Imagine my euphoria after opening my inbox and seeing this 5-star review from Readers’ Favorite this week. And the fact this is my first editorial critique makes it all the more special. As a debut author trying to navigate the publishing world amid a wee bit of imposter syndrome, this review by Carol Thompson validated everything I set out...
Carla Conti
Carla Conti is a former journalist and the award-winning author of Chained Birds: A Crimemoir. Her true crime debut won multiple 2025 national book awards, including 1st Place in True Crime from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Winner in True Crime from the Indie Reader Discovery Awards, Silver in True Crime from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), Finalist in True Crime from the National Indie Excellence Awards, and a 1st Place Nellie Bly Journalism award from the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Carla is at work on her next true crime book, The Jacklighter, scheduled for release in 2026. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, who supports her true crime habit.
Prison artist sketch inspires book title and cover design (cover reveal coming soon!) The November 12, 2024 launch date of Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir is just around the corner! Manuscript editing is complete. My publisher, WildBlue Press, has begun its marketing efforts. And soon, I’ll be revealing the cover design that will incorporate my most cherished piece...
I’m thrilled to announce my debut true crime memoir, Chained Birds, has found a home with WildBlue Press and will be published this November! I signed with WildBlue Press at the end of 2023 following two weeks of dialogue with press co-founder (and author) Steve Jackson. Steve and I dove deep into my book’s details to ensure it would...
For purveyors and consumers of true crime and other documentaries, the film Subject is a gripping, must-see examination of everyone’s role in this burgeoning infotainment landscape. An award-winning 2022 film just released on Amazon this month, Subject features participants from a handful of nonfiction films and their wide variety of personal fallout. The outcomes range from devastating to exonerating...
I never knew what a mood board was until I decided to enter a couple of X (formerly Twitter) book pitch contests this fall. Because I love tinkering with graphics, I dove into creating my first-ever mood board for November’s #MoodPitch contest β a contest that ended up getting canceled. The volunteer contest organizers decided to pull it from...
In 2014, inmate Kevin Sanders stepped off a ConAir flight from Pennsylvania to Orlando and, on the tarmac, met an “old timer” in an orange jumpsuit wearing the same belly chain and shackles. The ornery felon with a sharp tongue and Southie Boston accent turned out to be the notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. Kevin and Whitey were slated...
The Washington Post’s George Will was out with an important op-ed this week that shines a spotlight on the legal loophole of “qualified immunity,” a principle that gives lawsuit protection to government workers acting in an official capacity. Will’s piece centers on a U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that prevented a family from suing anyone in a...
Welcome to my digital home! This space is devoted to tidbits about my book in progress, Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir, my publishing safari, anything that catches my fancy in the true crime world, and posts about prison reform and the criminal justice system β a central theme to Chain Birds’ story. More than ten years in the...