Author Tess Mackenzie Shares Their Story

About the Author
Hi, this is Tess. And sorry, I’m sort of hijacking the author bio box. This is a bit of a weird place to put this, but I just wanted to say before anyone goes buying things that everything I write is available free too. Just to be really clear, so no-one is upset when they realize later on. My books collect stories into actual ebooks, and are probably easier to read, and if you would like to buy anything, I would really appreciate it, and that would be fantastic. But on the other hand, if you’d rather try reading a little first, or would rather not pay at all for whatever reason, then please come to my website or Wattpad and read there.

And thank you for looking at this!

And, um, now I’ve taken up all my space so I’ll stop.

There isn’t much more to say anything. I’m an Australia, I write words funny sometimes because of that, and I really don’t talk the way you probably think I do now. And I don’t live at the beach!

What inspires you to write romance books?
Well, I write erotica, so that isn’t quite the same thing, but it almost is!

I like to write about people, and what they do, and mostly about ordinary people living in surburbs and doing ordinary things. So not spies and so forth.

I’d also like to write books that leave people thinking the world is an okay place when they finish. I mean, usually, not necessarily all the time. Basically, I’d like to leave people thinking that life doesn’t suck as totally as it could after they read my writing, and so they should make the most of it while that’s true for them. Because life can suck. And does for a lot of people, horribly. So if you happen to be in a place in yours where it doesn’t, not too badly, you should take advantage of that.

Something like that.

Anyway, erotica just kind of fits for both of those. And people seem to like reading what I write, and are kind and encouraging, so that helps. Probably Romance would fit too, but honestly, erotica is easier. I think, anyway. There’s less structure, and all the sex kind of keeps things moving, like in a thriller.

Tell us about how you write:
I don’t really have a process or anything like that, because I’m still just starting and working this out, really.

It’s like this. Things pop into my head. I write them down. Seriously! Some ideas are awful and some aren’t, and the ones that aren’t, I look at for a while and then change and add things and call them done.

Oddly, with erotica, thinking up the rude bits isn’t actually the tricky thing. It’s thinking up everything else going on around that. Like why someone is wanting to do a particular deed, or who around her will be impacted by it, or whether they’ll join in, or run away, or what.

To be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing with this! I never did any writing classes, or English Lit, or any of that. I just started, and it seems to be working. Except for the terrible grammar sometimes.

But.

Not only am I not completely sure why it’s working, I’m also unspeakably superstitious about doing something that breaks it and makes it stop.

That’s probably the biggest insight you can get!

Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Um, no? It never occurred to me to.

I never thought of this before, but now I’m wondering if I should.

Um…

It kind of seems like it would be rude to interrupt, because of how they’re having sex, usually.

Sorry, this isn’t a very sensible answer!

What advice would you give other writers?
Just try. Really.

If you want to write, and you aren’t now, then write because you don’t have anything to lose. And then once you have, the same goes for showing it to people, or finding a publisher, or self-publishing.

If you aren’t doing anything, then anything that you do in fact do is an upwards step, if that makes sense. You can’t have success if you don’t try, and you don’t know that you won’t do well. So try.

And just ignore bad reviews. I mean, learn if you can, like if there’s helpful comments, but probably it’ll just be bad. So ignore them, because someone else will like the book.

You, even if no-one else.

Bad reviews are the hardest thing for me, and it completely sucks when you get them, and really hurt, and I still get knocked back by them, but there isn’t much to do except ignore them and hope for better another time, so it’s probably best not to try, and not get upset.

How did you decide how to publish your books?
For me, the decision was fairly easy.

Honestly, I’m a bit insecure, and don’t take rejection well, and the traditional publishing model with all its formality and submissions and rejection letters just wasn’t going to work for me.

I was never going to send something off and then wait weeks to be told no. That just wouldn’t happen.

So self-publishing was the deal-maker for me. This was the only way I could, and it pretty much works.

In some ways it’s harder, because you don’t have an editor, and advice, and someone to talk to about ideas as much, but there’s still lots of interested people, and places like here, and places to talk, so it can work.

I mean, I hope. I’m still starting and probably shouldn’t give advice, but it seems to be working.

I’ll let you know!

What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Honestly, about what it is now, for the next while. I think it’s settled down a bit, like in the music and movie industries.

What I mean is, ebooks changed everything, but the big changes are over. There’s people making paper books with huge advertising budgets, and there’s people – like me – doing it all at home and as cheaply as possible.

And the wonderful thing is there’s room for everyone.

I mean, I can see advantages in really big publishing, but if I had to choose between the world now, where everyone can have a go, and the word a decade or two ago where not everyone could, I do think it’s better to let everyone have a try and let readers decide who does well.

But doing well isn’t the point. Self-publishing takes the money side away for people who want that, and lets you just put books out there to be read.

And I think that’s a very good and powerful thing.

Writing can be as much just about telling stories as about huge publishing contacts, and that’s important too, and maybe something commercial publishing had started losing sight of.

What genres do you write?
Erotica

What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print

Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Author Page On Amazon
Link To Author Page On Smashwords
Link to Author Page on other site