Hello! Matt here. A quick reminder: you’re getting this email because you signed up for Dracula Daily, the email newsletter that sends you the full text of Dracula in real time. If that doesn’t sound familiar, you can unsubscribe at the link at the bottom of this email.
I’m writing this pre-season email to let you know about something new I’m going to try in 2025: Dracula Weekly.
But first: it’s the two week countdown!
The story of Dracula starts on May 3, which means we’re just two weeks away. Dracula is fun to read along with people, so if there’s anybody in your life you’d like to join this book club with, get ‘em on board now! :)
On May 3 you’ll get the first section of the book, as we meet Jonathan Harker. After that, you’ll only get emails on days when there’s action in the book.
Confused about how this works? I cover some common questions here. https://draculadaily.substack.com/about
OK, what was that about Dracula… Weekly?
This email platform has a feature that lets people pledge monetary support for a newsletter. It’s not something I set up, and Dracula Daily has always been free. And to be clear - it will continue to be free! It’s too much fun to restrict to only people who pay money!
But some of you readers have found a way to set up a pledge, meaning that I can turn on ‘paid’ subscriptions. Many of you have written incredibly nice and encouraging messages of support with those pledges. Really, they’re so great - I literally go back and re-read your messages when I feel sad.
But the idea of creating a ‘paid’ tier always felt weird without giving you something extra in return. This operation does take a lot of work, but I absolutely do it for fun. I didn’t want to take pledges unless there was some extra value for you! So this year I’m going to try it out, with Dracula Weekly.
Here’s what I’m thinking:
Paid subscribers get access to Dracula Weekly, a new weekly email. Here’s what I’m envisioning for that:
- A recap. I’ll write a summary of what happened this week in the daily emails. This could be useful if you fall behind in the daily reading, especially in the fall when you can start getting a LOT of text at once.
- A roundup. The community responses to Dracula Daily emails are so incredible. But if you’re not very online you might not see these, or even know where to look. Or you might be terminally online, but still not be hanging out on every social platform at once. So: I’ll include a roundup of links to some great responses that people make - highlights from the artists and writers that create memes, jokes, artwork, essays, and more. Hopefully you’ll find a bunch of new cool people to follow!
- And more? What else sounds fun to have in a Dracula Weekly email? I’d love your thoughts. Probably also some other Dracula or classic lit or gothic-adjacent stuff to recommend?
- A vote of support. Probably the biggest thing you’d get - and this is I think the only reason why anybody has pledged so far - is just to support the project.
- Oh and some merch to say thank you. For the first ~hundred or so people that claim it at least! I made enamel pins to celebrate the launch of the hardcover edition of Dracula Daily, and I’ve still got some of those, plus I have a few of the motel-style keychains from Castle Dracula. I’d love to send those to you as a freebie, just a way to say thanks. Note that there’s only a limited quantity of those, so it will need to be first come first serve, I guess. I’ll put a link to claim them in the first Dracula Weekly emails.
SO: What does this mean for you?
- If you’ve pledged - we’ll start actually accepting your pledge, and you’ll get the new Dracula Weekly emails. If you made that pledge in substack and you don’t actually want to proceed, that’s fine! Cancel that now! No problem. blood, no foul.
- If you never pledged anything and this doesn’t sound interesting, No worries! The regular Dracula Daily emails will go out as usual, and you’ll get the full book and the full experience. You don’t need to do anything.
- If you haven’t pledged and you WANT to join in and support Dracula Daily, here’s a link (at least I think this is how it works):
But really - NO pressure here, you don’t need to subscribe to read Dracula with us!
OK! That’s it - thanks for reading along. Doing this Dracula thing is only possible and certainly only fun because of you, dear reader.
And get ready for the book to start - we meet our good friend Jonathan on May 3!