Join host Kay for episode three of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast as she shares some of the indie books she's been reading lately, suggests ways to support your favourite indie authors, chats with Kristina Carmela, creator of the Indieverse Awards, and spotlights a new indie book of the month.
If you want to stuff your TBR with over 150 new indie books, this is the episode for you! Hit play, turn the page, and find your next favourite indie read! Listen Here:
Show Notes:
Here are the links included in this episode. About Kristina
Kristina Carmela is the indie author behind the Nelsonville book series and the creator of the Indieverse Awards. When she isn't writing about her cozy beach town, she loves to spend time with her dog, Goob, oil paint, and have adventures with her favorite people! One day, she hopes to adopt senior dogs and fall in love with a British man where they can spend their days growing old on the beach together.
Kristina's Author Website Indieverse Awards Website Read the Transcript:
A very big welcome back to Turn the Page, the Indie Book Podcast.
I've just come inside from the garden, soaking up the sunshine after months of wet and miserable weather, so that's been a nice change. It is April and can you believe that we're already on our third episode of the podcast? It's gone so fast. In fact, this entire year feels like it's flying by. I can't believe it'll be May next week. If you missed the first couple of episodes where I explained what this podcast is about and some good places to find new indie books to read, feel free to go back and check those out. Turn the Page is available wherever you listen to your podcasts and also YouTube. Just hit subscribe to never miss an episode. Today's episode is all about how to support your favourite indie authors, whether that's just showing them some love, spreading the word about their books, or helping them make more money. Coming up, I'll be sharing some of the books I've been reading over the past month, suggesting a few different ways you can support your favourite indie authors, and sharing a new spotlighted indie book of the month. We also have our first interview of the season, which is very exciting, for me anyway. A little later on, I'll be chatting with Kristina Carmella, indie author and founder of the Indieverse Book Awards, who's coming along to tell us what the book awards are all about, and how readers can get involved. If you haven't heard of the Indieverse Book Awards, or if you have and you want to know more, stay tuned because they are amazing fun, and a great way to support lots of indies. Before that, a quick reminder that while Indie April is almost over, you can still get involved. There are book sales and events happening all over the place, just search for hashtag Indie April, and if you've already read some indie books this month, why not take part in a fun game of book bingo? Just head to my Instagram story highlights to grab a blank card and play along. You'll find it, and me, at my endless shelf. So, to kick things off, this is the part of the show where I try to add more indie books to your toppling TBRs by sharing what I've been reading since the last episode. My partner surprised me this month by buying me a new Kindle. I haven't had one for years since my old fire tab kicked the bucket, and it's been so lovely to read on it and not have to squint at my tiny phone screen when reading eBooks. It's also helped me to read some really great indie books this month that I'm really excited to share with you. The first one was Kit and Basie by Tess Carletta. This was my favourite. book of the month. As a writer, it was one of those bittersweet sorts of reads because the whole time I was reading it, I was wondering how I could possibly write anything that good. It was most definitely a five-star read for me, my second of the year. actually. The book is cosy fantasy, which I'm loving more and more, about an immortal man, Basie Yates, who lives an unusual house, in an unusual small town. At the beginning of the book, something unexpected happens that sets Basie on a path to do immortality properly, and what it leads to is a beautiful, moving story of self-discovery, self-worth, a friendship that transcends time, and rediscovering the joy of living. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys magical realism, and cosy fantasy. In particular, if you enjoyed books like Legends and Lattes and A Marvellous Light, by Freya Marske, I think you'd enjoy Kit and Basie. It does have some pretty heavy trigger warnings, so do look those up if you'd like to, if you're thinking about reading this one. For my next book, this month, I went for a contemporary romance with a curvy heroine, called Hello Temptation by Kelsey Hoss. I'd seen the book advertised on social media and was kind of intrigued. The main character, Henrietta, or Hen, is a curvy girl, self-conscious about her weight, that is until Travis, the new construction worker, shows up and sweeps her off her feet. If you enjoy sweet, contemporary romances with a little heat, you'll enjoy Hello Temptation. For me, the main character was just a bit too dependent on the hero to save herself, which wasn't my cup of tea, really, but the story itself was sweet and well written and perfect for romance lovers. The next book, though, that I read this month was The Tenfold Tenants by E. V. Belknap. I don't know if any of you will remember an old British TV show called Being Human. It was a show about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost living together in a flat somewhere in England. I remember it being both funny and moving. The Tenfold Tenants had that same vibe, but with a larger cast of magical beings living together in a sort of halfway house. It's run by Corvinian Hark, a villain turned caretaker, who's chasing his misfit tenants around London, putting out their fires, sometimes quite literally, and buying their groceries. Suddenly, though, faced with a possible human in their house, the story centres around Corbyn's challenge of working out whether the new tenant is human or something else, while the tenants try their best, most of the time, to appear human. Something that none of them are particularly good at. At the same time, Corbyn is also dealing with unpleasant personal realisations and his desire to rise through the ranks of villainy, which is what he went to school for. The Tenfold Tenants is a funny, cosy fantasy novel with strong found family vibes and unexpected heart. I couldn't put this book down and quickly fell in love with the strange cast of characters. and I really can't wait to see what this author creates next. I'm also currently reading The Briar Crown by Helen Rygh-Pedersen, I think I said that right. It's an enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, and I'll talk a bit more about that next time around when I've finished. Aside from reading, I also had the pleasure of running a really fun book club this month for my daughter and a group of her friends. We had a blast doing lots of bookish activities and chatting about books for two hours. But I kind of need your help, I'm hoping to introduce them to some great indie books for kids in future. So, if you have any recommendations for a group of book-loving 10-year-olds, do let me know. You can also let me know what indie books you've been reading lately by writing to me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you. Now that we've hopefully added even more books to your TBR, let's look at some ways you can help to support the indie authors you're reading. I'm sure we all know that writing and publishing a book is no easy task, and without the social influence of a traditional publisher, indie authors can sometimes feel like they're shouting into a void. So, as readers, here are a few things that we can do to help our favourite indie authors and show them just how much we appreciate all the hard work and effort they're putting into the books we enjoy reading. First up, follow indie authors on social media and talk about their books. Indie authors need your help to break through the wall of book marketing that's dominated by trad publishing. We can do that by sharing photos and videos of the indie books we've read and loved on every social platform we can. Number two, review their books. This one seems pretty obvious, but it can be easy to forget, but even a star rating and a single sentence review can enormously help an indie author break through the crowd, especially if those reviews are shared to multiple sites like Goodreads, Storygraph, and book retailers like Amazon. Every single review you leave, I can't say review today, every single review you leave is like a vote of trust encouraging other readers to take a chance on an author they might not have heard of yet. It's especially important for those authors with less than 50 reviews. So do look out for those. Next, order books direct from the author's website. If they offer it, this is the easiest way for indie authors to make the most money from their books by cutting out the middleman. If that's not an option, you can request to buy their books from bookstores, though you'll probably have greater success via your local indie bookstore than a big chain store. If all else fails, Amazon and other online retailers are hugely important to indie authors, Kindle Unlimited as places for readers to discover their books. You can also give their books as gifts. This is a great way to spread the word about an indie book you've loved and introduce a new reader to the author, and hope they'll fall in love. You could also donate indie books you've purchased to second hand bookstores or charity bookstores to help make them more visible to more people. Request them from your library. If you have access to a library, you can try requesting the book, even if you've already read it. The worst they can say is no, but by requesting the book, it could end up on the shelves, ready to be discovered by new readers. Tell your friends, family, and book club. I can't imagine anything more lovely as an indie author than having a book club read and chat about your books. By suggesting indie books to your book club, your friends, and your family, you'll help them read more widely and embrace indie books and indie authors. Go to their events. One of an author's biggest fears, trad or indie, is to show up to a book event and find an empty room. So, if an indie author is hosting an event near you, show up, get your book signed, and take some time to chat with them. They'll usually be as nervous, if not more nervous, than you are. Next up, at number eight, subscribe to their newsletter. Joining an author's newsletter is great for you and the author. You'll be the first to know when they release a new book, whether they're running a sale, and you'll get to know them better. For the author, they'll be able to see that people like their books and want to connect with them, so it's a win-win. Then support their Kickstarter. I love Kickstarter, you've probably heard me talk about it before, and indie authors are killing it with special edition books with everything from sprayed edges to deluxe hardcovers, interior illustrations, and more. So, by supporting an indie author on Kickstarter, you'll fill your shelves with even more beautiful books while helping the author to make a living doing what they love. Last, at number 10, vote for them in book awards. Not all book awards are open to indie authors, but the more readers nominate and vote for indie books wherever they can, the more awards we hope will open their doors to indie authors in future. Interview with Kristina Carmela, Indieverse Awards Creator That leads us nicely into the interview segment of the podcast as today, I'm chatting with Kristina Carmela. Kristina is the indie author behind the Nelsonville book series and the creator of the Indieverse Awards. Kristina, welcome to Turn the Page, the indie book podcast. Thanks so much for coming to chat with me today. So, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your books, obviously, as you're an indie author and explain also what the Indieverse Book Awards are? Kristina Carmela: Sure. So, my name is Kristina Carmela. I am writing a large series called the Nelsonville Series that follows five women over the course of five years in five trilogies. So, if you like to be really immersed in books, my books are for you. I am an indie author. I'm a self-published author, and I kind of saw a little bit of a gap in the awards world, basically, and kind of decided to start my own awards. So, the Indieverse Awards celebrates indie authors and encourages people to read indie books, and we also have awards for the universe that helps bring together indie books. It's not just us publishing. We have a ton of awards for bloggers, podcasters, editors, artists, voice actors, and so on. So, it's just a really big celebration of the indie community, basically. Kay M. Weston: I love that. The reason we started the podcast is to celebrate indie voices, and I think it's just amazing. I've been looking at everything that you're doing so far and just digging in and it's all brilliant. So, what inspired you then to create the awards? You touched on that, you know, you wanted to celebrate them, but was there any deeper drive there? Kristina Carmela: I joke that it was very selfish, because I'm still a small indie author, like so many indie authors. So, I wanted to create a space that my books could be a part of, one. And two, I wanted to create something that really encouraged people to read, like I just said, but, you know, I didn't want it to be a popularity contest. That's like really what it kind of came down to. So, that's why we're not voting until the end of the year to choose our winners, and that way it gives people a chance to get to know our nominees, get their books, read their books, and try and vote on their actual favourites. So, I really, I really wanted to create a collaborative space and just a really, a really good platform to help support indie authors a little bit more than just being nominated for award and then voting pretty soon after. Which, hey, I love those kinds of awards, too. But I just, yeah, I wanted to create a little bit of a platform to really support indie authors. Kay M. Weston: That's great. I mean, you've already answered my next question, which was sort of how are the awards, how are they different from other book awards? As you said, they are so different, and I think the community element's really great. So, how did you sort of come up with that idea? Kristina Carmela: I like to, you know, go big sometimes, and when I was really sitting last year thinking about how we could kind of stand out, it was really including readers, because I feel like as a reader, it's really hard to find indie books unless you're like specifically really looking for them. It can be really tricky, right? Because trad books, which are great. Like, I read trad books. This is nothing against trad books, but they're a lot easier to find. You're going to find those on the home pages of Amazon and Barnes and Noble and so on and so forth, and indie books, you got to dig, you got to go find them. So, I really wanted to give readers a place to find those indie titles and just really, really dive deep into it. So, I think what kind of makes this stand out is really encouraging the reader side of it. It's not, you know, again, not just a popularity contest. It's showing, you know, we have a whole bunch of plans for showing people titles based on fun tropes or representation, things that might, you know, connect you to a read. On top of that, we're also doing a ton of challenges to also really encourage readers too. So, I just think it's a really big involvement with both the readers and the authors, and everyone else who is nominated, everyone's kind of participating and having fun with it. So again, it's very community based. I really do think that that makes us stand out a little bit, because we're building something more. Kay M. Weston: Yeah. That's what stood out to me when I first saw the awards. It was the first time I thought, oh my gosh, readers can actually get involved, because for most awards, like you said, they can't. They can, you know, the Goodreads awards, yes, you can vote, but that's sort of it, a lot of the process is taken away from you as a reader. So how do you go about selecting the books and authors to be nominated or are they all reader voted? Kristina Carmela: So, what we had done was in January I opened up submissions, oh no sorry February, we opened up submissions and you can submit for a whole mess of awards. We had almost 5,000 submissions, which was amazing and overwhelming. So, it's great, but I had a team, thankfully, and we vetted all the titles, and I went and put everyone in categories. So, we have over 50 categories of really great titles. 150 books are included. So, not everybody, unfortunately, made the cut this year. So, right now, again, you're going to read and you're going to find your favourites and then in November, it is going to be reader voted on, come November, but I think that'll be fun because you'll have seven months to try and read. Even if you're just knocking out a category, you're still going to be reading and hopefully voting on your favourite books. So yeah, so we'll be reader chosen later this year. Kay M. Weston: That's brilliant. I'm really excited. I've already started reading some of the nominees. Kristina Carmela: Yay! That makes me excited. Kay M. Weston: So, what kind of criteria, you mentioned evaluating the books before they were selected, what kind of criteria do you and your team use to evaluate those books before they come out? Kristina Carmela: Yeah, so we are looking at last year's published books, basically. The cut-off actually was January 31st, 2024, for this year, but going forward, we'll always look at the year prior's books. So, that was a big one was when you actually publish. I mean, I had books published in the nineties that people submitted for, and I was like, this is cool, but you made it easy for me, I can just write you off the list. So that was big. Then we want to make sure people are self-published or small indie press published. So, we went through to make sure that those were all legit, and we were still left with about 500 titles to choose from, which is still a lot. I was very strict on that there was only going to be 150 titles included, to make it manageable for readers. 150 is still a lot of books. So, we really, the team looked at a bunch of things. We looked at reviews, which is a little tricky, right, because not every author has a bunch of reviews, but you can still get kind of good vibes or bad vibes, from even if there's just a few. So, that was taken into consideration, just kind of what people were saying. We looked at social media and websites, and we wanted to make sure that we were getting good vibes from people. I did not want to include anybody where there was a red flag at all, as much as we could kind of really tell. So, there were some people based on those few things that were weeded out. Thankfully not a lot, which was really, really nice to know that we don't have a lot of red flags. But yeah, so we really looked at that and I also really wanted a diverse pool of authors and titles, so I very much took that into consideration to make sure that we were representing a really big range of people and themes and, you know, all the different sorts of things. So once the team vetted, I basically just really had to trust my gut and choose the best. The best of the best in this and last year's group, and it was really, really hard. It was very stressful. It was very hard because there's just so many great authors and great titles. But we took it very one step at a time and very seriously to make sure we have a really cool pool of books and authors. Kay M. Weston: I mean, it sounds amazing, and can I just say thank you for also putting together a list of 150 indie books because that's made my job even easier. All I've been doing since I started the podcast is trying to tell people where to find indie books, how to find indie books, and now I can just say, go and check out the Indieverse Book Awards, there are 150 for you to read. Kristina Carmela: And there's so many genres and multi genres and, so it's a range. So, you'll find something that piques your interest, no matter what you're into, for sure. That makes me happy. Kay M. Weston: So, what ways can readers get involved and support the indie authors? Obviously, as well as just purchasing the books. What other options are there that you have put together? Kristina Carmela: Yes, so I wanted to make this, like I said, really enjoyable and manageable for readers. There are definitely some people who are going to read probably close to the 150 books in the seven months, which I will be super impressed by. But on our website, indieverseawards.com, there's, I call it, the Reader Hub, and on the hub, that's really where you find everything. So, I made, like you said, it's a TBR list of all of our nominated titles, so you can get everything in one shot. We also have a tracker of each category and what books are nominated in that category. Then I also have a tracker of each author and what they're nominated for because we do have authors who are nominated in up to four different categories. Then we have reader logs and brackets and a little review guide and a little, like, review Canva that you can customize for your books too. So, we have a lot of fun, easy ways to make sure that you know what books are participating and you can kind of keep track, and then we have really fun challenges every month. So, April's challenge is to Stuff Your TBR. So, fill up your, your TBR with as many of our nominated titles and you just fill out a quick little Google form and at the end of the month, we'll be choosing at least two winners, but it's honestly probably going to be four or five winners who will get book boxes or free books, of both nominated titles and not nominated titles, all donated by these great authors. We're doing that. It's so exciting. I love it so much. We also have swag. A lot of people sent in a whole bunch of swag too. So, every single month we'll be doing a different challenge. We'll be doing support authors on social. It's so easy, you just go follow them on socials and you'll get entries into these raffles. We're doing pride bingo, we're doing finish a category, reviews, like there's all these different ways that benefit both the indie authors and the readers that we can kind of all work together towards, you know, the same common goals. So yeah, there's a great community, a lot of ways for readers to be involved, be engaged, and just keep winning free books. We're also doing eBook giveaways twice a month as well over on our Instagram page every single month from now through October, possibly early November. So, yeah, lots of ways to get books in your hand. Kay M. Weston: I love it. I've already been on the reader hub myself. I've downloaded every tracker because when I saw the list, I was like, I need some help, and I think it's amazing. What I love as well is obviously this is all sort of kicking off now, which is in Indie April, which is such a great month. The podcast episode that we're recording this for is for supporting indie authors. So, it's all fitting together so well, and it's lovely, and I'm really excited for everyone to sort of pitch in and read as many of those books as they can, because they look so good. Like you said, there's so many in different categories, and I think the way that you've put it together on Instagram as well, it makes it so easy to follow the authors and to leave them reviews, and it's nice to give that back to the indies as well. Kristina Carmela: Yeah, I agree. Reviews are so hard to come by. We can support authors by just, it takes two minutes, to leave a review. So yeah, I'm really excited for, hopefully, authors to get some more reviews, some more followers. Hopefully, if you are finding your next favourite auto-buy author in this pool of authors, I really would love for some people to find that too. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, that's really sweet. So, you mentioned that there's giveaways and things happening. Now, this podcast episode is going to go out on the 27th of April. So, will there be any upcoming projects and initiatives and things for readers at that time that you could talk about? Kristina Carmela: Yeah, so by the end of April, we'll be wrapping up the April Stuff Your TBR challenge. So, basically if you bought any books or if you downloaded any free books that are nominated, or participated in our giveaways, you can again, fill out that form, and every month there'll be a new challenge. So, there'll be a new form. Everyone's entries will reset too. So, come May, if you miss out in April, that's all right. Don't worry. There'll be a new challenge in May, more giveaways in May also. We'll just basically reset every single month, so no matter when you're listening to this or when you find us, you can jump in at any point in time to participate and get books, support authors. Kay M. Weston: That's amazing. So, seven whole months of not only reading and supporting indie books, but also getting chances to enter giveaways. It's brilliant. Kristina Carmela: It's a no brainer, right? You gotta participate. If you love to read, this is it. Kay M. Weston: So, what are you hoping that readers take away then from the Indieverse Awards? And obviously, also, what do you hope that the broader indie community is going to take away from it as well? Kristina Carmela: I hope that more people fall in love with indie books. There are so many misconceptions about indie books, especially self-published books. People thinking that the reason that we're indie or self-published is because we couldn't land a traditional deal, and that's generally not the case. There are also those misconceptions that because we're doing it ourselves, they're poorly written books, or they're filled with all these errors, and that's just not the case. I mean, yeah, you're going to have those one offs, absolutely, but the majority of indie books are so beautifully written and made and done, and they're such great stories. So, I really hope that readers, if you've never read indie books before, that you're falling in love with what indie is and what it means, and you're going to continue to support indie authors as much as you can. So, I really hope to just kind of continue helping be a voice in the community to, you know, squash as much of the misconceptions as we can. So, that's something I would love for more people just to read more indie books, especially if you never have before, come to the other side. And as far as authors go, you know, when I first started writing, I felt so alone because I hadn't found my people, my community yet, and it's really hard to find your people and it's hard to find that community and that space for you. So, I really hope that for the authors participating in the awards, for our nominees, that you're finding your community, you're finding people that you can connect with and collaborate with and become friends with, and know that you're not alone because being indie, it can be so lonely sometimes, and it doesn't have to be. So, I'm hoping to really help people who haven't found that yet or are looking to grow their little community. I'm hoping to give them some people that they can do that with, and the biggest lesson I've learned being in these few years is when you collaborate and you realize that there's room for everybody at the table, everything changes and things just become so much better and so incredible. So, I'm really hoping that my nominees involved see that, understand that, and love that and live that going forward. Kay M. Weston: That's brilliant, I love that. And going back to what you said before about people accepting indie books and reading them more. It's a funny thing, these misconceptions, because to me, obviously, I'm indie as well, and I chose to do that, like a lot of indies did. It wasn't that we had rejections, we just chose that from the start. But I think a lot of people don't understand that if you are self-publishing you're involved in every aspect of that book's process, and you're going to pour all of your love into every aspect of that process, not just the writing. It's all of it. So, the whole package, is sort of even more bespoke, if that's the right word. Kristina Carmela: Right, like the amount of love, energy, and time and effort you put into self-published a book and sharing it with the world is so tremendous, and you don't realize it until you're doing it and you're like, oh wow, this is my whole personality right now. Kay M. Weston: Yeah, that's it. Once you go indie, that's your whole life. Exactly. So, we you've already talked about some of the challenges that indie authors face, obviously we've got these misconceptions, we've got the fact that indies have to do everything themselves, so how do you hope that the book awards are going to help to address those challenges specifically? Kristina Carmela: Oh, I hope that, again, by kind of sharing with the world that indie books are so much more than just like things that "people slap together", that people really realize that there's so much more a part of it. One of the things I love about indie is just how different our books are. Like, they're so diverse. They're so, like, my books are very multi genre. You don't see that a lot with traditional books too. So, I guess I just hope that people really fall in love with indie books and see how much really goes into it. We're just regular people who decided that we wanted to do this really crazy thing that not a lot of people do. The amount of people who want to write a book versus the amount of people that actually publish a book are two very different numbers. Everyone wants to knock that off their bucket list, but the amount of people who actually do it and publish it and have the guts to share it with the world is a very small pool of people, and I just want people to celebrate that and recognize that and maybe toss away some of their misconceptions that are really just, they're so silly. They're so silly. Kay M. Weston: I know exactly what you mean. It's funny because you look, sometimes you don't notice that indie authors sort of almost lead the change with publishing. There are so many things that indies have done over the years and then traditional publishing has adopted that, and you just think, without indies who do things, like you said, so many indies are multi genre, and that doesn't happen very often in trad, and I think the reason is because we don't have to fit ourselves into those boxes and we can sort of experiment and see what works and then traditional publishing will pay attention and then it will filter through. So, yeah, I think, I think Indies are amazing. Kristina Carmela: We really are. Kay M. Weston: So, is there anything else then that you think our readers should know about the awards? Kristina Carmela: I think that what you should visit that reader hub because, again, it sounds a little overwhelming. Seven months and 150 books does sound scary. Like when I say it, it sounds a little scary. But it's really not scary. It's meant to be so much fun. Again, visit our website. I'm most active on our Instagram, but I'm always posting in our stories, you know, little tips to help people and if we're doing any promotions or fun things. So, we're always making sure that everybody is included. So, it doesn't have to be scary. It doesn't have to be overwhelming. It's meant to be super fun, and we hope that you participate and hang out with us and invite your other favourite reader friends who love to read, and you think would have a lot of fun too. The more, the merrier. Kay M. Weston: I love it, and there's no obligation is there to read all 150, for those people who are scared and thinking, I can't do that? Kristina Carmela: Yeah, don't be scared! I barely read, just because I write a lot and I work full time but I'm hoping to knock out at least one or two categories. That's my goal. But yeah, choose a category you love, start there, have fun with it and then just kind of go from there. Have fun. There's no pressure to read all of them, especially if there's genres that don't appeal to you. That's okay. But maybe try something new too. You never know what you're going to find unless you try. Kay M. Weston: Exactly, and then everybody needs to keep track of what they've been reading, how they're rating it, and when does the voting open? Kristina Carmela: Voting will open between November 1st and November 10th, so it'll be 10 days of voting, and winners will be announced on December 4th. So right after, well, America's Thanksgiving, right before, you know, all the holiday season starts, we'll have our first ever winners and then we'll be prepared to start all over again for next year. Kay M. Weston: Oh, it's so exciting. Do you have bigger and grander plans as well for next year already? Kristina Carmela: Oh gosh, yeah. Next year, I've already been figuring out categories. There's some that will absolutely stay, but I want to change it up every year with some fun ideas. So, I'm already planning next year's categories, and some more events for sure, the more that we can do the better. So, it's always going to be fun. That's the plan. Kay M. Weston: That's great. You mentioned earlier a little bit about community, and obviously that's important for authors as well as readers. Where's the best place then to chat about the Indieverse Awards? Is that on Instagram in the comments and things? Kristina Carmela: Yeah, Instagram is where we're most bumping right now. It's where I spend most of the time. I'm on Threads as well. My goal is to stop neglecting TikTok, you know, just by accident. But any three of those platforms, we're posting almost daily with fun things, fun updates, highlights, shout outs for all of our authors who are nominated. So, there's always things going on for you to check out and support and be a part of. Kay M. Weston: That's brilliant. So, where can readers find out more about the Indieverse Awards? What's the website again? Kristina Carmela: Yes, our website is indieverseawards.com and our handles for all of our socials is @indieverseawards. Nice and easy. Kay M. Weston: That's great, Kristina, we've got through all of our questions in record time. Everything sounds amazing and all I want to do now is just go and scour the list and read and tick off as many as I can. Kristina Carmela: I know, somebody asked me yesterday what I'm starting with and I'm like, I don't even know yet. Thankfully, I've read like one or two books already that are nominated. So, I feel like I've started. Kay M. Weston: Yes, I've done one already and it was accidental. But yes, I saw it and I ticked it off. Kristina Carmela: Which one did you start with? Kay M. Weston: Kit and Basie by Tess Carletta. Kristina Carmela: That's one that I'm really excited to read, that one keeps popping up for me as well. Kay M. Weston: Absolutely fantastic, I couldn't recommend it more. Oh, it was brilliant, it was my second five star read of the year, it was amazing. I actually backed it on Kickstarter, which is how I knew about it, and then I think I saw that she'd been nominated for the Indieverse Awards on Instagram and that's how I found you. Kristina Carmela: That's amazing! I love that. Okay, good. Yeah, she's on my list. There's a few that are on my list that I'm really excited about that I need to pick up this month for sure. Okay, that's good. I'm glad. Kay M. Weston: You've done all the hard work for me because I've now got a nice list and I can just go through and tick each one off when I've done it. Kristina Carmela: That was my goal because I was like if somebody told me to participate in this I'd be like, I don't know what's happening. So, I want to make it easy for readers to stay with us for the seven months. So, that makes me happy. Kay M. Weston: Yes. So, listeners go to the Reader Hub. That is where you can find everything. Brilliant. Well, thank you so much. This has been really fun, and I wish you all the best success with the awards, and I look forward to all of the voting and all of the giveaways and everything else that you've got going on. Kristina Carmela: Thank you so much for having me. This was so fun to talk about. Kay M. Weston: Thank you so much. ---- If you haven't checked out the Indieverse Awards yet, I encourage you to do so. There's literally so much on offer for readers to help you discover and support new indie authors and indie books. Plus, opportunities for you to win prizes, get discounted eBooks, and much more. Kitten Basie, one of the books I mentioned earlier, is an Indieverse Book Award nominee, nominated in three categories. I think the Briar Crown that I'm reading now is as well, actually. That's actually another really fun thing about the awards. If you're a mood reader, the categories are really fun and can help you to choose your next read. They have all the usual categories like best fantasy novel, best horror, best dystopian, best romance, et cetera, but they also have categories like biggest plot twist I didn't see coming. Biggest, baddest villain. Enemies I'm Glad Became Lovers, and my personal favourite is Words That Stuck with Me. So, if you head to the Reader Hub, there are so many resources to help you read as many of the nominated titles as you'd like to, including trackers by author or by category, and lots more cool stuff. So, do go and get stuck in. I hope you enjoyed our interview with Kristina and hope the Indieverse Awards help you discover lots of new indie books to read. And now, drumroll, please, it's time for my Indie Book Pick of the Month. This is where I feature a fantastic indie book that I have read and loved, and I believe it deserves a place on your TBR. This week I'm talking about Tall, Dark and Lonely by R. L. Mathewson. R. L. is one of my favourite indie authors. She writes in a bunch of different genres and was actually the reason I started to seriously consider writing and indie publishing as an adult, after I read her non-fiction book, How to Write a Book. But today, I'm talking about her Paranormal Romance series that focuses on two paranormal beings, Pytes and Sentinels. It's the series that really got me hooked on paranormal fiction as an adult, so years later than I read Twilight, and book one is such a fantastic introduction to both the series and the genre itself. The blurb for this one is pretty long. So, I'm not going to read it all, I'll just try to summarize as best as I can. So, the story begins with a really fantastic prologue about Ephraim Williams and explains the story of his “creation”. I won't say more than that for now because I don't want to give too much away. We then jump forward to present day and meet Madison, a young woman caring for her two younger siblings whilst trying to protect them from their abusive, manipulative mother who's suddenly back in their lives. To try and keep a roof over their heads, they move into their sort of estranged grandmother's boarding house and that's where she meets Ephraim, and I'm saying his name completely wrong because I can't pronounce it, who isn't quite the upstanding, human detective he appears to be. While trying to navigate her new job as a schoolteacher, raise a very horny teenager and make sure she doesn't lose her brother and sister to the care system, or to the bad influence of their mother, Madison also can't shake the suspicion that her new housemate is hiding something, and she becomes obsessed with discovering his secret. Tall, Dark, and Lonely is a very fun paranormal romance that's both plot and character led. If you like your romance spicy, there's plenty of it here, mixed in with the author's signature style of humour. I've looked at some of the reviews on Good Reads now, so a few years after I read this book, and it seems a bit like Marmite with some readers loving it, while it not being a good fit for others. I haven't read it for a while, but I have great memories of it and thoroughly enjoyed the author's take on the paranormal creatures in the book. I found the plot exciting and the characters lovable if sometimes a bit over the top and exaggerated, but that added to the humour for me. So, if you enjoy paranormal romance with over-the-top humour and an author who's not afraid to shy away from sort of cringey topics, (I can't really say more without giving too much away), then give Tall, Dark and Lonely a try and let me know what you think. So, we've reached the end of the episode. It was a bit longer than usual, but I hope you enjoyed it, especially the interview, and you now have new indie books to read. Hopefully you'll also think about supporting indie authors using a few of the suggestions I mentioned. If you have an indie author you'd love to hear on the podcast. A favourite indie book you think I absolutely must know about, or anything else you'd like to hear about on a future Turn the Page episode, then get in touch and let me know! The email to reach out to me is [email protected]. And if you're an indie author and you'd like to appear on the podcast to chat about your books, there's a form you can fill out, and I'll include the link to that in the show notes as well. A huge thank you again to Kristina for coming along to chat about the end of various awards, the link to the awards, and any other links I've mentioned in today's episode will be included in the show notes. If you're on Spotify, I've linked to Kristina's Greetings from Nelsonville podcast this month, if you'd like to check it out. I've also linked to a podcast that I'm really enjoying at the moment, the Let's Talk About Myths Baby! Greek and Roman Mythology Retold podcast. It's a lot of fun. Next episode, I'll be back with more indie book recommendations, plus an interview with a special indie author guest about their books. Until then, don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review if you enjoyed the show. Until next time, happy reading and keep turning the page.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
RSS Feed
