Master José Daniel Santibañez, better known as JD, is a renowned novelist and comic book illustrator from Guayaquil. Among his most notable works are Ejecútese el mañana and El Mago, among others.
On July 27th, he presented his latest work, Los Muertos Espejos del Alma: Una loca aventura del Sicario del Cielo y su madre muerta*, which is now available for purchase on Amazon's digital platform.
Santibañez studied illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York. He is currently a professor at ESPOL's Faculty of Art, Design, and Audiovisual Communication.
How long did it take you to conceive and complete your novel?
I started writing Los Muertos Espejos del Alma many years ago, maybe six, under different titles even. I interrupted it for other projects, other books, until I told myself it was time to pick it up again. I did that in mid-2020, little by little, chapter by chapter. It was difficult to return to that story, but I’m glad I did.
We know this work is a continuation of El Mago, which you published in 2003. How does this novel connect to the previous one?
Well, El Mago was an introduction to the main character, Garol Pereira, a hitman, and his dead mother, Alexia, who appears as a 22-year-old girl (the age at which she died), while her son appears to be 38. It was an introduction to the novel's universe and the origin of the main character. In contrast, Los Muertos Espejos del Alma is a new adventure with the already established characters. The characters shape the story, the novel.
What genre does this novel belong to? We know you’ve always been drawn to the Science Fiction genre.
Actually, I write in two genres: Soft Science Fiction and Urban Fantasy. I mix both with Noir. Los Muertos Espejos del Alma is Urban Fantasy/Noir.
What is the process of uploading a book to Amazon like, and how do you leverage it in the commercial circuit? In other words, is it profitable or not?
The process is very easy. Amazon's platform explains it in detail. You just have to read and follow the instructions. It might seem complicated for the first publication, but not for the following ones.
As for whether it’s profitable or not, it depends. Some people earn enough to live off it. I don’t. The competition is huge. There are writers from all over the world, and generally, people read the same well-known American writers. It’s tough to break through, especially in these genres. On top of that, people are reading less and less. That’s why you have to seek a global market, readers from other places and in different languages.
And you have to constantly promote yourself, invest money in it. It’s hard work, and sometimes you can’t dedicate as much time to it as you’d like.
But you also can’t stop writing. That’s the foundation, the heart of it all. Without the text, there’s nothing.
30/08/2021
