Buttondown vs. Author.Email

Author.Email advertises heavily that they are the first-ever marketing service built exclusively for authors, and this claim is absolutely true! However, it's hard to point to any specific features or integrations they offer that are just for authors: their biggest advantage is that they're extremely affordable (if you've got, say, 3000 subscribers — you'll be paying $10.99 there, as opposed to $29/month on Buttondown.)

Beyond the price point, though, it's hard to find strong reasons to recommend their platform, which seems mostly abandoned (their footer mentions that their last update was in 2018 — over half a decade ago!) Their forums are similarly bereft of activity.

Meanwhile, tons of great authors are using Buttondown to stay connected with their audience and focus on the important stuff (aka writing), like:

• Charlie Jane Anders, winner of the Lambda Literary Award
• Jack Cheng, author of See You in the Cosmos and winner of the Golden Kite
• Clive Thompson, NYT columnist and author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe