Category: Process · Tags: email, publishing, indie author, deliverability, arc
You don’t picture your emails quietly vanishing into the abyss before anyone even reads them.
When you picture the life of an indie author, you probably imagine the big hurdles being things like finishing the book, finding a cover artist, or figuring out if your main character’s eyes were brown or blue in chapter four.
You don’t picture your emails quietly vanishing into the abyss before anyone even reads them.
And yet — here we are.
I’ve been sending emails from my author domain for months: ARC invites, follow-ups, even a couple of hopeful messages to publishers.
I used my shiny, professional address:
info@echofyre.com
It felt official. Legit. Like I had my indie author life together.
Except… some of those emails never made it. Not to spam, not to junk — nowhere.
Why? Because I’m on a shared email server through my web host. That means I share an outbound IP address with hundreds of other people. If one of those strangers sends spam or sketchy marketing emails, the IP gets flagged.
When that happens, services like Hotmail, Outlook, and sometimes Gmail will either:
If you’re sending ARC copies, review links, or your newsletter through that same email setup, you could be hitting “Send” and getting… crickets.
Not because people aren’t interested — but because they never got it.
Which means:
I’m already in the process of purchasing a dedicated IP for my email so this never happens again.
That way, my sender reputation will be based on my email history, not on what a random stranger is doing.
If you’re in this same boat, here’s what you can do:
Because no one told me.
No one warns indie authors that you can have a polished book, a great pitch, and a killer ARC list… and still have it all die in someone’s spam filter because of a technical issue you didn’t even cause.
If you’re starting out, don’t wait until you lose a reply from a publisher or an early review opportunity to figure this out.
Your words matter. Make sure they actually get delivered.
P.S. If you’ve been waiting on an ARC from me and didn’t see one in your inbox, check your spam folder.
If it’s not there, reach out — the Archive has a copy waiting for you.
This space is for correspondence, not performance. Messages are reviewed and won’t appear publicly by default. If you want to engage—agree or disagree—email is the right channel.