My #PoweredByIndie Story, by Kris Bock author of #romance and #suspense

When I started writing for publication, self-publishing wasn’t a realistic option. So I did things the old-fashioned way, and I’ve had some publishing successes – and many, many books, stories, and articles that were never published, for a variety of reasons.

My traditionally published books are all for young people, some original fiction and some work for hire. When I decided to write romantic suspense for adults, I had a big choice. Negative trends in traditional publishing (lower advances, poor e-book royalty rates, reduced marketing) had met the increased ease of self-publishing through ebooks and print on demand. I weighed the pros and cons and decided to explore indie publishing.

Has it been easy? No way. Has it been lucrative? Not really. But I’ve published the books I want to write – the books I want to read – without the influence of a big publisher’s ideas about marketability. My model is Mary Stewart – classic “novels of mystery and romance” – perhaps the founder of the romantic suspense genre. My stories involve strong female leads, travel to exotic places, and dramatic, even swashbuckling, suspense. My locales are the American Southwest, and some of my books are a touch sexier than hers were, but I knew I’d succeeded when I got this review:

“Counterfeits is the kind of romantic suspense novel I have enjoyed since I first read Mary Stewart’s Moonspinners, and Kris Bock used all the things I love about this genre. Appealing lead characters, careful development of the mysterious danger facing one or both of those characters, a great location that is virtually a character on its own, interesting secondary characters who might or might not be involved or threatened, and many surprises building up to the climax.” 5 Stars – Roberta at Sensuous Reviews blog

That's a type of success I'll take.

The Mad Monk's Treasure, “Smart romance with an ‘Indiana Jones’ feel,” is currently free at all e-book retailers.

Kris Bock lives in New Mexico, where she enjoys hiking, watching the sunset from her patio, and hanging out with her husband and their ferrets. Her home office looks out on nature, complete with distracting wildlife such as roadrunners and foxes. Her BFA in photography is used mainly to show Facebook friends how lovely the Southwest is.

Kris Bock writes novels of suspense and romance with outdoor adventures amid Southwestern landscapes. Whispers in the Dark brings archaeology and intrigue to ancient Southwest ruins. What We Found is a romantic mystery about a young woman who finds a dead body in the woods. In Counterfeits, stolen Rembrandt paintings bring danger to a remote New Mexico village. The Mad Monk’s Treasure follows the hunt for a long-lost treasure in the New Mexico desert. In The Dead Man’s Treasure, bickering relatives fight to reach a buried treasure. In The Skeleton Canyon Treasure, sparks fly when reader favorites Camie and Tiger help track down a missing man.

Read excerpts at www.krisbock.com or visit her Amazon page. Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter for announcements of new books, sales, and more.