ME: For those who don't know him, Frank Diepmaat started up, in my humble opinion, the best zombie website: Zombie-Guide Magazine, or ZGM for short. Frank's the man behind indie zombie author promo, zombie survival tactics, and well, just about any zombie info you need. But like the thousands of readers, reviewers, and zombie lovers out there, I wanted to know more so I asked him to chat for a bit. So let's start. Who is this mysterious Dutchman? And wait, you are Dutch, right?
Frank: (Chuckling) Yes I'm a Dutchman, from The Netherlands, also know as Holland. We speak Dutch, not Deutsch, that's German.
ME: (Sighing) Disaster avoided, glad I got that one right, otherwise this could have started off pretty awkward. Alright, so how and why did you start up ZGM?
Frank: I started ZGM a few years ago for basically two reasons. I was developing websites for other people at the time, but I was looking for a website to just do it my way. So it got me thinking what the website should be about. It had to be something that allowed me to write about whatever I wanted and relate it to a lot that's going on my mind.
ME: Sorry to interrupt, but real quick, what stuff is going on inside your head?
Frank: (Laughing) Well a lot actually! At the moment I'm just amazed at how out of shape people are, how they lack a lot of basic survival skills and just their mindset in general. Then one day I was watching TWD [The Walking Dead] and it hit me! I could use zombies and an apocalyptic setting to relate to anything that crosses my mind. That got me doing some research and to register the domain name. At first it was going to be Zombie Guide, no magazine, with a more Wikipedia like layout. But then I started to receive review requests and article ideas and it turned into a magazine.
ME: So it went from a "one guy's thoughts / zombie-information-source" to a mainstream, all encompassing zombie one-stop-shop?
Frank: That is exactly what happened yes! It went from one man army to organized zombie killing in just a few months.
ME: A few months? That's crazy how fast it spread! So this brand new "zombie baby"...tell us about the trials and tribulations when it came to setting up, running, and maintaining ZGM.
Frank: Basically the magazine started to grow and I needed more people to write. Then I ran into Joanna on Twitter. Sort of a funny story, she worked the night shift in a gym. So while I was at work during daytime here, she was working at night and somehow we got into contact. After talking for a while I asked her to write with me and then there were two of us. Because she's from the USA she had much more feeling for marketing us in the US, that lead to the magazine really picking up speed. Not long after that the rest came on board one after the other. We now have writers in the US, UK, Netherlands, Australia and France.
ME: Damn, you've created this international zombie magazine contribution phenomenon. Did you ever expect it to grow as quickly as it did?
Frank: I had never expected it to grow at all actually. I was just looking to build a website to write what's on my mind, play around with Wordpress and stuff. Fun fact actually, the Zombie Research Society didn't want to give me a second to advertise on their page. Since they're the biggest zombie society out there, working with Romero and such names. So after about half a year we had several authors and we were growing fast. They contacted us all to stop ZGM and start writing for them. Of course we all declined and decided to keep kicking ass on our own.
ME: So They tried to poach ZGM writers? Sounds to me like they feel a little threatened.
Frank: I don't know, but they did copy the website design we had at that time. I talked to all of our writers about it and we decided to move forward, ignore them and keep innovating in our own way. So far that's working great. I think our strength is that we're all doing this as a hobby. This allows us to move fast and take big risks, because it won't affect our income. Right now I don't know what their plans are, nor do I really care. We're making progress on our own and gathering a good fan base
ME: Humble words, my friend. Well, in my opinion, it looks like that was more than a faux-pas on their part. They could have worked with you and helped promote the genre alongside you, but oh well. I say good for you and ZGM! Keep kicking ass and being the free-expression, loving zombie website ZGM is. I'm sure a day will come when ZGM becomes THE platform zombie lovers everywhere look to first- and I for one know where I look to first. Okay so after talking about ZGM's progressive nature, any ideas to expand?
Frank: Actually yes! I recently built a new feature on ZGM. Anyone can now register on our homepage as an author and write articles. Giving independent authors, or people who just have one really cool article idea, a chance to write for a large audience.
ME: Sounds awesome! So anyone can write as long as it's zombie-related, correct?
Frank: Yes everything has to be zombie related. If someone, for example, wants to do a gun review. That's fine, but we wanna know if it will blow your brain out (winking). But now that the update to ZGM is in place, I'm focused on the holidays and eating and drinking as much as I can.
ME: Since this interview will be going live after the Christmas/Holiday season, what can you tell us about these eating and drinking plans?
Frank: (Laughing) Well right now my vodka period is sorta over, more into whiskey right now. But other than that I eat a very healthy diet and exercise like there's zombies chasing me (smiling).
ME: (Nearly salivating) Ah I love some good whiskey. For our next sit down I'll make sure to stock some. Alright so ZGM maintains a few regular writers...for future and aspiring writers of ZGM what would you tell them you look for and any advice?
Frank: As I said we now made it possible for everyone to write. This means our current authors will get a more editorial role. For people to join our regular staff, we look for a passion for zombies and writing. A huge bonus right now would be someone who can read a lot of books and do reviews on them. We get requests nearly daily for book reviews right now.
ME: (unnecessarily animated) Alright, it's back! The Thompson Twist AKA random interview question. It's the zombie apocalypse. Shit is crazy on the streets, but you're not just on any street, as a matter of fact you're outside your homeland on vacation by yourself in New York city in late November when the outbreak happens...what's your weapon of choice, what's your immediate survival strategy, and since I'm biased, the infected are fast movers.
Frank: Depending on how fast the infection spreads and given the very dense population there, I'd try to get on a major river. Forget the boats in the harbors, those will be taken. Get into a toy store- nobody will go there- and grab a few inflatable rubber boats if they sell them there- that is where you can buy those here. Try to grab some food, water, medicine and thick clothing/gear if you can and get into the water. Use the rivers to get out of the populated areas and go from there. If you're in the middle of the city and shit goes down all around you, well grab whatever you can, get on a rooftop and barricade it. Wait for everything to go to hell and make a new plan.
ME: Sound advice, I take it you've thought about that before?
Frank: (Smiling) Seeing The Walking Dead and World War Z got me thinking about this yes.
ME: You have served in your country's Armed Forces. So, is it safe to say that disaster/survival is in your blood?
Frank: We did learn the basics, about hunting, making fire, shelter and cleaning water among some other skills. This was during basic training and later a few specific courses. I can tell you the cold weather survival course is horrible. I don't care what Max Brooks says about staying in a frozen tundra to escape zombies, I'll take a normal climate with zombies over eastern Germany during the winter any day.
ME: Well, if we're even remotely close to one another when the zombie apocalypse goes down, I wanna team up with you! Alright, moving forward...Frank, you started an awesome media corp, and with writing being the backbone, are you much of a fiction writer? Do you have any plans for a novel?
Frank: Well to be honest, I'm not that much of a reader. I used to read in the Army when we had too much time off, but these days I just don't get to it. I'm also not the person to write long fiction stories, but serious articles or slightly satirical work is right up my alley.
ME: Care to share any past serious articles or these slightly satirical works?
Frank: There is one I'd like to point out on ZGM: http://www.zombie-guide.com/obesity-a-death-sentence/. The satirical articles are mostly on my blog, but I'm not going to promote it here, because it has nothing to do with zombies.
ME: No way dude! This is your interview! Besides, I for one want to hear more about it, so promote away. Tell us, what is Frankly Undead all about?
Frank: It's my personal blog where I just write what's on my mind. Basically all the writing I can't do on ZGM, because it can be offensive to some people and because it's not about zombies. Feel free to check it out! www.franklyundead.com
ME: Alright, our time has almost come to an end, so before we sign off, it's plug time. With what websites/emails/links do you want readers to be able to stalk you...FB, twitter, whatever else you got!
Frank: People can contact me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frank.diepmaat.9, Twitter: https://twitter.com/Franklyundead and via E-mail: frank@zombie-guide.com
ME: Frank, you've been awesome! Really stoked we could sit down and chat. Thanks again for hanging out!
Frank: Thank you very much for the interview! It was my first ever interview from this side of the table.
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