Letterpress Mail

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Start here.

Five short guides in the order most writers need them, from the first draft to the first set of numbers. Everything on this page is readable without signing in.

Getting started

01

Write the first issue

  1. Start a new issue and give it a title. The address of the archived issue is made from that title.
  2. Write the body in markdown: # for a heading, ** for emphasis, - for a list, > for a quotation, [text](address) for a link.
  3. Read the preview, fix the paragraph that still bothers you, and leave the issue as a draft.
02

Add your subscribers

  1. Add readers one at a time with their email address, a name and any tags you want to group them by.
  2. Or bring a list you already have across as a CSV: one address per row, with names and tags in their own columns.
  3. Every address gets a confirmation email, and a reader joins the broadcast list when they confirm from their own inbox.
03

Send a broadcast

  1. Open the draft and check the recipient count against the size of your confirmed list.
  2. Send. The issue goes to confirmed subscribers and lands in your archive at its own address.
  3. Anyone who unsubscribes between two drafts drops out of the next count on their own.
04

Set up the welcome email

  1. Write the note you want every new reader to receive: who you are, what arrives each week, where to reply.
  2. Set that issue as the welcome email for your list.
  3. Each subscriber receives it once, after confirming and before your next regular issue.
05

Read the numbers

  1. Open any issue you have already sent.
  2. Look at opens for that issue and at clicks for each link it carried.
  3. Hold two issues side by side to see what a change in the writing did.

Questions we answer most

Someone says the issue never arrived.

Ask them to look in the promotions and spam folders first, and to search their inbox for the issue title. If it is not there, write to us with their address and the issue title and we will read the delivery record.

Can I fix a typo after sending?

An email that has gone out cannot be recalled. The archived issue on the web can be corrected, so the version a reader finds later is the right one.

How do I remove a subscriber?

Open the subscriber and delete them, or mark them unsubscribed when they asked to stop hearing from you but you would rather keep the address.

Where does the archive live?

Every sent issue keeps its own address, made from the issue title, and that address stays the same when you edit the markdown behind it.

Still stuck?

Send the issue title, the address on your list and what you expected to happen. A person reads it and answers by email.