Interview from 2010 between M. R. Mathias and David Wiseheart

What authors most inspire you?

One, Raymond E. Feist, I read an article about how he had no training as a writer. He just started writing and the masterpiece Magician Apprentice/Magician Master is what came out. It was originally one book but the editors cut it in half. His story inspired me to write. A few others have influenced me. I draw a lot from what I have read. If you read any of my books you will see that I have read a lot of novels.

Some author quotes that I lean on when I need them:

“To be a novelist, all you have to do is write a novel.” -- Steven King

“If you don’t write the story, then it doesn’t get told.” – I think John Grisham said that, but I’m not certain.

"If you write with passion in your own style, you will make a place for yourself" — Dean Koontz

What one book, written by someone else, do you wish you'd written yourself?

The Bible. (I’m laughing, and you should be too. If you’re offended get a grip. It was a joke.)

How did you create your covers?

Badly at first. Now the covers I have are professionally made. The new (OLD - mr) cover for The Sword and the Dragon was made by a guy who worked on the Canadian animated cartoon series Dragon-Boosters. He did it for a print copy of each of my two fantasy novels. That is as cool as it gets. I gave him props in the dedication.

How have you marketed and promoted your work?

A few cheap ads, but mostly aggressive posting in as many forums and pages as I can find it appropriate to do so at; definitely a lot of Facebook and Twitter posting. I try not to spam, but the spam police are everywhere. I find them hypocritical though, because acting like you are interested in a discussion, just so you can slip a reference to what you have written, is sleazy to me. I would rather a person who is proud of their work, and maybe even boastful of it, just say so. That intrigues me.

What did Jack Valance used to say in those old Aqua Velva commercials? “Confidence is sexy!”

I post regularly on TOR’s Facebook page, placing my independent novel right there amongst the published. Penguin, and Pyre too. I hope it rankles the publishers. If they offered me a contract now, I would probably throw it away, unless it was substantially above average. I am making as much as some of the published authors out there because I make 70% of my sales through Amazon DTP. They get less than 5% of the cover price of their books. My marketing mottos are:

“Fortune sides with him who dares.” – Virgil “I dare.” – M. R. Mathias

One of my greatest marketing points is the Smashwords free preview. At 43% it comes out to about 300 pages. A person can decide if they want to buy The Sword and the Dragon long before that point, and when the undecided reader hits page 300, well... You get the idea. I wish Amazon offered this long preview option to authors/readers. Amazon only allows 10% of the book to be previewed, but Amazon is still where the majority of my sales come.

Your online persona has become somewhat controversial. Do you think that helps or hurts the sale of your books?

I am selling books, a lot of them lately, and I am satisfied with the steady increase in sales. Just look at the NFL. Controversy creates interest and name recognition. Last year we were talking about Michael Vick’s crimes, this year the commentary is about if he will start or not. We all know who he is though, even those who don’t follow football.