Erotic Author Tonya Kinzer Interview and Giveaway!

It is with the greatest pleasure that I have with me here today Tonya Kinzer, author of such books as The Boss’s Pet: The Contract and The Boss’s Pet: Office Training Goes Home.

Hi Tonya! Thank you for joining me here today at Naughty Nights Press! I am very excited to learn all about you and your new book and to share it with our followers so lets get started!

Tonya: Gina, thank you so much for having me here today. I love chatting with readers and writers!


1. Can you share a few “interesting facts” about yourself?
I’ve been writing for years and only recently decided to publish in the erotic romance genre as it allows the author so much more freedom in what can be written and what envelope can be pushed! A bit about me....hhhhmmm....some of my past occupations are business owner, financial advisor, tax preparer, insurance agent, bank teller, office assistant...just to name a few! I wear many hats, stay pretty busy and do still have a day job helping hubby at the office....when I show up! Is that bad?? *wicked laugh*


2. What is a typical day like for you?
Because I’m a night owl, I don’t get up at the ass crack of dawn (like hubby and the cats do) so let’s say most days I’m up at 7:30, grab my coffee and head straight for the computer to wake up. I check email, web site hits, blogs, marketing, ads, interview setup and now two hours has gone by. If updates on blogs are needed, I do that. If I’m not headed to the office, I can jump into writing or editing. Can I promo here a minute. I’ve recently purchased a new writing program that keeps track of characters info and photo, story lines, plots, scenes, etc and I love it! It will keep track of my manuscripts, word count, chapters, scenes and how far I have to go until the end so it’s pretty kewl and I’m still learning.

3. What “pet peeves” do you have if any?
Pet peeves in general or with writing? In general, my big pet peeve is the drive thru that asks if I want fries or pie or whatever after I’ve just ordered. If I wanted those, I would have ordered them! Okay, sorry. With writing, my biggest pet peeve are books that make me head hop and keep track of who’s head I’m in while I’m trying to keep track of the story details. Come on! Don’t do that to your readers. Learn what POV is and FIX IT! Sorry! *wicked laugh* I didn’t want to go off on any tangents here.

4. When did you realize you wanted to be an author?
Probably 25 years ago. I got tired of reading those romances that made me head hop, I’m sure that’s why, and figured I would try my hand at it to see how I could do. My first novel taught me so much. Allowing my critique partners to read it helped me learn what POV was, how to use all five senses when I write and not make it obvious to the reader. Make them wonder how that gushy feeling happens without even realizing it while they read about the characters falling in love. Some books pull you in so deep you don’t even hear what’s going on around you and before you know it, you’re done with the book....usually because you didn’t have to head hop and re-read the lines.

5. How long have you been writing?
I started writing 25 years ago, approximately, while I was dealing with back pain issues and it just took off from there. I’ve always had stories and characters in my head. Even as a child I had a vivid imagination.

6. What was your goal for yourself as a writer when you started? Did you meet or surpass it or did it change for you along the way?
I wanted to see my books on the shelf and that’s happened. What a rush to hold something you’ve worked on for so long. Hubby is the one who kept telling me to just publish them myself if I couldn’t get a big house to accept them and that’s what I’ve done. I do my own marketing, my own covers, book marks and websites....very time consuming but I love it. I also do book trailers and yes, I’ll soon be doing one for The Boss’s Pet series.

7. Do you write exclusively naughty erotic romance?
Hhmmmm.....I knew this would eventually come up. LOL No, this is not the only genre I write in. I write other lines of romance under ‘another name’ and I would really like to keep the two separate due to the reader following I have under my other name...and because of my daughters! They can’t even read some of the pages in my normal romances so I know they would just die if they read these! The two genres aren’t really that far apart content-wise but...okay, yeah…I guess they are! LOL

8. How did you decide to write books in your specific genre? Was there anything that influenced your choice?
I’ve read romance since I was a teen, starting out with.....okay, I’m going to age myself here....Victoria Holt, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, and on to Virginia Henley and Johanna Lindsey.

9. Do you have a ritual to get you ready to write? Something special you do to psyche you up?
I could just go by what hubby says....I’m just a ‘hottie’ but I don’t think that qualifies me! I WILL credit him with helping me get over the ‘naughty’ hump and into the bondage world, learning about the BDSM lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not into pain so none of that will be in my writing but....*wink*....you can count on a lot of the ‘other stuff’ to make onto my pages!! Is it bad that some of those sites appeal to me, give me ideas and just make me more naughty? It does help the writing!

10. What are the elements of a great erotic romance for you?
I like a story to go along with the smut when I read! I want to feel close to the characters and care what happens to them as I read, feeling what they feel, taste what they taste...okay, maybe not everything! LOL But pull me into your world so I can experience things with your characters.

11. What is your writing process like? How long does it take you to finish a story from beginning to end?
Once I get a story idea and characters in my mind that are ready to hit the page, I can write for ten or twelve hours straight! I do have a bad habit of editing as I write and that slows me down. I need to just write and let the words flow then go back and fix it. I’m working on that.

12. What do you love most about writing? What do you hate about it?
I love to create a world that my readers can get immersed in and make it so good they can’t put the book down. My chapters don’t end at the end of a scene; I make the scene continue into the next chapter. Maybe that is why the editors didn’t like my style, I don’t know, but my readers love it. Although they do complain they don’t get things done because I don’t give them a stopping point.
I sometimes hate that writing is a lonely job but the internet has made that a bit easier with Yahoo Messenger because my friends can pop in and say hi!

13. After writing for hours at a time how do you relax?
I stretch out in my recliner with my cats. They sometimes get testy that I spend all day tapping the keyboard and ignore them. I also have a hard time shutting my brain off at night. Men seem to be able to shut off and go to sleep but my mind is like a whirlwind of ideas, things I need to do or should have done.

14. What is your opinion of writer's groups? Do you find them helpful? And how did you find yours if you have one?
I’m a member of RWA and their online chapter. Years ago we had a group where we had to snail mail our chapters, we each used a different colored pen, made our comments and recommendations, then mailed the packet on to the next member! LOL Thank goodness for computers! But I learned soooo much from those other authors; so many good tips that I still use today and share with other newbies.

15. Is writing your full-time job? If not, how and when do you find time to write?
I have a day job that is seasonal so come May, I will be back writing a lot more than I do now. I do have the luxury of being the computer techie at work and am the ‘boss’s pet’ so I can come and go pretty much when I want as long as I keep his computers running and our employees and bills paid! LOL


16. Is there a specific bit of advice you would give to an aspiring author who is looking to publish their work?
Being self-published, I’ve also learned a lot about the process. I’m pretty good at computers and Word so formatting manuscripts wasn’t hard to learn, just sometimes very stressful but I’ve done it and my books are out there. New authors need to keep an eye out for good ‘how to’ articles. I’ve got one on my web site for POV – feel free to grab it and I’ll be posting more articles later. Stick with your writing and make things happen. You have to see your book on the shelves in your mind; what you think about comes about. I’m a firm believer in that!

17. How did you decide on a Publisher? What were the factors that convinced you it was the right one for your work?
Be very careful who you sign a contract with. I got burned by an online publisher who kept the royalties, didn’t pay her authors and one day out of the blue, shut down the website and disappeared. I should have done more research on her company and her, so it was my own fault for not checking her out. A law suit was filed by one of the authors who got burned badly by the publisher and I hope she got something out of it.

18. Can you share a little bit about your current release with us? Where can we find it?
My books are at http://Smashwords.com/profile/view/tonyakinzer and book one, The Contract, is a free read to introduce my readers to my characters; book two, Office Training Goes Home, is $1.99. I do plan several other books in the series and others not connected with the series. My series is about Sondra Prentice moving on to a new job and new life when she meets her Boss, Nick Carrington. I have an interview with Him on my blog that your readers might enjoy and if they scroll they can find the excerpts! *wink* Nick already has a past lifestyle that He enjoys when He has the time but hiring Sondra makes Him realize how much time He spends working at the office. If He can teach her how to enjoy the experiences He wants to share with her, they just might make a good match! Can He eventually bring a strong woman to submit under His control when she’s used to making her own decisions? I absolutely love writing this stuff! *wicked laugh*

19. Where can your readers find you? Blog/Website/Twitter or any other links you’d like to share with us please feel free.
My books are found on many ebook stores online like B & N, Diesel ebooks, etc. Here are more:

Blog Site: http://tonyakinzer.blogspot.com
Website: http://tonyakinzer.webs.com/
SmashWords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tonyakinzer
FB Fan Page: Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/4sh37tk
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_163160073732655&ap=1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/tonyakinzer


This has been a phenomenal interview and I would like to say thank you, Tonya, for taking time out of your day to tell us all about yourself and your writing.

I am sure there will be many updating their TBR lists after this!


Gina - Thank you so much for introducing me to your readers. I have many more links, and things to do, on my websites so I hope everyone enjoys visiting. I look forward to writing many more books that will entice new readers to venture further into their own minds for ways to better their own experiences! Stay tuned for book three by August AND the series book trailer!
One commenter will win a $15 gift card and one commenter will win the ebook to Office Training. Be sure to include your email in the comment.