Joni was born in Chicago,
moved to Japan,
and returned to live in Phoenix, Arizona.
After joining the Navy, she lived in Lakehurst,
New Jersey where she met her husband, a
career sailor. They moved to Jacksonville, Florida,
from there to Pensacola, Florida
where Joni attended the university. Upon graduation, she returned to the Navy
and was stationed in Naples, Italy.
From there, the Navy sent her to live in a number of U.S.
cities and even spent a year with the U.S. Army at their Command and General
Staff College obtaining a Master of Military Arts and Sciences. Upon her
retirement, she traveled the country in an RV with her husband until he passed
away. She returned to the workforce living in Dallas
until she discovered a passion for writing fantasy novels. She retired for a
second time and now lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Website Address: http://www.joni-parker.com
Twitter Address: @ParkerJoni
Facebook Address: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJoniParker
About the Book:
A NATO training
exercise goes terribly wrong when five warships from different countries are
mysteriously transported to Eledon, the Realm of the Elves. The warrior Lady
Alexin is charged to escort the troops back home to London in the year 2031 with the aid of the
Wizard Ecstasy and a magic shrinking potion. Yet, when the authorities question
her story, Alex is detained and imprisoned under suspicion of terrorism. Caught
in a web of politics, betrayal and bungling bureaucracy, the confusing world of
the future will push her magical gifts to their limit, and her own future will
hang in the balance, caught between “justice” and the place she calls home.
ORDER YOUR COPY:
Amazon
Thank you for your time in
answering our questions about getting published. Let’s begin by having
you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?
Joni: Several years ago, I was
suddenly inspired to write when I developed a character and a bunch of stories.
I didn’t stop for three months. After I finished, I wasn’t sure what to do with
the manuscript so I decided to publish it. It needed a lot of editing, but
eventually, it became my first three books in The Seaward Isle Saga: The Black Elf of Seaward Isle, Tangled Omens, and Blood Mission. The inspiration continued for the next series called
The Chronicles of Eledon with Spell Breaker, The Blue Witch, Gossamer, and
Noble Magic.
Is this your first book?
Joni: Curse of the Sea is actually my eighth book. It begins the Admiralty Archives, my third series and
will have two more books.
With this particular book,
how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you
choose this method?
Joni: My editor, Teresa
Kennedy, runs a small indie press so she’s also my publisher. She published
both the ebook and print versions of my first series, but now, she only
publishes the ebook version. I publish the print version and post it to Amazon.
Can you tell us a little
about your publishing journey? The pros
and cons?
Joni: The pros: I have help
with publishing the ebook and my editor sets the manuscript up for the print
version including formatting and cover design. She also takes care of
forwarding any royalties.
The cons: I do all the
marketing to promote my book and get reviews. Also, I can’t independently
verify how well sales are going since that information goes directly to the
publisher.
What lessons do you feel you
learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing
industry as a whole?
Joni: Fortunately, I have a
good working relationship with my publisher. She doesn’t change my title
arbitrarily or pick covers without my approval. That’s not true with the big
houses. Once the author turns over the manuscript, the author gets little input
on the title or cover. I didn’t know anything when I first started and I was
working hard on my writing skills so I appreciated the help. Indie publishing
and all that’s involved was more than I could handle at the time.
Would you recommend this
method of publishing to other authors?
Joni: It depends on the author.
If the author can devote the time and energy into self-publishing, then that’s
the way to go. However, most of us can’t do it all and needs help from
somebody.
What’s the best advice you
can give to aspiring authors?
Joni: After I finished my first
book, I found out that writing it was only the beginning. An author has a lot
more to do in the way of marketing and publishing. At the time, the
self-publishing market was only in its infancy and anyone who went that way,
was looked down by the industry. My book was even downgraded by a reviewer
because it was self-published and she claimed there were a lot of spelling
errors in it when there weren’t. Anyway, there are a lot of resources now
available to help authors so don’t be afraid to ask for help.
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