Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joey Acker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I feel incredibly fortunate to have had parents who got so many things right. They created a safe, loving environment where I was free to be myself, and they supported me through thick and thin. I was lucky enough to have a happy, trouble-free childhood with few “first-world” problems. They encouraged my education and personal growth, and when I wasn’t putting in my best effort during a phase in high school, they were patient with me while still giving me the space to explore my creativity. As a parent now, particularly to teenagers, I can’t imagine being as patient with myself. One of my English Lit teachers even called me “Joey Slacker” instead of “Acker.” Fast forward to today: I’ve co-written and self-published 30 best-selling books. Who knew? Ha!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The story of Ackers’ Books started with my wife, Melanie, wanting to write a children’s book based on a story she’d been telling her kindergarten class for years: My Teacher is an Elf. At the time, we were both teachers, and while Melanie was in grad school one summer, she asked if I could either illustrate or find an illustrator for the book. Now, I’m no professional illustrator, but I did enjoy doodling—my college notes were filled with more drawings than academic insights (a habit I’ve had since third grade). The one time I ever got detention? For drawing on my spelling tests!

Instead of paying someone else to illustrate, I decided to take on the challenge myself. Melanie might say that my decision had less to do with passion and more to do with being “frugal.” She’s not wrong. After some research, reading, and networking with self-published authors, we self-published our first book, which did surprisingly well. We hadn’t planned on creating more, but I thought it’d be fun to write a follow-up, My P.E. Teacher is a Ninja, based on my own experiences as a P.E. teacher. That’s when we realized our little hobby was actually making money—and Ackers’ Books was born.

After finishing The Wonder Who Crew series, I thought it would be even more fun to write The Worst Book in the Whole Entire World. I figured, if I set the bar low enough, the worst that could happen was a good laugh. Turns out, that series has been our most successful one yet. I’m currently working on the 18th book. Every time I think about wrapping it up, I get fan mail asking when the next one is coming out. The joy we get from reading letters, emails, drawings, and videos from fans is what truly drives us. Ackers’ Books is all about entertaining, educating, and spreading laughter for children, and we don’t see that stopping anytime soon!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Melanie and I are both firstborns—orderly, non-risk-taking types. The idea of taking risks doesn’t come naturally to us. While we tried to build the business in a thoughtful, low-risk way, there were still some big leaps of faith involved. For example, spending thousands of dollars on advertising was something that made me uncomfortable, but it was necessary to scale our business. We had to unlearn our tendency to play it safe and get comfortable with putting ourselves and our content out into the world, even without knowing what the outcome would be.

Putting our faces and books into the spotlight was nerve-racking at times, especially reading reviews. Fortunately, the worst reviews ended up being the funniest—and probably helped in some strange way! At the end of the day, I’ve realized that in any business, it’s impossible to please everyone.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Social media plays a huge role in how we stay connected with our audience. I make it a point to personally respond to every letter, email, comment, video, and post I come across. When we receive positive feedback about one of our books, I often offer to send a free book as a token of appreciation. If there are any issues or concerns, we’re quick to address them and make things right. We really value the relationships we’ve built with our fans, and showing our gratitude goes a long way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ackersbooks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ackersbooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ackersbooks/
• Twitter: https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fackersbooks
• Youtube: https://www.facebook.com/ackersbooks/

Image Credits

Kristen Amos