Indie Author Advent Day 17: J.B. Warrick
Welcome to day 17 of the 2025 Indie Author Advent! This fun series will help us to get hyped for 2026 by celebrating some of the wonderful indie releases of 2025! Today I am interviewing J.B. Warrick. Be sure to check out my Instagram for even more excitement with this event!
J.B.'s 2025 Releases
The Interview
1. What is your favorite thing about your 2025 releases?
"I adored writing more books in my Vampire Impresario series this year. All of them are set in the world of grand opera and feature vampires, although I got to branch out into a throuple, witches, and gargoyle shifters. It was super fun! But my favorite thing is my December release, which has a lot of firsts for me. Holiday Wishes and Tentacle Dreams is my first MX, my first tentacle romance, and my first cozy holiday novel. It's so Christmassy and spicy and fun and I had a blast writing it."
2. What are your inspirations for your books?
"My books tend to start with a fun character, and those are usually amalgams of people I know - often with a heavy dose of me in there as well. Once I get a sense of who I'm writing, all of the paranormal goodness just slots into place!"
3. Why do you think representation is so important in books?
"I remember the first time I read Mercedes Lackey's series The Last Herald-Mage as a teenager, and I lost my mind. To read about a gay character who used magic, was glamorous and prickly, and who fell in love (even if the road was insanely bumpy) was an experience I'd never had before. It allowed me to picture myself as the protagonist of my own story, rather than a bystander.
Not only that, but we have a shortage of empathy in the world today. Reading is one way that we are able to relate to experiences that are foreign to us. I've read about a bazillion books about straight people in my lifetime. It never stopped me from being able to relate and understand what the characters were going through. Similarly, we need more queer books because art allows people to expand their horizons and gives them some of the tools needed to look beyond their assumptions about folks."
4. Any advice for people who want to publish in 2026?
"Just do it! My approach isn't for everyone, and there are all sorts of ways to do it, but for my brain, the perfect is the enemy of the good. Your first book probably won't be a smash hit. Write it anyway. Publish it anyway. Edit it until it feels like it's in a good place, but don't keep going over the same words again and again. Publish it and start writing the next one. You can't start finding your readers if they don't have anything to read."
5. What are you most looking forward to in 2026? Any more releases on the horizon?
"2026 is going to be a big year for me! I'm going to be starting a new series, featuring a new paranormal creature (which I'll be announcing verrrry soooon), and I'm planning on releasing SIX BOOKS over the course of the year.
Does it feel daunting? Absolutely. Am I totally stoked to be doing it? Hell yeah I am."
6. Is there anything else you would like to add?
"Rate and review the books you like. Support your favorite indie authors - which doesn't necessarily mean buying more books (although definitely do that), but recommend those books to friends, talk up the authors you like. Similarly, authors - remember that artmaking is not a competition. Every good book released raises the level of empathy, inspiration, and pure joy in the world. If you treat your fellow authors as your colleagues rather than your competitors, you will find yourself in an incredible community of writers and readers that will buoy you when things inevitably get hard."
Outro
Thank you to J.B. for getting involved in this advent! I am excited to see what they come out with in 2026. Stay tuned tomorrow for another amazing indie author and their releases!
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