J.D. Barker

It's always, you know, they've been working on it for the last 10 years. It's 500,000 words long. They're almost done. They feel like it needs a little bit of work. And I kind of became their go-to guy for those projects. They'd pull up the manuscript and give it to me, and I would help them with anything from punctuation and grammar to story development. I used to do that for fun.

It kind of kept me entertained while I was getting the degree. So on the business side, I ended up getting a job in finance. Ultimately, I was a chief compliance officer for a brokerage firm, which is as horrible as it sounds. And I would come home and I would write to keep sane. I did that for, I think, 23 years.

It kind of kept me entertained while I was getting the degree. So on the business side, I ended up getting a job in finance. Ultimately, I was a chief compliance officer for a brokerage firm, which is as horrible as it sounds. And I would come home and I would write to keep sane. I did that for, I think, 23 years.

It kind of kept me entertained while I was getting the degree. So on the business side, I ended up getting a job in finance. Ultimately, I was a chief compliance officer for a brokerage firm, which is as horrible as it sounds. And I would come home and I would write to keep sane. I did that for, I think, 23 years.

And during that time, I had six different books that I had worked on that all hit the New York Times bestseller list, but with other people's names on the cover. That gets really old after a while. So when that sixth one hit, my wife pulled me aside and she said, listen, I know you want to become a full-time author. Let's come up with a plan to make that happen.

And during that time, I had six different books that I had worked on that all hit the New York Times bestseller list, but with other people's names on the cover. That gets really old after a while. So when that sixth one hit, my wife pulled me aside and she said, listen, I know you want to become a full-time author. Let's come up with a plan to make that happen.

And during that time, I had six different books that I had worked on that all hit the New York Times bestseller list, but with other people's names on the cover. That gets really old after a while. So when that sixth one hit, my wife pulled me aside and she said, listen, I know you want to become a full-time author. Let's come up with a plan to make that happen.

That was the first book that I wrote under my own name. It was called Forsaken. I got really lucky with that one. In the book, I had to explain where the wife buys a journal. And just to get the book finished, I wrote that she walked into Needful Things, you know, Stephen King's store and bought it there.

That was the first book that I wrote under my own name. It was called Forsaken. I got really lucky with that one. In the book, I had to explain where the wife buys a journal. And just to get the book finished, I wrote that she walked into Needful Things, you know, Stephen King's store and bought it there.

That was the first book that I wrote under my own name. It was called Forsaken. I got really lucky with that one. In the book, I had to explain where the wife buys a journal. And just to get the book finished, I wrote that she walked into Needful Things, you know, Stephen King's store and bought it there.

Fully expected to have to change that because you can't do that sort of thing without lawyers, you know, jumping down your throat, knocking on the door. But ultimately, I got Stephen King's blessing to use the reference. And that was huge for me. When word of that got out, that's really what sparked sales in that book and started my career off.

Fully expected to have to change that because you can't do that sort of thing without lawyers, you know, jumping down your throat, knocking on the door. But ultimately, I got Stephen King's blessing to use the reference. And that was huge for me. When word of that got out, that's really what sparked sales in that book and started my career off.

Fully expected to have to change that because you can't do that sort of thing without lawyers, you know, jumping down your throat, knocking on the door. But ultimately, I got Stephen King's blessing to use the reference. And that was huge for me. When word of that got out, that's really what sparked sales in that book and started my career off.

Yeah, I mean, my second one was called The Fourth Monkey, and that one really took off. It was about a serial killer in Chicago. There's a full trilogy out for that one. I ended up getting contacted at one point by Bram Stoker's estate, and they asked me to write a prequel to Dracula using Bram's original notes. So I did that one. Bunch of high profile type projects.

Yeah, I mean, my second one was called The Fourth Monkey, and that one really took off. It was about a serial killer in Chicago. There's a full trilogy out for that one. I ended up getting contacted at one point by Bram Stoker's estate, and they asked me to write a prequel to Dracula using Bram's original notes. So I did that one. Bunch of high profile type projects.

Yeah, I mean, my second one was called The Fourth Monkey, and that one really took off. It was about a serial killer in Chicago. There's a full trilogy out for that one. I ended up getting contacted at one point by Bram Stoker's estate, and they asked me to write a prequel to Dracula using Bram's original notes. So I did that one. Bunch of high profile type projects.

James Patterson picked up one of my books at one point and read it and then reached out to me. And we ended up writing not only one book together, but I think we're on five now. So we've been writing together quite a bit. So yeah, it's been a wild ride.

James Patterson picked up one of my books at one point and read it and then reached out to me. And we ended up writing not only one book together, but I think we're on five now. So we've been writing together quite a bit. So yeah, it's been a wild ride.

James Patterson picked up one of my books at one point and read it and then reached out to me. And we ended up writing not only one book together, but I think we're on five now. So we've been writing together quite a bit. So yeah, it's been a wild ride.

And the funny thing was even the people that I worked with who were making a living at it weren't very happy. You know, like they were getting by counting every penny that came in. And, you know, so that really kept me grounded in that corporate world because I hated the job, but it was a steady paycheck and it was a good paycheck. So it was hard to walk away from it.