Speaking and Appearances

David Viergutz
CEO · Publisher · Business Architect for Storytellers

If storytelling is a business, David Viergutz is the guy who wrote the operations manual.

David Viergutz is the founder and CEO of two groundbreaking ventures reshaping modern storytelling: The Nightmare Engine, a multi–seven-figure horror publishing and logistics company, and Epistolary, the world’s first publishing house dedicated exclusively to epistolary fiction—serialized storytelling told through letters, documents, and physical media.

At the helm of The Nightmare Engine, David created ScareMail, an immersive horror-by-mail subscription that redefined direct-to-reader fiction. Blending narrative, art, and physical keepsakes into a premium, tactile experience, ScareMail became a runaway success—scaling to seven figures in just four months. With a full-time staff, dedicated warehouse, and end-to-end fulfillment infrastructure, The Nightmare Engine operates like a high-efficiency product company built entirely around story.

Through Epistolary, David is building a future-facing publishing model centered on exclusivity, authorship, and ownership—signing select writers and transforming serialized letters into collector-grade media experiences shipped worldwide. Where others publish content, David manufactures experience.

Before launching his publishing empire, David served over a decade in law enforcement and is a disabled Army veteran. David brings operational clarity, leadership, and creative precision to every enterprise he builds.

Why does David’s perspective matter?

Because he’s built what most creators only imagine:
- A vertically integrated publishing and fulfillment engine
- A system for monetizing story as a premium, physical product
- A business that scaled to seven figures in four months, not years
- A real infrastructure—warehouse, staff, SOPs, logistics, and margins
- A replicable model for turning ideas into IP and IP into income

David has been featured in Indie Author Magazine(Cover) and Writer’s Digest, and is a featured speaker at Author Nation and Self Publishing Live: London. He moonlights as a college English instructor sharing his love of storytelling.

His publishing and operational work empowers creators to stop chasing platform crumbs and start owning the means of their storytelling—through product, process, and purpose.