Interview With Author Joni Parker

  

 

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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About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 6,650,000 page views. With 5,600+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

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