Edit: This article is from 2020, with some updates from 2021 and 2026. Recently I've found that authors have been having difficulties to be approved for Amazon SES, so please keep that in mind.
I recently switched my mailing list to Sendy, and here I explain how I did it and my impressions so far and give you my review of the service. (Spoiler alert: I love it) This article also has some tips if you want to make the switch.
Like many authors, I have a mailing list. I love it, it's such a wonderful way to connect with readers, but the cost isn’t always that great.
After some research, I found Sendy.
Right now it costs $69, then you need to install it on your server, and you only pay for hosting and for emails sent, but it’s super cheap. Using Amazon SES (the service Sendy integrates with), the cost is $0 for up to 62,000 emails per month, then 0.10 for every 1000 emails after that. For me that means it’s pretty much free. You also need to use your own domain name, but that’s a must with most reputable email marketing services.
Still, I found Sendy a bit complicated. I’m good with WordPress but I wasn’t that confident in installing Sendy on my server. Something else that I didn’t like was that their sign-up forms, while decent looking, were not pretty, and I like keeping things pretty. Plus, their email builder is pretty basic, and, again, I wanted pretty emails.
UPDATE: they have a nice drag and drop email builder now.
Installation
Why suffer? I got a developer from Fiverr to do the installation for me. It’s safe. You can change the password once they’ve finished their work.
You’ll need an account with Amazon’s SES https://aws.amazon.com/ses/ (Amazon Simple Email Service), but the developer will set it all up for you. You don't need to do anything. You'll start with a limit on emails you can send, but you can ask them to increase it by explaining what you want to use the emails for. Here's where some authors have had issues.
There are other providers, such as Elasticmail, but they will cost a little more.
Once it’s all installed, you’ll have a login page for Sendy, just like any newsletter provider, and won’t need to touch the server.
You also need to install it. I used to have it on Amazon EC2,but then changed it to my own website's cpanel, so now the hosting is free (included in my website hosting).
If you want a more trustworthy developer, the people at Sendy can also help you with the installation and it costs $79. It's another option if you find installing it difficult.
Pretty forms
I wasn't happy with Sendy's form. The sign-up page is OK, but the embedded forms are just plain html, and I wanted something that looked better.
Sendy's sign-up page.
What I did was ask a Fiverr developer to style the form, and now it looks good. You can see it in my sign-up page: dayleitao.com/sign-up/
The service I used was this: https://www.fiverr.com/black21s/help-you-edit-or-fix-any-html-and-css-issues
There are many plugins that integrate with Sendy but now I find that styling the html form is the best choice to make sure there are no issues. I paid only the basic gig ( $5 US) to have the form styled.
Pretty emails
UPDATE: now Sendy has a drag and drop email builder, but I still like Stripo. There’s no reason to worry here. There are quite a few email builders out there, all of them with free options. These were the ones I liked the most:
I chose Stripo, and now I have the most badass-looking emails! I chose them because I can have a free account and keep an archive of my sent newsletters, so that all I need to do is duplicate them when writing a new one and adjust the details. I can save a template, too. It’s free for up to four exports a month, which is enough for me.
More than 4 exports a month would require a paid plan with Stripo.
Integrations
Well, well, when I first considered Sendy, this wasn't the case, but now Bookfunnel and Storyorigin integrate with Sendy. Hurray!
Sendy also integrates with a lot of stuff! When I say a lot, I mean it! So there are tons of tools depending on what you want to do with it. Frankly, I don’t even know what most of them are. (And if you aren't an author or reader you might be wondering what Bookfunnel is). But there’s probably an integration for you there.
Automations
Sendy won't do fancy automations automatically.
Sendy has a pretty solid auto-responder and you can send a welcome sequence. That said, if you want to segment your list based on “people who clicked this link”, it’s some extra work. You’d need to export the users who clicked on a link to a different list. Groups are called lists on Sendy. So if you automate a lot, Sendy might not be for you. That said, MailerLite missed some automations for me, so I wouldn’t trust them for that either. I have some segmentation with lists and I'm happy with it.
Warning
With any email service, make sure you download a backup for your contacts from time to time. Sendy is no exception. If something happens to your server, you could lose your information, so backup. If you’re are reading this and use a different service, it applies to you, too. Download your subscribers list every month. Sometimes it happens that things go wrong.
What has my experience been so far
I found that I have a much higher open and click rate. The reports are clear and informative.
Example of a report for a newsletter I sent. (This was after some major pruning)
I love how my campaigns look. True that I could use Stripo with any newsletter service, but perhaps I wouldn’t. And then, that was one “disadvantage” of Sendy that ended up being an advantage. Personalizing the campaigns is super easy and I enjoy addressing emails to each subscriber.
Above all, I’m not afraid that my newsletter will grow too much!
One tiny, tiny hiccup. Recently I had to update Sendy. I didn’t want to go to the installation myself, so I paid the Fiverr guy again. Done in 5 minutes!
Oh, if you’re curious, the developer that did the installation for me is fiverr.com/bineeshoc , but I’m confident that any developer who has experience and positive reviews can do it. You could find someone from other freelance websites, too.
How much did I spend to have Sendy?
Prices in US dollars
- $59 for Sendy
- So far $0 for Amazon’s SES, the email service that integrates with Sendy. UPDATE: some months I pay $5
- Hosting UPDATE: I installed on the cpanel on my regular website and it costs me nothing extra now.
- $20 for using a Fiverr developer twice (I’m counting their extra fees in this calculation and it might not be exact, since I paid in Canadian dollars)
I think moving to Sendy is worth it especially for people who had problems with their email marketing service providers or who are tired of spending too much for large lists. Authors are different from big businesses that can make hundreds or thousands of dollars with a few sales. We work with high volume and low margin, and that’s the reason I think it’s important to seek cost-effective email marketing solutions.
Finally, a word here. For new authors just getting started, I think investing in self-hosted email software is overkill. I would actually advise them to start with Email Octopus or Author Email. Email Octopus has a free option for few subscribers. (Edit: I used to recommmend MailerLite but it's too expensive now)
My suggestions is Email Octopus because it integrates with Bookfunnel and StoryOrigin and it's affordable.
Another affordable and easy option is Author Email, and it integrates with Bookfunnel.
With these two options, you won't have to scramble for hosting and you'll have form builders.
