Q&A with Matt, the Dracula Newsletter Writer

A serialized book, originally by Bram Stoker

The following is an interview with Matt who is the author of the popular Dracula Daily Substack. Matt has over 259,000 subscribers!

When I sent him the list of questions, he answered: “Wow, big list! I'll go through it quickly, feel free to edit it into shape.“

Thanks so much for answering a few questions!

First, let’s start at the beginning. Where were you brought up, any siblings, and what did your parents do for work?

I was raised in St Louis. I have 3 siblings, and my parents were an Engineer and a Designer.

Any Post Secondary Education?

I went to a State University and got a design degree.

What were your first jobs? How about your first “Real Job”?

I had some typical high school jobs: grocery store clerk, mall retail, kind of stuff. My first job out of school was doing product design for an office products company. Made office tools & organization, and sold them in office/craft retailers and big box stores.

I then worked for a German design consultancy in Hong Kong. Next, I co-founded Brand New Box, a digital product studio, in San Diego.

How long have you been an entrepreneur?

I've been making silly side projects my entire life, but my digital product studio is about 15 yrs old. It is called Brand New Box.

Was Substack your first platform choice?

Yes, it was!

Why did you choose Substack as your platform?

I've used several newsletter platforms, but was looking for something that was simple and focused on reading and writing (not like, ads and conversions and surveillance capitalism stuff).

I realized how fun it would be to read Dracula 'in real time', but kind of a hassle to work your way through the paper book with its slightly out-of-chronological order. An email newsletter could deliver just the 'right' bits on schedule. And then once I had the idea, I just had to do it.

Awesome idea, and free and easy content! You have 260,000 subscribers now. Do you know how that grew so much in just a couple of years? Do you have some ideas for other sub stackers to grow their audience? Did you get lots of recommendations, shoutouts by celebs, and articles about the Substack posts?

I believe it was really all organic - sharing person-to-person and via social media. When it got big on Tumblr, that fed into a flywheel of FOMO that helped other people check it out. There was a flurry of Press that contributes to growth, but weirdly a big media feature is small potatoes compared to a really engaged Twitter thread.

What is your newsletter open rate?

If other years are an indication, it will taper off through the Dracula 'season', as people get behind on reading. I think we're around 50% today.

That’s very high - congrats!

You wrote in your introductory post on January 3, 2021: Get the classic novel Dracula, emailed to you in real-time as it happens. Bram Stoker's Dracula is an epistolary novel - it's made up of letters, diaries, telegrams, newspaper clippings - and each part of it has a date.

The whole story happens between May 3 and November 10. So: Dracula Daily will post a newsletter each day that something happens to the characters, in the same timeline that it happens to them. Now you can read the book via email, in small digestible chunks - as it happens to the characters. See more info at draculadaily.com

The Story starts on May 3! Sign up now so you don't miss the first issue. The first post was sent out on May 3, 2021.

What do you do after November 10 of the year (when the story ends)? Are you going to keep publishing it every year on May 3?

I don't know! It doesn't take much time to manage on my side, and I think as long as so many people are interested in doing it, I'll probably be happy to support that experience.

Money Are you monetizing the newsletter? Maybe elaborate why or not. Have you thought of merchandise? Pre-Halloween would be a good time to launch a store.

No, I'm not doing anything yet! I'm open to different ways of monetizing it but haven't found anything that feels like the right fit. I am coming out with a paper-book edition in September (also called Dracula Daily!), which contains the whole email experience day-by-day, with a sampling of my favorite comments/memes/jokes that people made online, and that's available for pre-order now. I'll promote that a little more through the summer, I'm sure.

Would you consider advertising to your subs?

I'm open to it, just would want something that feels like a good fit and doesn't disrupt the reading experience.

I see that you run a company called Studio Kirkland. Do you do advertising for Costco? :) (Matt’s last name is Kirkland)

No, but I'd be happy to talk to them! :)

How did you get into this work?

I really love the web. I like to make silly, approachable side projects and put them online. That's it!

Do you want to plug anything to my subscribers?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I suppose just the book! The Dracula Daily is just a passion sideline for me.

Are any other books planned as far as newsletter publishing?

Nothing planned. Probably just email my list Dracula over and over, until they unsubscribe. :)

Favorite sport to play and or watch.

My son's soccer team is the only real sport I pay attention to regularly!

Are you hopeful for the future? Your children's future?

Yes, and Super Yes!

Most important subject in your life right now and why is AI your answer?

I've really enjoyed playing with AI tools and I think they're super interesting.

Your newsletter is such a great idea. Congrats again, Matt! Thank you!

Hope you enjoyed this interview! Comment, Share, and Like. Check the 270,000 who comment on the #dracula daily on Tumblr.

Peace!