The 2025 Newsletter Archives are Now Open
If you’ve been following my journey here on the blog, you know that the “story behind the story” is often just as gripping as what’s on the page. Between my awards, the #1 bestseller badges, and regaining my publishing rights for Chained Birds, 2025 has been a whirlwind.
But there’s a whole side of this journey I’ve been sharing exclusively with my inner circle “Friends of the Flock” over at Crimemoir Confidential—my 🆓 newsletter home on Substack.
Why Substack?
While I love my blog space for general book news and event updates, Substack has become my newsletter home base and digital research lab. It’s where I go “off the record” about once a month to share more personal news, deep dives into my true crime research, and exclusive promos and book news that I think readers are hungry for. Examples include the raw, unfiltered story of how I reclaimed my book rights, and a recent “mini-viral” moment with my Thunderdomes YouTube video, which is up to 1.2k views as of this post! 😲
Substack is the one place I feel comfortable sharing my candid thoughts on the world—even wading into political waters that I typically keep off social media. It’s a space built on trust, which makes it the perfect home to engage with readers and fans and offer more to them than I can in a blog setting.
For instance, my Friends of the Flock subscribers are the only ones who can read the first two chapters of my next book, The Jacklighter. Another exclusive freebie is the first six complete chapters of Chained Birds. Fun fact, the Amazon preview cuts off the sixth chapter midway through 🤷♀️
Substack will be THE place to learn all the details of my upcoming Kickstarter campaign to fund the publication of The Jacklighter. My subscribers will be the first to know when the campaign kicks off, and they were the first to see the new Jacklighter cover reveal, which I’ve yet to publish widely in any sense.
Connecting with my 3,500+ subscribers is easier on Substack
Unlike the shouting match of social media or the distance of a standard blog, Substack allows me to talk directly to readers and fans. I’ve already heard from a number of folks who have weighed in on their favorite moments from Chained Birds or shared their theories on the first two chapters of The Jacklighter. For those who don’t know, when you get my Substack newsletter delivered to your inbox, you can just hit “reply” and send me a message! Or you can reach out via the Substack app, and I can respond to you there 👏
📣 Did I mention my Substack newsletter is 🆓 ?
If you’d like to join the Flock and be the first to see the new evidence files, grab the best promo deals, and have a direct line to my desk, check out the archives and consider subscribing 💕
👉 Explore the 2025 Crimemoir Confidential Archives Here
📩 Subscribe to Carla’s Crimemoir Confidential Newsletter on Substack Here
See you in the archives!
2026 will be our biggest year yet, driven by the upcoming Kickstarter launch. I’d love to have you in the front row … Happy holiday binge reading ☃️✨
Ciao,
Carla
Carla Conti is a journalist and the award-winning author of Chained Birds: A Crimemoir. Her next true crime book, The Jacklighter, is set for release in 2026. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, who supports her true crime habit.
