Local suspense writer builds online fan base

SANDPOINT — Kristin Bales has a knack for the grabber. Under her author’s name, K.J. Gillenwater, she has penned four novels. Every one of them comes out of the blocks at almost alarming speed, rushing headlong into the tale.

The interesting thing is, the genre or the characters don’t seem to make much difference — that capacity to snatch a reader up and whisk them off into adventure remains completely intact.

In the burgeoning world of literary blogs — a universe that has begun to discover Gillenwater and give her work traction — the author’s style is referred to as “paranormal suspense.” As she builds a fan base, she also is receiving an education on how the new world of book selling ticks.

The difficult part, for this writer, is breaking away from fleshing out characters and following plot lines to beat the drum and blow her own horn.

“It takes a lot of self-promotion,” she said. “Which is really hard when you’re just a nobody who likes to sit in front of the computer all the time. But I decided to speak up.”

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