Cheap Automations for an Author With a Zero Budget
Short answer: with the free versions of Google Forms, Google Sheets, Google Alerts, and Make's free plan (1,000 operations/month), you can cover the 3 most important automations for an author just starting out, without paying anything.
The 3 priorities on a zero budget
Lead magnet delivery: Google Forms + Make (free plan) to automatically send the file to each new subscriber.
Mention alerts: Google Alerts, which is free with no limit on the number of alerts.
Reader contact log: Google Forms connected directly to Google Sheets, no intermediate tool needed.
What to leave for later
More advanced automations — like auto-posting to social media or centralizing reviews across platforms — are worth it eventually, but can wait until you have at least some traffic or sales to justify the setup time. Starting with the essentials avoids spending hours building a complex system you don't need yet.
Make's free plan (1,000 operations/month) comfortably covers the flows described here, as long as you don't yet have a high volume of subscribers or mentions.
Source: Make pricing page, 2026