So...there are a lot of email service providers out there. A lot. And they come with all different types of price tags depending on the level of service and features you want. Just because they are newer kids on the block, like SendInBlue, doesn't make them more or less worthy of consideration. I work in digital marketing and communications for my day job, and I've seen a number of older players that frankly need to die a fiery death before they mess up my #@%$ email html code one more time...(but I digress). If anyone is looking for some quick comparisons, well, there are a lot out there. A couple quickies I found that provide some pick lists with comparisons are
here and
here. (Note: I do NOT guarantee whether or not said linkies are the most awesomely written posts, but they have been updated fairly recently and are slanted towards bloggers/smaller businesses, which I thought more apropos for this crowd.)
*cough* Based on experience, I wouldn't recommend Icontact - it's not on the lists above, but is a fairly (not free) major player. Just in case you see it somewhere else.
As Cathleen pointed out, if you are going to use a service like ProlificWorks, maybe that should factor into your decision-making process, but frankly, technology is changing all the time and integration among service providers is and should be an expanding part of an advertising/review platform like PW. MailChimp and MailerLite are hardly the only or biggest players out there. I wonder if PW gives them preference because of their more robust free service levels versus some of the other market players? Hmm. A question for another day.
Gmail for your email address...eh, that one's kind of in gray territory. Doesn't quite have the spam factor that yahoo or hotmail do. Would it be more professional to have an email address that includes your domain? Sure. That's also going to cost $, which not everyone has. In the grand scheme of things, assuming you already have your domain, a business email like that will run you $5/month depending on what service you set it up through (heck, you can do it through Google GSuite if you want - I'm still miffed they stopped allowing that for free, but I digress. Again.) Also, bear in mind that your email service provider factors into the spam filtering. MailChimp for example is pretty good on being whitelisted and gets through about 90% of the time, last I paid attention to those stats. AWeber is better, but also $$. Eh. A lot of whether or not you get flagged as spam comes down to how you actually craft your newsletter, your image to text ratio, your subject line, blah blah blah.
Have I made anyone run screaming yet? *whispers: "Sorry"*
*digital marketing geek tries to rein herself in*
I haven't used MailerLite so I can't speak to that. I've used MailChimp for years for small venture things and find it simple and intuitive. Easy to change things if you know a bit of coding. Just enough data not to overwhelm you if you are doing this solo. And yeah, the free part for the initial subscribers is pretty awesome. You might want to have a plan for migrating to a different paid ESP once you hit the non-free mark (or do a comparison at the very least - it doesn't hurt). Many of the paid ESP providers run about $15-20/month for their base service/subscriber count levels. On a work level, we've toyed with switching over to ConstantContact if we don't finally implement marketing automation this year - ConstantContact is a pretty popular paid option.
Personally, I wouldn't start out with a paid ESP if I'm a beginner in email marketing or I'm not yet published. Keep it simple. Test the waters, find something you like and that you can stick to on a regular basis. Because if you start to send a newsletter, a regular rhythm is key. Whether it's once a quarter or once a month, stick to it (frankly, once a month at most is fine for most authors). Random and haphazard sending does not a good marketing experience make; that's a good way to lose subscribers or get reported as a spammer when people forgot they signed up for your list in the first place. (And as cool pop emphasized, please please please for the love make sure people ask to be put on your list. And make sure they can easily unsubscribe from the list - also an important legality...and one easily taken care of if you are using an ESP.)
Anyway, back to the OP's other question: why use an enewsletter. And maybe thoughts for how? Well...as has already been stated, it's an oldie but goodie marketing tool. A) because it's effective at reaching your audience. (ignore people who say email marketing is dead. They've been saying that for at least 12 years now.
) B) because you can see exactly who is and is not engaging with your content. C) if you're a little savvy, you can do all kinds of cool stuff, like testing what email copy works better before you blow an email that doesn't work on your whole list, you can identify your biggest supporters, and hey, it can actually lead to sales...oooh, shineyyyy...
As for what you might want to consider for an enewsletter, well, maybe you should first ask who is your audience and what do THEY want to read about? Email marketing involves content marketing, and it's not about you. It's about your readers. Know your target audience, give them what they want, and earn yourself a loyal readership (and good luck because I don't have a magic formula, sorry...but I have glitter??)
*cough, sorry, cough*
If you write about swashbuckling adventures on the high seas, they might be interested in all that research you've done on ship types. Or how people avoided scurvy, etc. (Pick something from your research that excites you to write about and would enrich your readers' experience of the world you've created.) Tell them a story that isn't just about you the author or about how they should buy your book. Key word: story. The enewsletters I open on a regular basis provide me with useful information, laughs, things I want to read more about, exciting cool news, etc. They tell a story I want to hear.
If you're giving me the side-eye and muttering "Winks, there's no way I can do that every two weeks or every month even". Cool. Then try once a quarter for your grand enewsletter and then when you need it for special announcements. See how that works for ya. And when I say 'grand enewsletter' it can be as long or as short as you want. But think of it as telling a story your audience is interested (not that you are interested in because you want to appeal to your audience/reader and what they want, right? Right!) You could even make it a 'greatest blog hits' collection based on what was most popular on your blog for the quarter, with maybe a link to something brand spanking new thrown in? Spitballing here.
TL;DR enewsletters are a useful marketing tool. Pick an email service provider that works for you. And tell a story your audience wants to hear on a regular basis you can commit to.
Note: any statements that sound like "you must do this" aren't intended that way. I'm just writing to general 'you' here and doing my usual Winks ramble think out loud about enewsletters.
Note 2: do as I say, not as I do. (because no, I do not do an author enewsletter. not yet. because life, don't judge me.
)
Winks, who hopes something in this long-winded drivel is useful and didn't make everyone run screaming?