We were lucky to catch up with Chris Eboch Also Writing As Kris Bock recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris Eboch, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Many people want to write books. Even those who don’t want a career as authors may want to write a memoir or a novel. We hear success stories that make it sound fairly easy to become rich and famous, or at least middle-class with devoted readers. (TV shows like Castle and Murder She Wrote contribute to the idea that you write a book, someone pays you a lot of money for it, and life is great.)

In reality, the path is typically long and hard. I know someone who recently got a six figure advance for her debut novel. Even in that case, it doesn’t show how many years she worked to get to that point. And it doesn’t mean she’ll keep selling every book she writes for that much. Most published writers I know have had gaps of 5 to 7 years between releases. They’re writing books, they’re just not finding publishers who want to buy them.

A lot of factors affect publishing, and it’s easy to have your career derailed by something out of your control. For example, I sold a middle grade ghost hunter series with three initial books. Shortly before they came out in 2008, my editor lost an internal battle and left. The person who won didn’t support any of his books, so I had literally no marketing. At the same time, the economic downturn meant school budgets were slashed and children’s book sales went down overall. A series that could have been successful for more books ended with a whimper.

Everyone who has been writing for long has a story like that.

Self-publishing means you can get books out without a publisher’s support, but then you need to put up all the money for editing, copyediting, cover art, etc., and you need to do all the marketing yourself. Again, you hear a few great success stories in the news or on social media, but over ninety percent of authors are struggling to find readers and make enough money to survive.

So what does it take to be successful?

First, there’s a huge difference between career writing and hobby writing, so it’s important for people to think about what they want and why. People hire me to do manuscript critiques. Sometimes the client wrote a fun little bedtime story. Their friends and family liked it and said they should get it published! But if you don’t want to do the hard work of being a professional writer, or if you get deeply hurt by rejections, you’re better off keeping it as something you simply share with your friends and family. Professional writers have to work hard, accept rejections and disappointment, and do the parts of the business that are less fun, including marketing which many hate. It’s fine to do creative things as a hobby! You don’t have to turn it into a side hustle or a career.

Second, you can’t do it for the money. I’m a full-time writer, so I need the money to survive. But if it was only about the money, I should be doing something else that had a more reliable return on investment. There are so many things in the industry you can’t control (trends, market forces, whether an agent or editor will like your work, supply chain issues, bookstore closures, etc.), so it’s important to enjoy the things you can control, like what you write. If you enjoy the writing part of the work, you’ll enjoy a big part of the job.

I make more of my money from educational publishing, where companies hire me to do a specific job. I’m not choosing what to write in those cases, but it’s still pretty fun and allows me to be a full-time writer. Other people keep day jobs, so they don’t have to count on money from writing.

Third, you need to plan for the long haul. It takes time to write a book. It takes even more time to become a good enough writer to write a great book. It takes time to build a fan base – it may take decades to write a body of work that is large enough for readers to see you as a favorite author. Everything takes time.

Here’s a more positive example from my life. I wrote a mystery novel in 2018 about a midlife war correspondent who moves back to her Arizona hometown after an injury and investigates suspicious deaths at the nursing home where her mother has just moved. It took 50 queries over about a year to find an agent. It took another year for the agent to find a publisher. Something Shady at Sunshine Haven came out in April 2022. Fortunately, I wound up with a wonderful small publisher that believes in supporting authors and series rather than tossing a book into the world and seeing what happens. Tule Publishing understands the long haul. Book 6 in the Accidental Detective came out in January 2024. At that point, I’d still only made a few thousand dollars off the whole series.

In the last few months, Tule sold the audiobook rights to the first three books in the series. They sold mass-market paperback rights to Harlequin Mystery, so book one was in their December mystery box. Neither of those things paid much, but they should bring the book to new readers, which could help sales long term. Then a producer chose six Tule mysteries, including mine, to pitch to media companies. Likely nothing will come of that, but you never know!

That brings me to the final point – it’s important to find ways to keep hoping, while still living with realistic expectations. I’ve heard a lot of writers expressing disappointment, exhaustion, burnout, and even despair. You can decide the publishing business is too hard and go do other things (which is totally fine, if that’s your choice). Or you can find ways to survive. A friend and I started a Zoom discussion group for support during the hard times. I’ve been collecting advice and working through my own thoughts, which I started sharing in my Substack newsletter, Write Better Right Now. My plan was to focus on short craft tips each week, but I feel like the emotional side of things is equally important, so I’m adding that. Writing can be solitary, so finding community helps us understand we are not alone in our struggles, provides advice and support, and is just plain fun.

These thoughts on success specifically apply to the writing life, but I expect they track for many other careers, especially for freelancers doing creative work.

Chris Eboch, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started writing for young people as Chris Eboch. My first novel, The Well of Sacrifice, was a middle grade historical adventure set in Mayan Guatemala. I’ve also published a mystery in ancient Egypt (The Eyes of Pharaoh) and several other books for middle school readers, as well as over 100 books for educational publishers. I speak at conferences, provide developmental edits, and have a series of on-demand online writing classes.

As Kris Bock, I write romance, mystery, and suspense. In the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series, a Texas ranching family wins a fortune in the lottery, which causes as many problems as it solves. My Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees, customers, and cats at a cat café.

In the Accidental Detective series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. In the upcoming Reluctantly Psychic series, a quirky loner who can read the history of any object with her touch gets drawn into mysteries when people bring troubled artifacts to the museum of oddities where she works.

I write a series with my brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The Felony Melanie series follows the crazy antics of Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie.

I live in New Mexico with my husband and our ferrets. My home office looks out on nature, complete with distracting wildlife such as roadrunners.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

After I sold my first novel, my then agent asked if I was a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I’d never heard of it. She said, “You have to join.” I not only joined, I started volunteering and eventually became the Regional Advisor after I moved to New Mexico. For beginners, the organization is a great place to learn about writing and publishing. As a volunteer, I connected with so many other children’s book writers. It helped me build up a speaking practice, because advisors from different regions hired me. Some of the people I met twenty years ago are my close friends today. In fact, we started meeting at an annual retreat just so we could be together. There are writing organizations for mystery writers, sci-fi and fantasy writers, journalists, and more. Many people join for the education and stay for the community.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I believe that people should read whatever they want to read, and there are times a fluffy, silly, or ridiculous book is just what a reader needs to de-stress during tough times. I also believe books can make people better, by introducing them to new ideas and encouraging empathy. When it comes to novels, I write what I’ll enjoy writing, and what I hope readers will enjoy reading, but I don’t hesitate to put in hints of social commentary or a little bit of education. That might mean writing a novel for kids that encourages them to challenge authority when they believe authority is wrong, or it might mean writing a romance novel set at a cat café and including some information about feline health.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.krisbock.com/ https://chriseboch.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kris_bock_mystery_and_romance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.eboch
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-eboch-5130871/
• Other: Author store for direct sales https://krisbock.lemonsqueezy.com/
  Mastodon https://mastodon.social/@KrisBock
  BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/krisbock.bsky.social
  Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4735592.Kris_Bock
  BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kris-bock
  Substack newsletter for writers https://writebetterwritenow.substack.com