User:Reginaldduckworth/Suzy Spencer

Suzy Spencer
Suzy Spencer is an American Writer who made the New York Times Best Seller list with her first true-crime book WASTED in 1998. Since then, she published three additional true-crime books.

Early Life
Suzy Spencer was born in Lufkin, Texas, where she graduated from Lufkin High School in 1972. After high school, she attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and received a degree in journalism. Degree in hand, she moved to New York City and worked for FORTUNE magazine. Two years later, Spencer was in Los Angeles working free-lance writing gigs and completing an MBA in Finance and Marketing and a Master's in Professional Writing, both from the University of Southern California. .

The Road to Success
The road to success for Spencer had more than the usual detours: from working as a missionary to a FORTUNE magazine reporter interviewing the movers and shakers of Washington and Wall Street to time spent as a free-lancer for PEOPLE magazine and LOS ANGELES magazine -- she paid her dues. Preparing herself as a serious journalist, she took advantage of the oppotunity to live in Hawaii, Michigan, California, New York and Texas, where she was able to observe first-hand the inner workings of a variety of businessess. She delved into such diverse occupations as banking, fashion, social work, show biz, and even education, working in jobs ranging from marketing consultant to editor to secretary to teacher and welfare worker. Travelling through Europe and the Far East gave her an international perspective. Along the way she earned two Chilton Editorial Awards, enjoyed three semi-final finishes in the Pirates' Alley Faulkner Awards, and won the Austin Writers' League "Word is Art award."

Published Books
WASTED made the New York Times Best Seller List in 1998. It was the first true-crime book written by Suzy Spencer. Clay Smith reviewed the book for the Austin Chronicle said that "Wasted is everything a true crime book should be: lean, fierce, and unsparing. It's factual, gory, and macabre."


 * "I never wanted, dreamed, or expected to write true crime. I fell into it.  A friend of mine came to me and said there’s a really trashy story out there and YOU have to write it.  I checked into the story.  It was interesting.  I mentioned it in a casual letter to an editor I’d met — giving it a one or two sentence synopsis. Six months later, I got a phone call asking me if I wanted a contract to write the book."

That success led to offers to write other books based on true-crime.


 * "One August day in 1999, I was on the phone with my editor when she asked if/when I was ever going to pitch them – the publishing house – another true crime idea. I relayed that I’d been talking to my agent about it and we’d never found a case she liked.  My editor asked about the rejected ideas, and I told her about the one I called the case of the Southern Baptist killer stripper – a girl who was reared devout Southern Baptist, became a stripper, then a killer.  She screamed, 'That’s it!  That’s the one we want!'  And so WAGES OF SIN came into being."


 * "WASTED irrevocably changed my attitude about homosexuality. WAGES OF SIN confused me.  BREAKING POINT broke my heart, while giving me credibility as a journalist.  THE FORTUNE HUNTER broke my spirit, and for that I am most grateful. In fact, for my entire true crime career – with well more than 300,000 books in print – I am grateful.  God, I am grateful.  That’s the one thing about which I don’t have mixed emotions."

Recognition
Suzy Spencer was hailed by ABC's PRIMETIME LIVE program as Austin, Texas' best-known true crime writer. Her first four books have eached earned individual distinction:


 * WASTED, a New York Times bestseller and Violet Crown Book Award finalist;
 * WAGES OF SIN, which outsold Spencer's first book, was reissued by Kensington Books in December 2010, 10th anniversary of the book's publication;
 * BREAKING POINT, was a Book of the Month Club, Doubleday Book Club, Literary Guild and Mystery Guild selection;
 * THE FORTUNE HUNTER, was called "riveting" and "blockbuster" by the Globe

Suzy Spencer has appeared frequently on Good Morning America, ABC World News, Primetime, Dateline NBC, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, Oxygen, and the E! Channel.