Tools for Newsletter Automation

Build and run a newsletter with AI handling the heavy lifting — research, writing, formatting, and scheduling.

Writing & Research

• Claude — Draft full newsletter editions from bullet points or topic prompts. Excellent at maintaining consistent voice across issues. Use Projects to store your style guide and past editions.
• Kimi K2.5 — Great for research-heavy newsletters. Feed it multiple sources and get synthesized summaries.

Design & Formatting

• Cursor — Build custom newsletter templates in HTML/CSS. Automate formatting with scripts that convert markdown drafts to email-ready HTML.

Voiceover (Audio Newsletters)

• ElevenLabs — Turn your newsletter into a podcast-style audio version. Growing trend — readers love having an audio option.

Sending & Management

• Beehiiv — Newsletter platform with free tier up to 2,500 subscribers. Built-in analytics, referral program, and monetization.
• ConvertKit (Kit) — Creator-focused email platform. Visual automations, tagging, segmentation.
• Buttondown — Minimal, markdown-first newsletter tool. Great for developers and writers who want simplicity.

Automation & Scheduling

• Zapier / Make — Connect your writing tools to your sending platform. Auto-publish drafts on a schedule.
• Cursor — Build custom automation scripts: RSS-to-newsletter, auto-curate links, format and schedule sends via API.

Recommended Workflow

1. Curate topics throughout the week (Obsidian or a simple note)
2. Feed topics to Claude → get a full draft
3. Edit in 15 minutes (your voice, your opinions — AI does the heavy lifting)
4. Format with your template
5. Schedule send in Beehiiv/ConvertKit
6. Optionally generate audio version with ElevenLabs

Time per issue: 45-90 minutes instead of 4+ hours.