Issue Mint

Issue Mint is a newsletter platform built for one format: the link roundup, where each issue is a set of links you found elsewhere, grouped under headings, with a sentence or two of your own under each. The homepage presents it as a platform for link newsletters and gives examples of the kind of issue it has in mind: "a design weekly, a roundup of what opened in your city, a recruiter sending the ten industry stories that mattered." It handles the whole job, from saving links during the week to composing the issue, sending the email, publishing a web archive and reporting which links readers clicked. The FAQ sums up the writing it expects: "The writing you do is the commentary, not a thousand-word essay, and that is the shape Issue Mint is built around."

How an issue gets made

The homepage describes the workflow as "three habits, one issue."

Save as you read. "A browser button puts whatever you are reading into your library in two clicks, with the title and description already filled in." Readers can also send you links, and "those land in the same place rather than in your inbox." Over a week the library fills up with candidates for the next issue.

Assemble the issue. On send day you "pull links out of the library and drag them into sections" and write your take on each one. The composer fetches the title, description and picture when you paste a web address, lets you group links under your own headings, reorder them by dragging and move one between sections "without retyping a word of it." The editor is a preview of the real thing: "What you see while you write is the email your readers get, not an approximation of it."

Send and forget. You schedule the issue for your usual slot. "The web version of the issue publishes itself, and unsubscribes and bounced addresses are handled without you having to watch for them."

The homepage makes the case against a general email editor directly: "A general email tool hands you a blank canvas and a row of drag-and-drop blocks. Neither is much help when the thing you are making is a list of links with opinions attached."

Sending

Delivery is included and needs no setup. "Nothing to connect, nothing to configure, no records to paste anywhere. Your first issue can go out this afternoon." The FAQ answers "Who actually sends the emails?" with "We do, and it is included in the price."

Later you can take the sending over. "When you would rather own the sending yourself, that is a switch in settings and it costs nothing extra." The homepage frames this as a step for a newsletter that has become a business, when you want to "build a reputation that belongs to you rather than to us. Same price either way." There is one threshold to plan around: "Above fifteen thousand readers you move to your own account, and we tell you well before you get there."

Frequency does not change the bill. The pricing section says: "Send twice a week or once a quarter, it costs the same."

Link tracking and reports

Click reporting works per link. "Every link is tracked under your own name, and the report after each issue ranks them by how many readers clicked." The homepage calls this "the closest thing to watching someone read, and it makes next week's picks better." With your own domain connected, the tracked links carry your name rather than Issue Mint's.

Sponsorships

Issue Mint treats sponsorship as inventory rather than a spreadsheet. You "set your slot types and prices once," then either "publish a calendar sponsors can book against" or take enquiries through a form. "Confirmed bookings turn up in the composer on the right date, so nothing gets forgotten." Payment stays outside the platform: "Issue Mint does not handle the payment, so invoicing stays between you and the sponsor, and none of it comes through us." The Pro plan's tagline, "Sponsorship income covers the bill," shows who the feature is for.

The public archive

"Every newsletter gets a website with your branding: a signup form, every past issue as a page of its own, and a way for readers to send you links." The homepage adds that it is "the thing people find when they search for you, months after the email was read." Each newsletter gets a free issuemint.site address when you create it, so the archive and signup form work immediately. Adding your own domain "takes a few minutes" and "puts the public site and your tracked links on your own name rather than ours." The documentation has a guide to connecting a domain.

Subscribers

List handling is deliberately light. You can "bring a list across from a spreadsheet, put a signup form anywhere you like, and let the confirmation email do the checking for you," which means new signups confirm their address before counting as readers. "Unsubscribing takes one tap and happens without you lifting a finger." The day-one checklist on the homepage is four steps: name the newsletter and pick its web address, bring readers over from a spreadsheet or start collecting them, save some links, and write a line under each and send.

Plans and prices

Issue Mint is "priced on list size, not on how much you send," with "one price a month based on how many people are actually reading." The homepage shows three of its five plans:

• Starter: $19 a month for up to 1,000 subscribers, "A new list finding its footing."
• Growth: $39 a month for up to 5,000 subscribers, "A weekly issue with a real readership."
• Pro: $79 a month for up to 15,000 subscribers, "Sponsorship income covers the bill."

The FAQ gives the full range: "Plans run from $19 a month for 1,000 subscribers up to $249 for 100,000." The count is "the total number of active readers across every newsletter on your account," and "people who unsubscribed, bounced or never confirmed do not count." If your list outgrows a plan, "we tell you before anything changes."

The trial runs 14 days with every feature and no card. "You can send real issues during the trial," the homepage says. When it ends, "your account becomes read-only until you subscribe. Nothing is deleted, your public archive stays online and your readers stay put."

Integrations and API

Connections to other software are limited today. Issue Mint's own comparison page says so plainly: there is "an interface behind the browser button covering newsletters, issues and the link library, but it is not documented for general use yet." The same page lists "connecting it to other software" as "limited for now," and reader subscriptions (charging readers for the newsletter) as not offered. Support is reached through the contact page or info@issuemint.com.

Who it suits

Issue Mint fits a writer whose newsletter is a weekly or regular roundup of links with short commentary: a design digest, a local events roundup, an industry briefing. The link library and sectioned composer take the busywork out of that format, the per-link report shows what readers cared about, and the sponsorship calendar suits a newsletter that sells slots. People who are not technical are its stated audience: "There is nothing to install and nothing to connect."

It does not fit a writer of long essays, since the composer is built around one note per link, nor a newsletter that wants to charge readers a paid subscription, nor a team that needs to wire its newsletter into other software through a documented API.