Interview with Author – Aaron Wayne-Duke

About Aaron Wayne-Duke:
Aaron Wayne-Duke was born and raised in Galesburg, Illinois. He is a former award winning radio broadcaster, voice over artist, magazine columnist, public speaker and autism advocate. He has achieved black belts in the martial arts of Taekwondo and Hapkido. He continues to teach self- defense, personal protection and empowerment classes and seminars across the United States. “You can not lick your elbow” is his first book. His podcast “Aaron Wayne’s World” will launch in 2016.

What inspires you to write?
I loved the works of Dr. Seuss, S.E. Hinton and Todd Strasser. I experienced my first published article in my high school newspaper, The GHS (Galesburg High School) Budget and have since written for Taekwondo Times Magazine. My son’s autism diagnosis in 2011 inspired my pursuit of becoming a children’s author.

Tell us about your writing process.
I have been a write from a young age. My “first” book was written in 2nd grade. I did the illustrations and text. It was a fiction book about robots who went to school. I continued to write short stories, poems and lyrics for years until I became proficient enough as a guitar player and started as a songwriter. My father released a novel in late 2014 before his death and he encouraged me to write a book.

I sat down one day with my lap top and wrote my first book. I had no idea what I was doing. I wrote the text and then began to get ideas about what I wanted to see as illustrations. Over several months of researching about book illustrators, I hired an artist on Fiverr.com. It was economical and I was very satisfied with her work.

My books always start with a title. After the title has been selected, I allow myself to brainstorm. The title usually arouses my creativity and I just go with what comes out. I’m a night owl, so my books are usually written during the evenings or early morning hours.

What advice would you give other writers?
Just write. Don’t worry about editing or even punctuation! All that comes secondary to the story. Get the story down and be happy with it. Editing, formatting, illustrations (if applicable) come after!

How did you decide how to publish your books?
I created my own imprint 34 West Publishing and released my books on Createspace.com, Amazon.com and Kindle.

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I’m hopeful that physical books continue to be published, purchased and read. I like to hold a book and turn the pages. I have started reading more Kindle books but I hope book publishing never dies.

What genres do you write?: Children, Fiction, Humor, Self Help, Motivation, Martial Arts, Self Defense, Biography

What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print, Both eBook and Print

Website(s)
Aaron Wayne-Duke Home Page Link
Link To Aaron Wayne-Duke Page On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit, to allow you, the reader, to hear the author in their own voice.