, review request — that you assign to a dedicated ARC reader list. Actual ARC file delivery is handled by BookFunnel, which triggers the Author.Email sequence when a reader downloads the file. There is no in-app ARC delivery, no download tracking, and no review feedback aggregation.

Who It's For#

• Budget-conscious authors: The $10.99/month Author plan covering nearly 10,000 subscribers is one of the lowest per-subscriber rates available for a full-featured email service.
• Authors using Amazon affiliate links: If you recommend books and earn affiliate commissions, Author.Email removes the compliance anxiety that plagues Mailchimp users.
• New authors starting simple: Pre-built templates reduce the setup time required to launch a welcome sequence or book launch series.

Limitations#

• Maintenance concerns: The Terms of Service were last updated January 2020 — development signals are sparse for a tool active since ~2018. No changelog, blog, or product roadmap is publicly available. The platform is live and accepting signups, but long-term platform risk is a legitimate consideration.
• No free plan: MailerLite (the most-recommended author email tool by Kindlepreneur) offers a free plan for up to 1,000 subscribers; Author.Email offers a 30-day trial only.
• Limited integrations: Beyond BookFunnel and a RESTful API, no Zapier, StoryOrigin, Shopify, or WooCommerce integrations are available.
• Basic automation: Autoresponders are time-based, not action-triggered. There are no conditional automation trees — if a reader clicks a specific link, you cannot automatically branch to a different sequence.
• Absent from major recommendations: Kindlepreneur's 2026 "best email for authors" guide, ALLi, The Creative Penn, and Reedsy all omit Author.Email from their shortlists.

Alternatives#

MailerLite is the community go-to for authors who want low cost plus a free tier and stronger automation. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is the preference for authors building deeper reader relationships with segmentation and tagging. Author.Email's edge is its flat per-subscriber pricing combined with explicit affiliate link permission — for authors who hit both criteria, it is worth evaluating.