Quick start guide

Connect your newsletter, prepare an AI Writer, and write your first Draft.

1. Create your account

Head to app.heynews.co and sign up with your email or Google account. The email signup link verifies your address and signs you in with one click. Setup starts by asking you to connect your newsletter.

For an existing newsletter, add a payment method after the preview to activate the 14-day free trial. The trial includes 5 draft issues, unlimited AI Writers, 5 AI refinements per draft, and 1 publication.

If you came from a HeyNews pricing or offer link, checkout keeps the selected plan, billing cycle, and discount code when they are available. Some offers open checkout before newsletter setup. An offer without a trial starts your subscription at checkout; check the discount and today's total in Stripe before you subscribe. Then continue with setup.

2. Complete onboarding

For an existing newsletter, setup has two steps:

Step 1: Connect your newsletter. Choose beehiiv, Kit, a public archive or RSS address, or a CSV export of past issues. HeyNews checks the source and shows the available history. Connecting it answers the setup question for you.

Step 2: Finish setup. If you have not already completed offer checkout, review the checkout terms. The usual signup starts a 14-day Trial; a no-trial offer starts a paid subscription instead. Once your Trial or subscription is active, HeyNews prepares your AI Writer from the source you selected.

If you have no newsletter yet, choose I don't have a newsletter to connect. When the Format Generator is available, follow its intake and review flow. It has a separate $19 Format Fee, and eligible customers' trials start when they approve the Newsletter Format. Otherwise, answer the setup questions and follow the setup call instructions. See Onboarding wizard.

3. Add content sources

Go to Content Desk in the left sidebar. It opens on Sources, where you manage the feeds, sites, profiles, and channels HeyNews checks. Open Stories when you want to choose content for your next issue.

Click Add and paste what you have:

  • RSS feed URL. Subscribe to any public feed.
  • Website URL. Follow the site when HeyNews can find a recurring feed.
  • Article URL. Save one article as a story for a future issue.
  • Subreddit. Monitor top posts from a Reddit community, such as r/machinelearning.
  • Social profile URL. Track Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more.

HeyNews detects the source type automatically. You can also choose Add a story in the Add form to save a one-off link, note, or idea for your next issue.

4. Wait for or create an AI Writer

If you selected a newsletter source during onboarding, HeyNews trains your first AI Writer after checkout and emails you when it's ready. You can keep adding sources while it works.

If HeyNews could not check your first source, choose another setup option such as a public archive, RSS URL, or CSV export before starting the trial.

Once training is done, your AI Writer is ready to write drafts.

5. Compose your first newsletter

Go to Compose in the sidebar.

  1. Pick your AI writer. Compose selects it for you when only one is ready. If you have several, choose one to open the story workspace.
  2. Select stories from the story pool. On smaller screens, switch between Story Pool and Selected.
  3. Add an optional Draft Brief if this issue needs a particular theme, angle, or connection between Stories. It applies only to this draft.
  4. Click Write Draft below your selected stories.

HeyNews will produce a full newsletter draft in your AI Writer's voice. Writing the draft usually takes 30-60 seconds.

6. Edit and refine

After generation, you get:

  • A subject line and preview text for the inbox
  • A full draft copy editor with Visual and Markdown modes
  • A locked Stories used list with the story titles and sources that created the draft
  • A Refine with AI panel where you can ask for changes ("make the intro shorter", "add a section about X", "change the tone to be more casual")

When you're happy with it, click Save changes to store your edits. Use Copy full issue for any email platform. If you connected beehiiv for draft publishing, select it as the Sending Connection, save first, and use Create draft in beehiiv.

If you keep giving the same direction in Draft Briefs, open the AI Writer and save it as a Style Rule instead. Style Rules apply to future drafts without new Voice Training.

7. Review saved issues

Go to Issues to see your saved work with its subject line, preview text, AI Writer, last saved time, stories used count, and performance metrics when beehiiv or Kit confirms them.

What's next