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Today's guest is Kristen Lindsay
Hager
Krysten Lindsay Hager is an author and book addict who has never
met a bookstore she didn't like. She's worked as a journalist and
also writes middle grade, YA, humor essays, and adult fiction. True Colors is her bestselling
debut novel from Astraea Press. She is originally from Michigan and has lived
in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern Ohio, where you
can find her reading and writing, She received her master's in American Culture
from the University of Michigan-Flint.
Welcome to Adventures in Publishing Krysten and thanks for helping
me with the Swim Season Pubslush campaign. To get started I thought I'd ask you
a couple of questions about high school and sports, since that's what the book
is about, and then we'll move on to your marketing tips for authors and your
book projects.
1. Most of us have strong feelings about our high school
experience. Was yours a yay or a nay? Please explain.
I loved high school. Middle school not so much, but high school
was great. I met some great friends there—most of which I’m still friends with
today. Middle school felt more repressive, while I felt like I could be myself
more in high school.
2. Did you play sports in high school? If yes, which one(s)
and how did it work out for you? If not, do you have children who play sports?
I didn’t play on any teams, but my friend Laura and I used to play
tennis all the time. Truth be told, we followed each tennis session off with a
trip to Dairy Queen.
3. Pubslush is a global marketing platform to assist authors with
pre-publication publicity and sales. Do you have any key marketing tips for
authors?
I think the best tip is to pick one or two things that you’re good
at and come naturally to you. If you’re more introverted then social media
might not be the best for you, but maybe guest blogs or posting informational
articles. If you are more social, then Instagram or Twitter may work for you.
4. Can you tell us about your latest project?
I recently finished writing the sequel to True Colors and signed a contract for
it. It’s tentatively titled: True Colors 2 (The Landry Series): Best
Friends…Forever? I am looking forward to working with the editors on
that next and also I have a rewrite of an adult novel I’m working on…I think
that rewrite might be plotting against me though!
Here's a sneak peek at True Colors:
Every day I walked down the sidewalk to school and wished I were
one of the interesting popular girls who ran up with exciting news. Just once
I’d like to be one of those girls instead of the being the one who didn’t get
invited to things because people “forgot” about me.
Landry Albright just wants to be one of the interesting girls at
school who always have exciting things going on in their lives. She wants to
stand out, but also wants to fit in, so she gives in when her two best friends,
Ericka and Tori, push her into trying out for a teen reality show modeling
competition with them. Landry goes in nervous, but impresses the judges enough
to make it to the next round. However, Ericka and Tori get cut and basically
"unfriend" her on Monday at school. Landry tries to make new friends,
but gets caught up between wanting to be herself and conforming to who her new
friends want her to be. Along the way she learns that modeling is nowhere as
glamorous as it seems, how to deal with frenemies, a new crush, and that true
friends see you for who you really are and like you because of it.
Excerpt:
The competition was for girls between the ages of thirteen and
seventeen, but it felt like Ericka,Tori, and I were the youngest ones there. I
only saw a couple of girls from school, and the lineup looked more like
something you’d see on a music video set. All the girls were gorgeous, and they
had these curvy womanly bodies. I looked like a skinny little kid next to them.
The first girl walked out, and I heard the judges say she “owned the runway,”
and, “walked like a gazelle.” I was starting to feel ill. I wasn’t sure which
way it was going to come, but I knew I had to find a bathroom — fast. I started
to get out of line when Ericka grabbed my wrist.
“It’s almost time,” she said. A tiny bit of spit flew out of her
mouth and hit my cheek.
I wasn’t sure why she was so intent on me going through with it,
but she had a death grip on my arm, so I didn’t have much of a choice. Her
number was called and she walked out to the stage. One of the other girls said
she walked like a kid with sand bucket stilts on her feet, but she came back
with a smirk on her face like she knew she’d get chosen.
Tori was next.
“She walks like a gorilla at feeding time,” said the girl behind
me.
I went next, and I tried to focus on not tripping over my feet. My
mom’s pumps had a rubber sole on the bottom, which probably wasn’t the
brightest idea seeing as my shoes were making squeaking noises as I walked. I
was so nervous I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked. I looked like the plastic
clown who blows up balloons with its mouth at the Pizza Palace. When I got to
the end of the runway, I tried to cross my feet to turn like the other girls
had, but I over rotated and ended up doing a full spin which made my kilt fan
out and gave the mall walkers a view of my blue underpants. I tried to act like
it was intentional and did an extra turn. One of the judges put her hand up to
stop me, and I held my breath as she started to speak.
5. Where can we learn more about you and your books?
You can learn more about me and my books by visiting:
You may purchase True Colors at:
You can find out how I answered my own questions on Krysten's blog
right here.
