We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrew Ferrell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrew below.

Hi Andrew, thanks for joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

The existence of Cloaked Press, my indie publisher for Scifi/Fantasy/Horror, only exists because of an unexpected problem. When I originally wrote and self published my debut novel, Beginnings, I approached a small local independent bookstore about a review service they offered on their website. The goal being a signing and stocking my book at their store as a local author.

So I drove there, dropped off my book and contact information. At the time I had self published through Amazon’s Createspace service – now part of KDP. The next day, I received a call from the bookstore asking me to come pick up my book because they wanted nothing to do with it or me as I was published through Amazon. I was devastated. I had spent many years rewriting and revising my book just to fulfill a dream of seeing it in print and maybe on a bookshelf somewhere. I thought a small bookstore like them would be supportive of a local author like me.

This is when I began diving into the relationship between Amazon and small book stores. I was disheartened to say the least. However, I decided then to prove everyone wrong and make something from this unfortunate situation. I founded Cloaked Press in 2017 with the encouragement of my wife and set out to build a brand of inclusiveness and lifting the voices of the smaller, unknown authors like myself.

My first anthology call, Fall Into Fantasy 2017 – literally scared me. I was afraid I would fail. Who would want to work with an unknown press with no catalog or real credentials. I was shocked to receive over 50 short story submissions that year from authors all over the world – when I didn’t think I would get enough to even make a book out of it. Since then, Cloaked Press has released over 40 books, expanding to several short story anthologies yearly as well as full length novels.

Andrew, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have had a lifelong love affair with reading that began with my grandparents reading to me until I corrected my grandfather for skipping a page in a Dr. Seuss book. It was a dream of mine to someday write a book that would be on the shelves with the greats of fiction, whose books I devoured throughout my early years. This dream of being published brought me to see a need for a place beginning authors, like myself, could get their voices heard. With the rise of self publishing and print on demand, I saw my opportunity.

Now Cloaked Press has several yearly anthologies of short stories written by authors from around the world. Over 100 authors from Japan to Switzerland, Netherlands to Australia, with a healthy dose of UK, Canadian, and US authors have been published, many for the first time. Some have returned year after year, across multiple anthology calls for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Beginning in 2023, we have taken more of a focus on full length, single author novels with 8 scheduled for the first year between 2023-2024, as of this time. Lifting unknown and marginalized voices has been a joy. Our mission is to bring interesting stories to delight the imagination of our readers.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects of what I do with Cloaked Press, is when I receive a submission from an author who has never published before. Reading these unknowns and finding hidden gems that would be shunned by traditional publishing houses because the author isn’t a celebrity is amazing. Helping these authors realize their dream of seeing their name in print makes the hours I log worth it. Several have gone on to submit to other presses, and even bring full length novels to market because they got that first byline with Cloaked Press. It is very satisfying to have helped in that way, with words of encouragement and for believing in that first little short story that some didn’t feel confident in themselves.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Cloaked Press began as a way to make my self published books look more ‘legitimate’ to a small independent bookstore in my area who snubbed me for being published via Amazon’s Createspace. So, Yes, my creative journey began out of spite and bitterness that a local small business didn’t want to support a local small time author. It has grown so far beyond that since those early days.

My mission is to help lift the voices of other authors like myself. The ones with a passion for storytelling who doubt the story they have to tell is ‘good enough’. I am here to make sure those authors know that their stories are valid, and more diversity amongst published works is a good thing for everyone. I hope that history will look kindly upon this endeavor of mine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cloakedpress.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cloakedpress
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CloakedPress
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/cloakedpress

Image Credits
Carmilla M. Ravensworth