Check Out Johnathan Parker’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnathan Parker.

Hi Johnathan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I realized later in life that I’ve always been a storyteller. I’ve always been passionate about immense worldbuilding and epic tales with deep lore and wide-reaching settings; cosmic, fantastical, futuristic or cyber punk, post-apocalyptic, makes no difference. As long as the narrative is well written, I’ve found I’ve no problem with binging and consuming it. I’m a narrative fanatic. After taking 16 years to fully complete my own, I wanted foremost to protect it. I didn’t want it bastardized and manipulated to pander it to the latest trends. It would stand or fall on the measure of its own legs, so I learned the business over a few years and built a publishing company with people I knew and trusted. Today, we’re expanding the flagship novel with the latest release of its second edition and preparing to open our MSWL so that we can identify and support a few other authors with the same high-focus and attention. As an author myself, I know the road less traveled and I’m committed to providing the type of curated partnership and exposure that small publishers are known for. Unlike the big houses, smaller shops like ours have real skin in the game, we’re mutually exposed and desperately invested, just like our authors. We appreciate and honor the vision with not just financial investment, but also with real sweat equity.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been bumpy, to say the least. Some lessons were more expensive to learn than others. Some nights were colder and full of more doubt. But we’re optimistic. When you accept and commit to the “when” over the “if”, you find that there’s peace in the struggles. It’s cliche but you genuinely have to fall in love with the journey, that’s what the calling really is anyway. If you can manage to do that, the years will fly, the sustainability will land, people will trust your product, and you’ll become a reliable market in your community.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My exceptional talent lies with the written word, if it exists at all. I fall into several categories, with regard to hobbies, interests, and similar–I’d like to think I’m good at a few things. But if you ask me which of my talents would rank me on a list of the worlds best, I’d answer that my work as a storyteller. I’m most proud of the world I created, and the publishing company I’ve been blessed to build, enabling me to put it out as well as stories from other authors that aren’t so dissimilar from it.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
God before any other, deserves the credit. If we’re naming the people he used, then my parents are due the lion’s share of that. My sibilings, my relatives, my friends, my children–becoming a father actually changed my voice as an author and really cemented my identity there. I had gaps of shapes and sizes that I couldn’t fully see well enough to fill them, Judah being born really did that for me. Which is a segue to someone I absolutely owe a great debt to, without whom (as I’ve said before) the dream would only have been a dream I dreamed and would never have materialized. My wife. In more ways than I could’ve hoped for, she was an agent of progress. We’ve been marreid just over 5 years and from the first she heard of my passion, she’s been in. She’s beta-read more drafts of more chapters than any other person alive, and she was tireless with the helpful reviews. She came around at a genuinely pivotal time in my life, and she’s been the accelerant–the catalyst–I needed to pull it all out of my mind and bring it to the world.

Pricing:

• Hardcover – $38
• Paperback – $25
• eBook – $0.99
• Performed Audiobook – $4.99

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themthatarecalled.com
• Instagram: @LookingLionBooks
• Facebook: /lookinglionbooks

Image Credits
You’ll have to reach out to me for more info. The people in the images are either me or my sister, Charlean Parker, and the characters are from the anime we’re developing to expand the flagship title.