JYAP Giveaway Winner!!

Yay, we finally have a winner of a signed copy of Just Your Average Princess!!

kswederski 

E-mail me (Kristina@KristinaSpringer.com) with your mailing address and who you'd like the book signed to and I'll send it off. :-)

And guys, so sorry this contest took so long! I'll make it easier next time and not put so many followers or use a firm end date. Because you were all so patient if any of you want bookmarks/stickers for my books, send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I'll pop them in the mail to you. Thanks so much for entering!!

Foreign Covers

I got two more foreign covers for The Espressologist today. The Indonesian version released on February 3rd:

And the Korean one releases March 12th:

Fun stuff!

Dear Publishing Industry, We Need To Talk

(*Cross posted from  http://author2author.blogspot.com/ )

Dear Publishing Industry,

We need to talk. What's going on with the romantic comedies for teens? Like, where did they go? Have you stopped making them? Please say you haven't stopped making them. You have, haven't you. A quick search on Amazon for the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy line and I don't see any released past Spring of 2011. What's going on? They're so darn cute and funny. Come on, you guys love them right?

I know we have had this dark thing going on for some time now at the book stores. And it was fine for awhile, but we need some diversity guys. Teens keep asking me what happened to all the light and funny books. I know there still are some but we need more in the mass paperback kinda way. And it's not just you-- they're doing it on TV too. Everything is so dark and dreary. Maybe that's why I keep watching reruns of Gilmore Girls every weekend.

So here's what I'm thinking publishing industry. There's all this back and forth on the Internet everyday about book prices, printed books going away, the rise of ebooks, people not wanting to pay an arm and a leg for books etc. I know you've seen it because I see it on twitter a dozen times a day. So listen, why don't you come up with a super affordable mass paperback line. You know, like in the olden days when I was a teen:

Did I really just say olden days? I swear I'm not that old. But this is my collection from the late 80s/early 90s and back then I paid $2.99 a book. Total deal and I had no problem buying tons as you can see. Sometimes I would buy a book everyday, go home and read it, then get another the next day. Do teens do that now? Doubt it. Who's got the cash for that? I'm not suggesting you price yours at $2.99 but I'm thinking the magic price point should be $4.99. Think about it, $4.99 for a smaller mass paperback and I get to have the book in my hand. I can pass it around to my friends or take it the beach and not worry about it because it's not a $15-$20 hardcover or even a $10 paperback. And let's get real, isn't that what a huge problem in the industry is right now? That we're asking teens to spend $10-$20 on a new book? And yes, they'll do it if it's something that they MUST have right away like Hunger Games. But every book can't be Hunger Games. How often do we hear I'll check that out at the library or I'll wait for the paperback?

Think about it, $4.99. Half the price of a traditionally published eBook or trade paperback, a little more than an indie published eBook. I know what you're saying right now, but look at the ro com line at the top-- people weren't buying enough of those (I'm guessing that's why it went away, right?) but those were $6.99 and up. $6.99, though only $2 more than $4.99, is not quite an impulse buy as $4.99. $4.99 is less than my Starbucks. And don't say the printing will cost too much because Scholastic Book Fairs are able to charge that much for many of their books. I'm sure you could make it happen.

Anyway, just think about it publishing industry. You don't have to get back to me right away. But I do think it could work. We could even call it retro and say we're bringing back the 80s. We all know that works in fashion (hello leg warmers and french rolled jeans, how've you been?).

Kristina

Happy Valentine's Day!

Don't Facebook and Fly

A Dutch Airline will soon be offering passengers a chance to pick who they want to sit by based on their facebook profiles. Uh huh. I don't think I like this. For one, if I'm on a flight I just want to get somewhere. I don't want someone to target me and sit by me for nine hours on our way to Paris (I'm dreaming big) because we both found the chubby cat sitting on the glass table funny. And I imagine there are countless directors, producers, and tv network heads who don't want hopeful actors and future reality stars stalking them and pestering them throughout their flight for tips or hookups. And what about the hot girls? The poor poor hot girls who will be surrounded by creepy men hitting on them throughout the duration of the flight. The only benefit I can see coming from this whole facebooking and flying thing is if you post that you had a huge bowl of chili the night before and I know NOT to sit by you for the long flight.

What do you all think? Would you want to facebook and choose your seat companions or have them choose you? Or would you rather take your chances with the big sweaty guy and the screaming kids?

Valentine's Day Event Tonight!

Celebrate Valentine’s Day (and the Anti-Valentine’s Day) with Me Tonight!

From Fountaindale Library:

"On February 2, from 6:30-8:00pm, we will be having our “He Loves Me…He Loves Me Not” Party in The Vortex! Valentine’s Day will go head-to-head with Anti-Valentine’s Day as we have activities both celebrating and protesting this LOVE-able and HATE-able holiday! The party’s for 6-12 graders and we ask that you please register! Teen author Kristina Springer will join us and sign books that she’ll have available for purchase! A great chance to have some fun and meet a published teen author! Hope to see you there! – Carly T."


For more info, click here.

Ryan Gosling Loves Fake Boyfriend?

This is too funny.