Today we’d like to introduce you to Daphne Parker
Hi Daphne, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve been writing stories since as long as I can remember. In fact, I’ve always been expressive and a bit too emotional, so I thinks it’s fair to say that the potential has always been there long before I ever published my first book. In fact, one of my earliest memories was at a “Meet the Teacher” day. I was in third grade and during a conversation with my mother, my teacher turned to her and asked, “Does she always talk like that?” My mother, slightly embarrassed replied with, “Yes, she’s very melodramatic.” To which my teacher smiled and said, “She’s going to be a writer some day.” And she was right.
However, it wouldn’t be until my adult years that I actually discovered my true passion for story telling. As a child I’d written short stories here and there. I excelled at English, and I loved to read. Growing up, I was that weird kid who insisted on spending my day with a good book, rather than with friends.
I did not have an easy childhood. We didn’t have a lot of money and we moved around a lot. I got pregnant with my first child when I was 16. I dropped out of high school and after that, my dreams were put on hold. I no longer had time to read, I no longer had time to write, and when I lost my home and was forced to live in my car, books were a luxury I couldn’t afford.
Fast forward 8 years later and I was living in sunny San Diego. I married a man I thought I loved and together we had 2 more children. It took awhile for us to settle in, but we eventually moved to Minnesota in 2016. After the birth of our daughter, I finally found enough stability to write again. This is when I started writing my first book, The Black Hat Society. It was terrible. I had no idea what I was doing and it was essentially published as a first draft. During this time, I got divorced, and my two youngest children were officially diagnosed with disabilities and special needs. My youngest has autism and my daughter has an extremely rare seizure disorder. Having one child with special needs is challenging, but two is a whole other ball game. Once again, my dreams were put on hold.
In 2021 I started dating my current fiancé, and that’s when my life really changed. I’d never experienced support like that before and with his help, I was able to start achieving my goals again. In 2022 I started writing my second book, What Lies Beneath the Tide. It took me two years but I stuck with it. And on the days I wanted to give up, he encouraged me. in January 2024, I was let go from my job, shortly before it’s release. I was scared but I saw this as an opportunity to focus on my book. I had pulled The Black Hat Society from publication (I plan to re-release this later in the future) and I made publishing my book, my full time job.
Over the next few months I started spending more time on social media, specifically TikTok. At first I didn’t have a lot of traction, only a few hundred followers but on a random day in March I made a silly video in a Cub Foods parking lot that changed everything. I was looking for ARC readers (readers who receive advance copies of a book in exchange for an honest review) and that video went viral. Within 48 hours I had over 6,000 submissions, 800 pre orders and I gained over 5,000 followers. It was insane. After that, things took off.
I now have over 15.2 thousand followers, have sold over a thousand copies in less than a year (this is very rare for an indie published author) and I’ve sold out of Barnes and Noble twice. I’ve been on the Top Indie Thrillers book list and I own my own publishing company. I even have fans, literal fans, which is so weird to say. People have driven hours just to come see me and have their book signed.
I’m now working on my third book, Somewhere Without You. It’s a romance thriller and it’s set to be published this September. I’ve already had people asking for pre orders and when to expect limited editions. It’s crazy, I never in a million years thought this could happen to me. If you would have told 20 year old me, living in my car that I would be where I’m at today, I wouldn’t believe you. There’s no way. It’s taken me a very long time but I’m proud of myself. Somewhere Without You has a timeslip in it, and somedays when I’m writing, I wish I could go back to my younger self and tell her, “You’ve got this girl. Don’t worry. It’s all going to work out.”
For now, I’m just going to encourage my kids to believe in themselves. You might have hard days and you might think the entire world is caving in, but as long as you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My life is constant chaos. With two special needs kids, a teenager, and still trying to find time to work a day time job, finding time to dedicate to my writing is difficult but I manage. It’s not easy and I have so many days that I want to give up, or where I struggle with imposter syndrome. But on those days when I’m struggling I just think about holding my book in my hands. It could be your first, your second, or your twentieth book, it doesn’t matter, getting to hold it in your hands for the first time after all the hard work never gets old and it is the best feeling in the entire world.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an author and the owner of Otter House Publishing. I basically write books and publish them through my own business. I write full length novels, mostly standalones, and mostly thrillers but I’m known to “genre bend” meaning I like to combine multiple genres to create something new. I’ve been compared to Stephen King and H.P Lovecraft, though I’m not a huge fan of one and I’ve never read the other so I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Don’t be afraid to reach out to people, even if you think you won’t have anything in common. Many people think an authors job is just to write, when in reality only 20 percent of that is actually writing/working on your manuscript. The rest is marketing and networking. I’ve met so many amazing people in this industry just by talking to them. I know so many other authors and even a few audiobook narrators, some that I would even consider friends. I’ve even met and made friends with a few of my readers! With social media being the empire it is, word of mouth is the biggest (and cheapest) marketing tool around. Don’t be shy, use it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.daphneparkerbooks.com
- Instagram: @daphneparkerbooks
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daphneparkerwriter
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@daphneparkerbooks
