advice

New Project and Free Stuff!

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

Here we go guys, first promo of the year; I’m offering my bestselling work “The Reaper and Other Tales” absolutely free! The deal starts Sunday morning at 8 A.M. and runs through Tuesday morning at this link; http://www.amazon.com/Reaper-other-tales-Damean-Mathews-ebook/dp/B00FSJX8DE/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420832406&sr=1-2

But there’s more!! Anyone who reviews my work online will receive a free copy of my next published work as well! I know, it changes the contest I was running before, but I think this is better. Every single person who gives a review on my work will receive a copy of my next work absolutely free of charge!

In addition to this deal, I have started working on a couple of things (one of which is available for free). I made a Wattpad account and I’m using it to write a piece of Fanfiction to explore a new genre and present a sequel to one of my favorite movies. The movie, Near Dark, is one that everyone should watch and my sequel “Near Dawn” picks up ten years later and it is free to read on Wattpad;http://www.wattpad.com/story/30168510-near-dawn

Two more things for this post; A) there’s a new vlog up, so check it out!! and B) I updated my website today, so check that out, too! mathewsbooks.wix.com/dameanmathews

Have a great day, I hope you enjoy all of my work. Feedback is always welcome!!

Networking is Key

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

Greetings people! It has been a while since I made an honest to goodness blog post that wasn’t just an update on myself. This one, long overdo, is going to be moderately short unless I run into a rant, which many of you know is very possible for me. I want to talk a little bit about networking, though.

Networking is incredibly important for any author, from the newcomer that was just published an hour ago to the man who has had 50 books published over 20 years. Without networking hundreds, if not thousands, of books (and authors) can go unnoticed, fall through the cracks and be left by the wayside. This is the last thing any of us want to happen to ourselves- and the last thing I want for any of you, faithful friends and fans! So what do we do to combat it? Network. Network. Network.

What is networking,some of you may ask. It is, quite simply, spreading your name and work as far and wide as you can, especially to those people whom you know are interested in your particular style or genre.Networking might sound like an easy thing to do, but believe me, that isn’t always the case. There are 7 billion some odd people in the world, and while the chances of anyone else writing your exact same piece are fairly slim, there are countless others who are writing in a genre or style comparable to yours, don’t kid yourself for a second to think otherwise. That’s not to say your work isn’t important, don’t get me wrong. Like I’ve said before; if there is a work inside you that wants out, it is for a reason and you owe it to yourself, the world and the work itself to get it out there to the best of your ability.

Networking can help with that. One way to do this, of course, is to blog about your work to others who may be interested. Another, and very important way, is social media. Social Media can be a huge help, or a huge dud for authors. There are hundreds and hundreds of pages of people trying to promote their own work, or the work of someone else (and I’m a part of a number of them for this very reason) but there are going to be people on there who will want to hear what you have to say. This is one thing that can be your saving grace. If you can find the right circle of people to market to on social media, a good portion of your networking is kind of done for you.

LinkedIn and other sites of the like are sometimes helpful, particularly if you can find other authors who are in your boat. Building relationships with other authors and readers is another way that you can be exceedingly successful. If your audience knows you on even the most superficial of personal levels, they’ll be more interested in hearing what you have to say and reading your work. One way to build this relationship and allow others in for interaction is by making a website. It gives you a way to show everything you do and allows others to comment directly to you in any way they’d like. Being a part of chats, symposiums and anything that allows authors and readers to interact can be hugely helpful. Really, anything that allows your potential audience to see the human side of you and make you more than just a name on a piece of paper. This is what is going to help.

I’m preparing to begin taking the symposium route this summer, as I have been asked to present at the Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Symposium at Southwest Virginia Community College in June. I made a post about that late last year, but as a recap I’m doing a presentation on a topic that, right now, is roughly titled; “Zombies and the Undead in Appalachian Literature”. All of the information about the symposium can be found here; https://appheritagewritersym.wordpress.com/ The site will be updated with specifics on each presenter and their workshops soon, so check back on it often. Hopefully some of you will attend, because I’d love for you all to have the experience- because I can attest to how enriching it truly is- and because I’d LOVE to meet you all.

In addition to this, I have created a vlog channel in order to attempt to let you all and fans of my other work see a bit into my life and see who I really am. The vlog channel will also include advice and talks of my works, and will see much more regular entries than this site does. That’s not because I favor it or anything, but because it’s much easier to pull out my phone and film a few minutes of me talking than it is for me to rush to a computer (or just an area with good phone signal) and pull up a website or an app and type everything out. The link to that channel is here; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2EU_YW9qBDfFWAB01Nc6wA It’s very new, but I hope you’ll all watch and subscribe.

Anyway, I’ll cut this off for tonight. Anyone with comments, questions or any concerns is always welcome to contact me in any way possible. I look very forward to hearing from everyone! Good luck, Good year, and Happy Writing!!

The Avoidance of Inspiration-killing Stress

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 2 Comments

Authors can seriously be crippled by the lack of a proper atmosphere. This is a huge helpful tip for anyone who hasn’t figured out the full deal for themselves, and a great pointer for someone currently trying to figure out how best to do their work.

Step #1; Find your happy place. Overlook the cliché of that statement, it holds vast truth and importance. You have to find where the you write best. It may be somewhere quiet, it may be somewhere loud, it may not even be the same place all of the time, but you have to use it when you find it. While the place may take some time to find, you’ll definitely know it when you do. It will be the place your writing comes most naturally and easily, and where the flow of your words is best. The atmosphere must be perfect to get optimum work, for a lot of people anyway. Granted that, as much as anything else, can vary from person to person, it is something that absolutely must be paid attention to. Your work area is your happy place, your safe place, your haven, and it must fit your standards to the finest points. Whether you like it quiet or loud, bright or dim, crowded or completely empty, it must be the place that most helps you do what you do best.

Step #2; You must find your time also. Most people can write at nearly anytime, but there will be a certain time of day (not necessarily an hour or minute per se, but more a generalization like morning, dawn, dusk, afternoon, evening, night) that they find their work absolutely at the top of its game. This must be taken advantage of. That is the best way to deal with your day, and can even be a great stress reliever in itself. Just finding what time works best for you gives you an idea of how you can literally schedule your entire day around your writing and get top quality work without having to edit as much (which always helps in the end).

Step 3; Utilize every second of your time. Setting up a schedule will definitely help this, especially if you have taken the time to follow the first two steps. Going to your ‘happy place’ at the time that you have found to be your best work period is going to make you feel you have become increasingly accomplished in the craft, and help to complete your project as quickly as possible.

These steps are probably fairly generic to most people, but they can still be very helpful to new authors, and we can all admit that it never hurts to be reminded of such things. Life can cut its way in on us and ruin our mood and inspiration. Stress has killed more books throughout history than book burning protesters have, most likely, and we have to do all that we can to fight it at every turn. These steps will help most authors on their way to success (or at least completion of projects), and I really would like to hear what you all think about them. If they have helped, let me know. And if they haven’t let me know also, and hopefully you’ll share why they have or haven’t. And if you have any more tips definitely leave them in the comments, and of course you will get all of the credit. I look forward to hearing from everyone.

-Damean