Introduction to MailerHive
MailerPress sends email well, but a newsletter also needs a home on the web. Without one, every issue disappears into inboxes and new readers have nothing to browse before they subscribe. The only public copy of an issue is a plain “view in browser” page.
MailerHive adds that home to WordPress. You write an issue once in the block editor and it goes live as a clean reading page in a public archive. MailerHive then hands MailerPress a ready draft to review and send. The plugin is free, and the license only brings automatic updates.
What MailerHive Adds
- Issue pages. Each issue gets its own address, such as
/newsletter/issue/your-issue/, and reads like the email it was. Previous and next links, share links and a signup box follow the body. - An archive and an RSS feed. Every issue is listed at
/newsletter/issue/, grouped by year, with a feed at/newsletter/issue/feed/. - A newsletter page. Your signup page gets a hero with the form, the paid plans when you sell them and the most recent issues.
- MailerPress drafts. Publishing an issue can create a draft campaign in MailerPress, addressed to your lists. MailerHive never schedules or sends anything.
- Mirroring. Newsletters you write directly in MailerPress are published as issues once they’re sent, so the archive stays complete.
- Substack import. Past Substack posts come in as issues, with their images copied into your media library.
- Its own design. Issue pages use MailerHive’s templates instead of your theme, with light and dark mode, your logo and your accent colors.
- Paid tiers. An optional module sells newsletter subscriptions through FluentCart and keeps each paying reader on the right MailerPress list.
- Optional modules. A consent policy for Core Forms signups, MailerPress tags from FluentCart purchases and a rich paste for the MailerPress editor.
What You Need
MailerHive runs on WordPress 6.6 or newer and PHP 8.1 or newer. The other plugins are optional, and each one switches on a group of features:
| Plugin | What it enables |
|---|---|
| MailerPress | Email drafts, mirroring, the list pickers and the paid tier lists |
| Core Forms | The signup form on issue pages, the archive and the newsletter page, and the consent policy module |
| FluentCart | Paid tiers and the FluentCart lifecycle tags |
| MailerPress Pro | Only its FluentCart checkout checkbox, which the lifecycle module can read as consent |
| GT Extensions for FluentCart | Only plan prices in the visitor’s currency |
Without MailerPress, the archive, issue pages, newsletter page, Substack import, link rules and share links all keep working. Another form plugin can replace Core Forms through a custom shortcode on the General tab.
How the Pieces Fit
There are two ways an issue reaches your archive, and you can use both on the same site.
- Write in WordPress. You publish an issue under Newsletter, the reading page goes live and MailerHive creates a MailerPress draft. You open the draft in MailerPress, check it and send it.
- Write in MailerPress. You compose and send a campaign in MailerPress as usual. Within the hour, MailerHive publishes it as an issue, and the campaign’s “view in browser” link points to that issue page.
Where Things Live in wp-admin
MailerHive adds a Newsletter menu:
- All Issues lists every issue with its source and, with paid tiers on, who can read it.
- Write New Issue opens the block editor for a new issue.
- Settings holds 9 tabs: General, Issues, Design, MailerPress, Analytics, Modules, Paid, License and Tools & status.
- Paid members appears once the paid subscriptions module is on.
The next step is to install MailerHive and activate your license.