1. What inspired you to write this book?
The Golden Deficit is the third book in the Golden Harvest
series, which has four books. So, there are two books leading up to this point
and one that follows. There are also three other series leading to this one:
The Seaward Isle Saga, The Chronicles of Eledon, and the Admiralty Archives,
which follow the adventures of my main character, Lady Alexin (she prefers to
be called Alex). The Golden Harvest series documents the tribute the Elves must
pay to their Mentors, the Elf guides, every four thousand years. Twelve
thousand years ago, the Mentors led the Elves to Eledon, a planetoid they built
for them when the Elves were forced to leave Earth. The next harvest is
scheduled for the year twelve thousand and will be the third one they've paid,
but it will be the first one with Alex in charge. But in the first book of the
series, The Epsilon Account, there's a major problem. The Mentors
arrive too early for the harvest. Although Alex suspects something's wrong, she
can't prove it and can't stop it. The harvest begins and continues through book
2, Ten Gold Coins, where Alex is kidnapped and can no longer
monitor the program at home. But she helps the Mentors with another Golden
Harvest on a different planetoid. Olympus has become the home of the Greek
Gods, who were also forced to leave Earth. They don't want to pay the Mentors
for anything, but Alex fixes that. When Alex returns to Eledon in book 3, The
Golden Deficit, she finds another major problem with the harvest. Some of
it was fake. After she resolves that problem, she deals with the aftermath of
the harvest in the last book in the series, The House of Gold, when
Alex finds the harvested gold where it shouldn't be.
2. What exactly is it about—and who is it
written for?
The Golden Deficit is about Alex's attempt to replace the gold
knots that are defective. The Mentors report that five million gold knots are
made of lead, covered with a thin coating of gold. It looks and weighs the same
as a knot, but it's not. The only problem is that none of the Elves have any
gold left. So, what's a girl to do? Improvise. Find new sources. Think outside
of the box. Whatever it takes to get the job done. The book is written
for those adults or adult-like people who enjoy a good fantasy
story.
3. What do you hope readers will get out of
reading your book?
Sometimes, it takes extra perseverance and lots of ingenuity to
complete a job.
4. How did you decide on your book’s title and
cover design?
The title was easy because this book was all about the deficit of
gold. The cover design was another matter. I wanted a picture of a golden
dragon, but I couldn’t find one that wasn’t done by AI. I finally found one on
Pixabay—it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it worked. I used the cover format
from KDP Cover Create and used the same format for each book in the
series.
5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have
for fellow writers – other than run!?
Years ago, when I first came up with a story about my main
character, Alex, I didn’t write it down, so it followed me everywhere I
went—when I went to sleep, when I woke up, when I ate, when I was at work. It
wouldn’t let me go until I wrote it down. It took me 3 months to dump it out of
my brain into a computer, but after that, I had a new problem. Do I shelve it
or publish it? I chose to publish (with a lot of revisions).
6. What trends in the book world do you see --
and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?
I hate to say it, but AI is taking over, especially publishing. I
dabbled with Chatgpt and was surprised by the results because it came up with
an outline of a good story. It just wasn't mine, so I couldn’t use it.
7. Were there experiences in your
personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?
When I was a teenager, a friend asked me if I wanted to join her
social organization where she was going to become a debutante. I wasn't
interested, but she was adamant, so she asked someone if I could join. They
told her no. She never told me why and I didn't ask. I used this experience as
a basis for the Nymphet program for the Water Elves.
8. How would you describe your writing style?
Which writers or books is your writing similar to?
My writing style is informal and casual. I’d love to say my
writing is similar to Suzanne Collins, but that may be wishful thinking.
9. What challenges did you overcome in the
writing of this book?
My beta reader suggested that I eliminate the entire Nymphet
episode, but I disagreed. I thought it was fun and put Alex in a difficult and
challenging situation that wasn’t her making. She did fine and got the job
done.
10. If people can buy or read one book this week
or month, why should it be yours?
Because it’s fun to read and an escape from this messy world, and
because reading is good for your soul.
About the Author: Joni was born in Chicago, Illinois, but moved
to Japan when she was 8, so her father could become a professional golfer.
After he achieved his dream, her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona where she
graduated from high school. Joni joined the Navy and retired; then she worked
for federal civil service until she retired again. She currently lives in
Tucson, Arizona with her sister. To connect with her, see Joni here: Bluesky:
@joniparker.bsky.social or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJoniParker
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For
the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He
formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the
head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the
director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many
first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with
best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen,
Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard,
Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C.
Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.
His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s
The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs
He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers
Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod
Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five
times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and
Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.
His
letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal,
USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester)
and The Washington Post. His first published book was The
Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook. It
was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
Born
and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids,
and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.
You
can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum
