Two quick reminders:
Come to the “Serialize Your Novel or Memoir on Substack with Artistry and Ease” workshop. July 25 | 7-8 pm CT | Zoom | Replay available. We’ll cover novels, memoirs, and classic texts. Find out more here.
I’m so excited to have Matt Kirkland here today for you. Matt is the creator of Dracula Daily, the serialization of Bram Stoker’s Dracula on Substack. Most people know the story of the vampire and his move from Transylvania to London in search of victims. It’s primarily an epistolary novel made up of letters, diaries, telegrams, and newspaper clippings. It takes place from May to November, c. 1890. Most chapters of the novel occur on a particular date.
Matt didn’t serialize Dracula by simply dividing it according to word count or chapters. He broke up the novel according to date. All subscribers get a post or an installment of what’s happening in the novel on that date. You receive the parts of the novel that take place on May 3 in your inbox on May 3.
In our interview, we talk about how he ended up serializing Dracula. We talk about how it has become the most successful serialization on Substack with over a quarter million subscribers. We discuss the structural elements of the novel that lend itself to the platform—i.e., the first person point of view, the epistolary form, the varied lengths of posts—and whether these elements contributed to the serialization’s success, in addition to it being a novel that many people know.
A print edition of Dracula Daily will be out on September 19, 2023. It’s a beautiful version of the book that takes you through the full Substack serialization experience, including commentary from the dynamic community of subscribers that built up around Dracula Daily. It will be published by Andrews McMeel, showing again that publishers are interested in what’s being published on Substack.
Enjoy!
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I'm about six months late to this post (I only just found this), what a wonderful interview! I've seen some modest success serializing my own Dracula-inspired epistolary vampire novel here on Substack, so I can confirm there's a lot of wisdom in the discussion you had perspective and form and how they apply to the email format.
This is a relief to hear! For those of us whose health does not allow “every Monday” or necessarily every week, but then deliver a surge series boom-boom-boom... the customary algorithm model haaaates us. And punishes us.
For we who sometimes write an installment that is a handful of little paragraphs and then some midsize installments with uniform length and then one thick one and then a random section of verse... for we who do not rotate character POVs like the minute hand on a clock, it is a relief to hear that some readers actually enjoy never knowing what will show up when.
I am that reader. It’s one of the things I love most about my favorite newsletter instructor. As such, I am also that writer so this was such a joy to hear! And to see how it’s done well. 🤓
Excellent! It seems so right to do it this way, doesn't it? We're so married to word counts that have no relevance anymore.
Yaaaaas. Word counts on the small and large scale have always been a frustration of my writing. My rhythms never seemed to hit them. Either too large or too small. Now I can just make beats. And treats. And meals. 🤓😻🤩
Love it.
Great interview! Now I’m going to serialize Les Miserables. 😂 (if I can ever finish it)
I love this. That could be a lifelong endeavor!
Chapter 1 - In which we meet a really, really, really good priest who gives his silver away to a really bad but understandably so ex-prisoner.
You're making me want to reread it.
So we begin!
What a marvelous idea! I'm so curious about copyright issues, but will listen to your interview, which may answer that.
After 100 years, all copyrights expire!
Aha! See? I feel like I should know that. Excuse me while I go look for a 101-year-old eco-fiction book to serialize. . . . This one from 1949 isn't quite there yet: "Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart.
Perfect!