I had to change my email newsletter platform. Again.
My previous newsletter platform restricted their free account to 250 subscribers, trying to force customers onto a paid subscription. This is part of the Enshittification (aka platform decay) strategy so many online services seem to see as the holy grail. Fair enough. Everybody wants to be paid. What rubbed me the wrong way was that they tried to sell it as a functionality update (stuff I neither want nor need). “Your Free plan is getting more features that were previously only available on paid plans, while some usage limits will decrease.”
Thank you, but no.
Hello EmailOctopus
After shopping around, I decided to go with EmailOctopus.
- They are based in the UK.
- They have a free account up to 1000 subscribers.
- Their feature set is small, but it’s what I need.
- They have amazing onboarding and help resources.
- They seemed to have ethics.
How to switch to EmailOctopus from Mailerlite links to all I needed to migrate subscribers, groups, and switch my WordPress integration to MailOctopus and update my DNS. It took a couple of hours, mainly because of my audience segmentation by topic. And you have to love this:
What this means for you
Nothing changes for subscribers—if anything your data is protected even better.
GDPR and Privacy
EmailOctopus is a UK-based company, registered with the ICO and closely complies with all current EU data protection laws. Their applications and website are hosted by Amazon Web Services at Amazon’s data center in Ireland (EU), and your data will be stored there. Their email-sending servers are also based in the EU, which means they must adhere to the stricter EU regulations (Brexit or no Brexit).
I’ll send out a “Hello Again” campaign tomorrow and hope everything will work out fine.
A Moving Beast
As a tiny creator and business, I feel the strain of constantly needing to update systems and move platforms (next WordPress 7 … ARGH), and the need to shop around for affordable options in an environment of ever-rising costs (the locally printed paperback is more than 30% more expensive). I can still afford to buy groceries, so there is quite a bit of privilege talking, but this drains my creative energy.
But, as with all change, there is opportunity
Eerily enough, my to-do list mentioned the need to review my newsletter strategy and send updates more intentionally.
So now is the time, I guess.
New here? I write adult fantasy that sits somewhere between dystopia, post-apocalyptic fiction, and science fiction—complex, a little dark, unapologetically nerdy.
I’ve published two books in a trilogy called The Spheres—The Fragments (2022), The House (2025)—and am working on Book Three. If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up to my newsletter or get a free review copy?
You can follow my writing adventures on Bluesky, Instagram, Goodreads and Amazon.
