Meet Kristina Carmela Part 2
Thanks for coming back for the second half of my interview with Kristina Carmela. Yesterday, we talked a lot about Indieverse Awards. Today, it’s all about Nelsonville and Kristina’s creative process. Enjoy!
JEN: Let’s get back to Nelsonville. Do your books always feature a happily ever after?
KRISTINA: If we’re talking Violet Wildflowers (which is an Indieverse nominee), it ends with a happy right now—but it’s Book 1 of the MC’s trilogy and it will eventually have a true romance HEA. But the series as a whole has a range of endings, including classic HEA.
JEN: Who is your favorite author?
KRISTINA: I’ve been reading a lot of indie books since I’ve become an indie author. Some of my favorite reads have been by Jes Smyth, Bridget van Der Eyk, Halli Starling and now I’m reading a Jessika Grewe-Glover book that I’m super into.
JEN: What’s your favorite music? Do you work best with music or without?
KRISTINA: I’ve been a Swiftie for the last 17 years or so (which makes me old. lol) Her music instantly comforts me and helps me get into a great groove during a writing or editing session.
JEN: What’s your favorite snack while working?
KRISTINA: I am always rewarding myself with snacks while writing. I will always have Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups, Nutella or SweeTARTS nearby.
JEN: What made you want to start writing? Tell me your origin story.
KRISTINA: I’ve always been a creative soul and I’ve always been drawn to creating something. But when it came to writing books, I was super afraid. I just could never shake the idea of, who am I to write a book? Then one day, I tossed that aside and began to write. The character Georgia Fields, who kicks off the series, is who I thank to getting me to start writing. She poked me until I really took a chance on myself. Once I listened to her and began, I haven’t looked back. She pulled me right into the town of Nelsonville with her where the possibilities are endless.
JEN: I can relate. My current work-in-progress has a protagonist who won’t let me sleep at night. I kind of love it.
What themes do you most enjoy tackling in your work?
KRISTINA: The premise of the Nelsonville series is nobody is from this small town. The residents of this cozy beach town, have all gotten pulled here to begin their fresh start. It’s the string that ties all my main characters together. So, a lot of the stories reflect on peoples past, why they had to start over and how they are going to make this second shot worth it. I do bring grief into the mix a lot in various ways. I think talking through grief is healing for me, but we all experience it in different ways and different levels, sometimes quite often, that it’s important to talk about. So, we do watch characters deal with loss after significant time and we also deal with characters losing somebody in the story. Nobody handles loss the same way and the impact it has on us is huge and sometimes lifechanging. I also love to explore different relationships both with friends, family, romances, and ourselves. There are so many different ways to be there for somebody and different levels of relationships. In every book, we see different combinations of people together and how each of them pulls out different pieces of the other. To keep going with relationships- the five main characters of the series are strong, ambitious, loving women. Some of my favorite things to write are moments where it’s just the five of them, hanging out in somebody’s living room with wine and snacks. Showing how women don’t have to be in competition and how there’s room for all of us to cheer each other on is something we can never have enough of. These tight female friendships are so important to the books and to the characters, I want everybody to feel like they’re one of the ladies.
JEN: I love that so much. All of my writing comes back to found family. It sounds like Nelsonville is one big found family. So cool. What’s coming next?
KRISTINA: I’m currently editing my fifth novel in the Nelsonville series, Ten Minutes. I’ll also be starting the next novella in my sub-Nelsonville series called 2020: A Year with Jake (and no COVID). [laughs] Hopefully, as long as I can keep up my pace, both will release in late fall 2024.
JEN: Where do you get the ideas for your creations? What inspires you?
KRISTINA: I joke that my brain is a scary place. The fictional town of Nelsonville, Rhode Island where my series takes place, is based on my favorite place to visit. So, a lot of the elements of our Main Street and the beach pull from that. As far as my characters go, I really let them tell me their stories. I get inspired by them, by the music I listen to or other stories I hear in passing. I pull a lot from my own life, and I love playing around with the idea, “if I were to have made a different decision or this one factor was change, what could have happened?” Pushing the limits on real life and exploring the endless ways scenarios can play out, really helps me. I find it so fun to explore all of that and different people in my (sometimes crazy) stories.
JEN: This makes all the sense to me. It’s really a version of writing as therapy. On that note, what advice would you give to your younger self as a writer?
KRISTINA: Don’t feel pressured to follow the "rules". The beauty in creating is... creating. Sometimes that means making our own path or trying something people aren’t. It might be scary but doing what’s best for you and your stories will only make the journey better.
JEN: Amazing. Thank you so much. Last question! You sell your books exclusively on your website. Please tell us about that. Why and how and what are the benefits?
KRISTINA: I do! I started selling my books wide like most authors do. But when the plan for my series really unfolded—five sets of trilogies—I realized mainstream wasn’t for me. As it was, 70% of my sales were already happening on my website or in person. I was getting lost on big websites. So, I made the change. I’m working on building a community and I wanted to really control that. Last year, I spent months adding hundreds of pages of bonus content on my website—totally for free—as a way to keep readers engaged and coming back. With every book release, new bonus content drops. It’s a way for me to say thank you to people giving a 15-book series a chance. But I also earn way more with every book sale. On mainstream platforms I was making about $1.30 on every $18.99 paperback sale. On my website, I’m making about $12. That’s a huge difference. That money earned helps me continue to be able to publish at the pace I’m publishing! It’s not about the money, but the money does help when you’re self-publishing!
JEN: That’s inspiring! Thank you so much for sharing. I’ll include all the ways to follow and support you on my blog. In the meantime, please tell us about your podcast and Indie Scribble Circle.
KRISTINA: Prior to the awards, I always really wanted to start my own podcast. So, I did. (This is a theme in my life, clearly.) I’ve been hosting a podcast for the last year and a half called, Greetings from Nelsonville, where I talk about my fictional world of Nelsonville for a bit and then I interview indie authors. One of the authors I connected with, Jes Smyth, was interested in my idea of opening up the podcast to do some round table, group chats about books and self-publishing. That’s when the Indie Scribble Circle was born. It’s a special monthly episode of Greetings from Nelsonville. It’s been such a blast putting people together to talk about some big topics of publishing and writing. We’re really excited for what’s next of these episodes too, we have a lot of fun ideas. So, stay tuned for more.
JEN: My hearts, I hope you will find and follow Kristina on her website, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok. Please also check out Indieverse Awards and all amazing creators featured there. Voting begins in just two short months!
Kristina is nominated for
Best Novella for 1968: A Year with Annabelle
Best Romance Novel for Violet Wildflowers
And these categories: Chosen family I’d want to be a part of, Character with the most growth, Coziest small town, Favorite love triangle, Favorite read set in another time, Most badass female character, Indie nominee with the biggest heart (a shoo-in, if you ask me!).
(Yes, When Ivy Met Adam is up for some of those same categories. To quote my favorite MMC: “Love isn’t pie—it doesn’t get divided up and handed out until it’s gone. The more we love, the more capacity we have to love.”)
Are you a human author? A human who narrates audiobooks? A human who designs book covers? Or a human who does PR and promotion for other authors? I'd love to interview you, too. Let me know when you’re ready!