Transcript
Speaker: Hi everyone, a quick heads up ahead of the episode. Unfortunately, it's been brought to my attention that there is a scammer impersonating me. They've been emailing people from a faked account, posing as me, and offering paid packages to come on the podcast. To be clear, there is no payment involved for guests. I do not charge guests to come on the podcast, and obviously that means there are no packages for guests and the like.
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Speaker: Hello and welcome back to the Right and Wrong podcast. On today's episode, I am joined by a New York Times and USA bestselling indie romance author who just a few months ago had her traditional publishing debut. It's Chelsea Carto. Hello.
Speaker: Hello, how are you? I'm very well, thank you. How are you? I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. It's my pleasure. Let's jump right in, as we always do, with the latest publications. So you've actually had two books out recently. Yes. The the latest in your DC Stars series, Crosscheck, came out in August. And then in July, you very excitingly, your first traditionally published novel, In Stormy Weather, was released to the world.
Speaker: yes Yes. Let's go one at time here. Let's start with Crosscheck. Tell us a little bit about the DC Stars series and the the latest entry in it. Yeah. So Crosscheck is book six in the DC Stars, which follows a hockey team in Washington, DC. And while it follows a hockey team, it also follows um strong women as well. So you have the hockey players playing hockey and then their love interests are women who are in sports, involved with sports, athletes themselves. And so you kind of have a multilayered book about the romance, hockey, and then women who are kind of existing in male-dominated fields and doing a good job of um making a name for themselves. So book six just released Cross Check, and it was a hockey player coach romance. She's a NHL coach, first woman to coach in the and NHL. And it's my longest book to date. It takes place over 10 years, I think. So it was a very long timeline of kind of weaving back through my other DC Stars books. But I adore that series very much. It's something that I wrote kind of on a whim.
Speaker: I wanted to write a hockey romance that kind of looked a little different than other things that were out there. So book one in the series, Face Off, features a woman playing in the NHL too, which was really, really fun to write.
Speaker: And the series kind of took off. I never expected it to reach the heights that it did. um i never expected people to resonate and love it as much as I do, but I'm very, very grateful for the series. I love it very much. I think it's really important to have those conversations about women existing in these spaces, especially places like sports where typically they're they're not very welcomed and to put that in a romance book. So hopefully,
Speaker: one day down the road, we see more of that in real life. Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, six sixth in the series. Yes. Do they all follow the same team?
Speaker: Yes. So they're all the same team. um It was originally supposed to be four book series, but then my mind kind of started creating ideas for other people on the team. So it's now going to be an eight book series. So book six just released, book seven will be early next year, and then book eight will be fall of next year. And it's been really fun to kind of you know, you have each couple or each book focuses on one couple, but the other past couples are still woven in there because they're on a team. So you see them, you know, you meet these characters when they're not in a relationship and then you, you move forward to later books in the series and you kind of see couples of the past settled and, and with a family and talking about retiring and how long they've been in the league. So that's been, it's been really fun to kind of keep the same group of, of athletes and,
Speaker: kind of just like create the life that I want for them, want them to have, which has been really fun. Yeah. So they are sort of interconnected. Is it sort of like the, the side characters from one book will like a couple of them might become the main characters from another book. And then those characters, the the main characters in the previous book would now be the side characters.
Speaker: Exactly. So yeah i feel like my readers have gotten really good at spotting who will be the next book based on how often they're showing up in the book prior, the two books prior. So, um and it's hard because, you know, sports teams, they are quite large and you don't, I never want a reader to feel intimidated by reading 22 names on a hockey team. So i kind of had to, you know, work around, you know, who's going to be the priority, who's going to be the focus and, People from the past, they're not the center figure because it's ah not their book, obviously. But I still want them to be present because readers love them. They love the relationship dynamics. They love, you know, who who the team has become and the friendships within the team. um But yeah, so Cross Check is out now. It's on Kindle Unlimited. It's also available in paperback. And I'm very excited for book seven, which will be coming in a couple months.
Speaker: Amazing. Um, I have a question. I've spoken to a few, ah sports romance authors. I have to ask, what is it about hockey that has made it just the like rise above all other sports in terms of sports romance as a genre?
Speaker: I think it goes with And this sounds really like counterproductive to romance, but I feel like it kind of goes hand in hand with how violent they can be almost. Because, you know, you see like I'm a big basketball fan, but in basketball, there's you can't shove someone to the ground. You can't throw a punch at someone like there's very strict rules. And and these other sports and hockey kind of.
Speaker: it kind of breaks all the rules. It's a welcome part of the sport. So you have that tension. You have the forced proximity of a very long season taking place over 82 games. So that you have things like traveling and, you know, schedules. And um then you could have ah the...
Speaker: main characters, X, who plays for a rival team and the guy's allowed to punch him on the ice because it's hockey and no one's batting an eye. So I think there's, I think there's a lot of layers to it, but um I'm kind of surprised we haven't seen more like rugby romances because I feel like rugby kind of goes hand in hand with that, that fierce, um strong kind of,
Speaker: I don't know, i've I've watched a couple rugby clips and I'm like, why are more people not writing about rugby romances? Because this this has a lot of potential as well. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's interesting because I hadn't thought about it from the logistics point of view. and And yeah, you're so right when you have those kind of scheduling and that's all the scheduling is kind of already there, which is all the forced proximity, which just plays so well into yeah romance.
Speaker: Yeah. And it's like, are they going to travel together? Are they not going to travel together? He's been gone five days. He misses her so much, you know, versus football where they play well, I don't even know what they do anymore, 17, 18 games, but it's only one day a week. So they're home a lot of the time. You take out a lot of that opportunity for missing someone and that emotional depth.
Speaker: um So yeah, it's i it's really funny that hockey, because hockey is not the number one sport in America. And I know it's it's not the number one sport anywhere. So I think that kind of- Maybe Canada.
Speaker: maybe Yes, Canada, yes. But everywhere else, it's like you got- you know, sock soccer, obviously in Europe or football, as y'all call it. But, um, you know, in the U S hockey is probably the fourth most popular sport based on viewers. But I think it, I think that physicality kind of comes into play within the, within the romance space.
Speaker: Yeah, no, that's interesting. Uh, yeah, I like that. The, the, the logistical elements, there's a lot, like you said, there's a lot more layers to it than simply like people like hockey and there's lots of muscly men.
Speaker: Correct. Correct. So the other book that came out recently in stormy weather, your trad debut, tell us a little bit about that. So this one was really fun to write. Um, it is, it features two rival meteorologists who, um, spend a summer chasing hurricanes and tornadoes together. The female main character character Quincy, she is a, um,
Speaker: kind of like a weather influencer. She has her PhD in atmospheric science and she's created a platform for herself to talk about weather, educate viewers on weather, to to cover weather as it comes into the space in Florida where she lives.
Speaker: And then we have Sebastian, who was a senior meteorologist on the national news. so he's kind of more of a go-with-the-flow guy, um has a good time, and he's also her best friend's brother. So they're forced to spend a Florida summer together chasing these natural disasters, which put them in very close proximity. And along the lines, there's kind of, they're put in some you know it is a romance, but there is adventure, life or death, kind of, as there is with natural disasters. And so Quincy and Sebastian kind of get put in these moments where it's it's it's a romance, so it obviously ends in a happily ever after. But there's kind of you know the tension of, oh my gosh, are they going to make it out of this tornado that they're chasing? And as the story progresses, as the you know the characters spend more time together...
Speaker: those layers of, oh, I don't like him, you know they kind of fall away. And I will say that excuse me that Sebastian has always liked Quincy. Quincy can't stand him. So it's rivals to lovers, but it's very much kind of one-sided because he's he's always kept an eye on her. He always knows where she is while she's kind of the one who's like, can you please get away from me? So it's it's a little bit of a one-sided rivals to lovers, but it was really fun to write because I grew up in Florida. I love weather. I love hurricanes. I love you know everything that comes with that. And it was when I was thinking about what I wanted to write, i was like, this is kind of unique. You don't see a lot of this. And so I decided to write it and it's been really, really fun.
Speaker: People have told me that they've learned a lot because it does talk about science and weather patterns and you know, some things that are very, not super high level, but ah there is some depth to to the science because they are meteorologists. And so it's been really fun for for people to tell me that they've learned something while picking up my book, which is which you don't hear a lot. So that was really cool to kind of to kind of teach people about meteorology and science in that way.
Speaker: Okay. Okay. Did you have to do some research into that just to make sure that the science all kind of checked out? Yes, I did a lot of research and someone who read a very early copy was a meteorologist themselves. So they were kind of fact checking me. I will say I kept it.
Speaker: i didn't want it to be too intimidating for someone who doesn't like science or who, you know, like not the average person doesn't know about atmospheric science. So I wanted to keep it understandable and and welcoming enough for anyone to pick it up off a shelf and and feel like they weren't confused. And I think I i think I found a good balance with that. But I did do a lot of research.
Speaker: primarily because she's a woman in STEM. And I wanted to make sure i was portraying Quincy accurately, respectfully. And I wanted her to know her her subject matter because you know women in that field are often scrutinized more than men. There's only, out of meteorologists, there's 25% are women, so a very low number. It's getting higher, but still you there are there's obviously a disparity. So I wanted to make sure I was you know respectful of a woman in that career and in doing a good job of explaining her job and her day-to-day day-to-day life. and I actually did an interview with a um meteorologist up in Syracuse and she said, you did a very good job with the research. like It was very spot on and that was such a compliment for me.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah no that's great. and This one is a standalone. So it it's it is a standalone, but it's technically book one in a series. So I'm working on book two right now for for two different characters, not meteorologists. um That was the only weather related book. So I try to write my books in a way of like, they kind of follow the same group of people and the same group of friends, but they're not so layered where if you pick up, like people have picked up book four in my hockey series first, and they've read it first and they've understood everything because it's not so
Speaker: Like i I make it so the the other characters are, um what's the word I'm looking for? Just like, like you you don't, I'm not throwing you into the middle of a hockey season or the middle of a town where like, you don't know any of these people. And I kind of, you know, past couples, I kind of weave them back in give a brief explanation, but I try to write each story as its own entity and not something that's like a sequel or or anything like that from previous books. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. So you could, you can read like the, if we took the DC star series, you could potentially read them in, in any order. Yeah. And like people have told me they've picked up, picked up like book four and book five first. And I'm like, that is so interesting to me because my, my brain likes to go in order, but you know, with social media, people see a book recommendation or, you know, that it has a specific trope or, or plot line. And they're like, Oh, that looks interesting. And so a lot of people have picked picked up books out of order and then they've gone back and read all the other ones, which is really cool.
Speaker: Mm-hmm okay. That's yeah. I think that's, that's quite ah ah I, I've spoken to a few romance authors who do a similar thing. I think it works really well within that genre, especially when you have the setup of a whole team of hockey players or, or whatever it might be.
Speaker: yeah And like I said, this is your first traditional ah publication. Obviously you've been indie publishing your books for for quite a long time now. ah By my count, you're almost at 20 published novels. Is that right?
Speaker: That is correct. Yes. I've been very busy. Yes. Yes, you have. um So having sort of having this kind of big background in ah indie publishing and self-publishing, how did you find your first experience of traditional publishing?
Speaker: You know, i loved it I feel very grateful that I have um such a wonderful team at my publisher, ah yeah at my US and UK publisher. And so, you know, the thing with indie publishing is you do most of it by yourself. You you write the book by yourself. You have to find an editor. You have to find a ah book or a cover artist. You have to market it. You have to, you know, pick a release date. You have to do all these things by yourself. And then when you enter the trad space, you kind of, gain this wonderful team of people who help you do things. Like there were so many times in the process where I was like, oh, I don't have to do that. Someone else is doing it. Like, that's amazing. Like for the cover sketches, like I didn't have to approach an artist. I didn't have to kind of give that brief
Speaker: my my editor did. So she she was the one kind of the liaison between the cover and me and my feedback and the cover artist, which, you know, in and in within that it's, you know, for book two, I've kind of had a couple of different ideas of where I want to go. And I have someone who I can be like, hey, like, What do you think about this? what do you think about this idea? What if we did it this way? So to kind of have a sounding board. So it's been really, really incredible to have a team, to have people in your corner who support you from the very beginning, who, you know, who are there to to help and cheer you on. And it's a very collaborative effort, which I'm very grateful for.
Speaker: yeah absolutely. um Does it? you Like you said, with book two, you're kind of working with the editor from like the conceptual phase. Does that change your writing process for the story?
Speaker: Not really. i feel like because I've written so many books prior to this, like I know my process, I know my voice, I know my brand, I know, you know, the deeper layers of what I'm trying to convey in a book and and all of that. So I feel like I stayed pretty true to myself with, um, and Stormy Weather And I, I will say that, you know, you have to keep in mind, like my self published books, I feel very grateful that some bookstores carry it, but a lot of bookstores don't because, you know, it's a business, it's a money thing, they have to purchase them, they have to sell for them to make money, etc, etc. so
Speaker: To walk into a Barnes & Noble and know my book is going to be there is very different from not expecting to see my book there. And so within that, you know, I have a community I built on Bookstagram, Booktalk, that sort of thing. But there are millions and millions of readers who don't exist in those social media spaces. So when writing In Stormy Weather, when writing Book 2,
Speaker: I did try to you know think about, okay, well, if the average reader at a bookstore who like doesn't know me on social media, who doesn't know who I am, who's just picking this book up, like how can i how can i hook them? How can i bring them in How can i you know keep them as a reader for a very long time? So I kind of had that thought in the back of my mind. But as far as writing and the process goes, I've stayed pretty true to myself. And I'm you know i'm grateful for that because i feel lucky for the people who have you know, been reading my books for a while now and and i want to stay authentic to who I am as a storyteller and as a person.
Speaker: That way, the people who have been with me from the very beginning, like, I don't want, I don't want to change too much, you know, like I want to stay consistent with what people know me from and and know me as. And, um,
Speaker: my publisher and my editor and my, my team, I feel, I feel very grateful where they, there was no point in, in any step of the process. So we're like, Nope, we have to change that. And I never felt like I had to shy away from who I am as an author.
Speaker: Okay. Yeah, that's good. I do wonder, you so you mentioned just now that DC Stars, this is book six just came out, book seven and eight are going to be out within the next, like within less than a year.
Speaker: yeah ah Have you found traditional publishing to be very, very slow after the rate at which you publish as an independent author? Yeah. You know, it's really interesting because it it will be slow for like a month and then it will be like, go go go go, go, go, go for like three weeks. And then it goes back to slow. And then it's like, go, go, go, go. go go go And um my publisher who published in stormy weather in the U S they actually picked up the DC stars as well. So I've kind of been re-releasing the DC stars with them. And so there's been, you know, there's been a lot of deadlines and turnaround times. And so,
Speaker: It's like with indie publishing, it's very much a you do what you want when you want, but trad publishing, it's it's very long term. So like the book that's coming out next summer for me with um my US publisher and UK publisher, I'll have that.
Speaker: I'll have that finished by January and then it's like out of my hands. So that's like seven months before before. the world officially sees it and it's done, you know, versus indie publishing. I finished, I could write something tonight, publish it tomorrow. um So that is a little bit of a learning curve because the the two avenues do work in very different ways. But um trap publishing does tend to be a little bit slower and definitely more like further ahead, farther ahead, farther ahead. Um, and so it's, it's a very interesting balance between, and because I'm in both spaces, it's an interesting balance of, oh, okay, we're going to do this, which is like literally a year down the road, but I still have to do this, which is going to come, come out three months before that. So it's, it's a balancing act, but, um, and this goes back to, I'm grateful to have a team that, you know, kind of helps with the, that process of,
Speaker: um okay, nothing's happening. What's going on? And it's like, nope, all is well. We're just doing it. There's just nothing to do right now. Yeah, that makes sense. And and you're kind of you've kind of got the best of both worlds by doing both. You know, you're still releasing your own stuff whilst the traditional stuff is going along. So it's not like some authors, I think, can get frustrated when they're on like a single contract and they're, you know, they wrote their book ages ago and they're waiting for it to come out and they're trying they're writing something new. But there's a lot of waiting in between. I think yeah being a hybrid author, you don't have that.
Speaker: If you want to write something, put it out, you can. Yeah. And it's, you know, and that in in I talked to my agent and I talked about this and with my editor and it's like, you know, so many people I've met in the last couple months, like they started with in stormy weather and then they went back and read the DC stars. And so many people who read the DC stars went over to read in stormy weather. So, you know, what there's so many baskets, there's so many places to grab from where it all it I think the saying she used is like, rising tides lift all boats. So like, you know, yeah it it it all benefits each other. and And it's really exciting as an author, someone loves your books, and they're like, oh, I want to go read everything. And then they're like, holy cow, she has 15 books that I can read until the next one comes out, you know, so it's it's really cool to kind of meet people. And it the most exciting thing for me, especially and and but in Sermy Weather, I was really nervous because
Speaker: I've kind of built this brand on sports romance and and hockey and and and in that area of the romance genre. I was worried that those readers might not want to read a contemporary romance for me. They may not want you know to to go from hockey to meteorology, but my brand has remained the same with you know the things I always put into my books like banter,
Speaker: He's obsessed with her, a woman in a male dominated field. So that's remained true. And it's been really exciting to to find people who, and this goes back to the millions of people who aren't on social media, who find me for the first time and they're like, oh, okay, this person wrote that. I love that. um So I love kind of hearing where people found me and and where they started their reading journey.
Speaker: Yeah. Where the entry point is, because it seems like you have, you can kind of jump in anywhere and then yeah figure it out from there. That's cool. That's awesome. Yeah. um Before we head over to the cabin, i just have one more question. Now that you're, you know, now that you're a hybrid author, you you have officially published a traditional book and you're you're going to publish some more as well as your indie stuff.
Speaker: Do you, does this feel like a ah ah comfortable thing for you? Do you feel like this is how you're going to kind of continue the future as an author in both indie and traditional? I think so. I really like existing in both spaces. Both have, you know, pros obviously both have cons as everything does. But I i really like existing in both spaces because they both bring different things to the table for me as an author. And i i don't know, I would love to stay in this space. Obviously, that's a long-term a long-term hope and goal. And you know I hope I can keep writing like this in 10 years down the road. But I feel very lucky that my contract and publishing has allowed me to do both. I know um some people some people can't, and I feel really grateful that I i can do... i have both eggs in both baskets. And Personally, I'm going to kind of keep trying to keep it this way for as long as I can. um you know, Trad Publishing is obviously a little bit
Speaker: trickier because, you know, indie publishing, like I said, you can go write something tonight, publish it tonight. It's out in the world tomorrow, but trad publishing, there's obviously ah contracts involved, money involved, money upfront involved. um You know, what's going to sell, what's not going to sell, what does the market look like in a couple of years? So, you know, my hope is I can continue to do both. um And, but I, I, I know what the caveat of, of traditional publishing the,
Speaker: I don't want to say exclusive, but again, you kind of have to like, you kind of have to work into it almost because like I've, I'm writing these books for this publisher now, but in three years, you know, who knows what the market's going to look like?
Speaker: Who knows who else will be in the publishing space? Like, or what ideas am I going to have that could exist in the the traditional publishing world? So my hope is to stay um in both realms for as long as I can, but,
Speaker: You know, I also know that it's a business and business is about money and sales and numbers and that sort of thing. So for me personally, I just am going to keep writing the books that I i want to read, that I hope readers love. And whatever happens, happens. And I'll be very, I feel very fortunate and grateful for anything that's come my way and that will continue continue to come my way.
Speaker: Yeah. Okay, great. I think that's a pretty healthy mindset. yet Like you said, you can't you can't predict what's going to happen with traditional publish publishing, especially. But as far as we know, no one will ever be able to stop you indie publishing your own stuff.
Speaker: Yeah. So, well, that's the hope. That's the goal. And I have so many ideas. So the ideas will keep coming for for years to come, which is ah which is exciting. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That brings us to the point in the episode where I ask you, Chelsea, if you were snowed in at a cozy woodland cabin in the middle of nowhere, which book would you hope to have with you?
Speaker: Okay. So I'm going to backtrack a little bit. um In 2021, I I hadn't published a book yet, but I was reading a lot. um I was picking up a lot of new books. I started with, in 2020 during COVID, I started with more historical fiction. I started with y YA. I started with um fantasy, romanticy, and I didn't read a lot of romance. And in 2021, I started Book of the Month, which is U.S. book subscription box where you pay like $10 a month and you get a hardcover book. And I was like, okay, well that's a steal because hardcover books in the U S are like $30. So obviously I'm going to do a $10 hardcover. And my first month I, um, had my pick and I picked people we meet on vacation by Emily Henry. And it was the first romance book I ever read. And it kind of changed my life because it made me want to read romance and maybe want to pick up more romance and maybe want to
Speaker: become an author. And um this past July, Stormy Weather was picked as a book of the month pick, which is just absolutely mind-blowing. And i you know I shared on Instagram how five years ago, I did book of the month for the first time and never in a million years did I think that I would have a book featured in the same book box that you know kicked off my love of romance. So I think I would pick People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry because it really started my journey. It started my where It really got me to where I am today. I mean, I think I would have obviously picked up another romance eventually down the road, but that was the first one I picked up and I never looked back. So I i just imagined myself on a couch with ah with a really cozy blanket and like a hot chocolate and a fireplace and just rereading the book that helped me fall in love with romance and changed my life. And I think that sounds that sounds like a perfect day, in my opinion.
Speaker: Amazing. Yeah. I mean, i love that. Like connected to to everything that that has become this, this incredible career as an author. Yeah. Awesome. Love that. um What would you pick?
Speaker: What would I pick? I usually go for, for a Terry Pratchett or like a Douglas Adams, like I'm into that kind of silly British ah fantasy sci-fi, but with with with a sort of surprising amount of heart into it. So it would probably be Terry Pratchett, Small Gods or something ta along that order. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: But I mean, you know, ask me on a, ask me next week and it'll probably be different. it' It's probably going to change. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It depends what I've most recently read and loved. So yeah.
Speaker: um Awesome. So next up, we are going to go back a bit further into Chelsea's writing origins, how she cracked the indie publishing marketplace, as well as um what led to teaming up with an agent and signing a traditional deal. That will all be in the extended episode, which you can find at patreon.com forward slash right and wrong.
Speaker: I need to just lock in and focus on the thing that I'm working on. But my brain is like, oh, but did you see this video of this moment? Maybe we could write a book on that. And I'm like, that's like 2030. We got to, we got to lock in first. yeah Okay. Okay.
Speaker: That's cool. And that's great. That's, it's nice to hear the kind of the the good parts of both of them. um And that brings us to the end of the episode. Thank you so much, Chelsea, for coming on and chatting with It's been so fun chatting with you. This was wonderful. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: Yeah. And for anyone listening, if you want to keep up with what Chelsea is doing, you can find her on Instagram and threads at authorchelseycarto, on TikTok at chelseyreadsandwrites, or if you want all of that, links to everything that's on her website, authorchelseycarto.com.
Speaker: To support this podcast, like, follow, and subscribe. Join the Patreon for ad-free extended episodes and check out my other podcasts, The Chosen Ones and Other Tropes. Thanks again to Chelsea and thanks to everyone listening. We will catch you on the next episode.
