by Bette Lee Crosby | Dec 12, 2016 | In the News, Interviews
Host Cyrus Webb welcomes author Bette Lee Crosby to Conversations LIVE'S “Breakfast with Books” to discuss the book SPARE CHANGE.
Spare Change
A woman grieving her loss. A boy running for his life. A town defending them both…
A USA Today Bestseller and the first book in a collection of gritty, small-town family sagas. Reviewers say, “Spare Change is written in the tradition of the finest Southern fiction.”
Small-town gossip never really bothered Olivia Westerly. As a single career woman, she's endured her share. It's easy to ignore the raised eyebrows over her late-in-life marriage to Charlie Doyle. But after he drops dead on their honeymoon, the whispers pour salt on her raw grief. Especially when an orphaned, eleven-year-old-boy shows up on her doorstep, looking for the grandfather he never met.
Behind Ethan Allen Doyle's wary blue eyes lie heavily guarded emotions that unexpectedly tug on Olivia's heart, and she finds herself wanting to win his trust. But when his murderous secret comes looking for him, the entire town embraces this lonely widow and desperate child to show its true heart before danger can threaten one of its own.
A heartwarming tale of love, loss and unexpected gifts, featuring a woman you'd like to call friend, a boy you will ache to hug, and a town you wish you could call home.
by Bette Lee Crosby | Dec 12, 2016 | In the News, Interviews
Tim Knox Creating Strong Characters In A Soft Southern Voice
Tim Knox: Bette Lee Crosby is my guest today. Bette Lee is a USA Today bestselling author, winner of 15 literary awards, specializing in women’s fiction. She has seven published novels to her credit plus two releases coming later in the year.
Bette Lee is best known for her strong character portrayals and that’s one thing we talk about is how she develops these characters that are so real and so well-rounded they practically jump off the page. They just become real people to you. She also writes in a very heartwarming Southern voice and she speaks in a heartwarming Southern voice, so a really good interview from a lady with a very interesting backstory, which I’ll let Bette Lee tell you about.
by Bette Lee Crosby | Dec 12, 2016 | In the News, Interviews
BABY GIRL by Bette Lee Crosby is Number ONE
Authors on the Air host welcomes BETTE LEE CROSBY for our series honoring Women Writers.
When young Cheryl Ann leaves home, she thinks her path is straight…until she’s forced to make a choice she could never have imagined. The man in her life makes it clear: either pick your baby or pick me, he says. Suddenly, Cheryl finds herself at a crossroads. She makes a decision that will change her life forever, and that decision causes a chain of events that will lead Cheryl to a completely unexpected place. Baby Girl is a mother’s story. It’s about the greatest sacrifice a mother can make when she wants only the best for her child. It’s about falling in and out of love, of losing and finding one’s self. It’s about the perilous journey from passionate young love to happy true love and understanding the differences between the two. Baby Girl is a book that readers won’t want to miss because it’s a story they won’t forget. From the Author: This book is based on a true story…a story that is heartbreaking at times but will leave readers with a better understanding of what a woman will do to protect her child. When I first heard this birth mother’s story I was touched by it, so much so that I needed to know more. When I knew more, I knew I needed to write my novel. The result is Baby Girl.
by Bette Lee Crosby | Dec 12, 2016 | In the News, Interviews
Host Cyrus Webb welcomes back author Bette Lee Crosby to #ConversationsLIVE to discuss her literary success and her new book BABY GIRL.
by Bette Lee Crosby | Oct 8, 2014 | In the News, Interviews
I love doing interviews and talking about my books. I connect with my characters so much they're like a part of me. Tune in to Pam Stack's Authors on the Air interview October 8, 2014 at 8pm EST. Also if you missed the live interview you can listen to the show right here!
I'm On the Air Live with Pam Stack!
by Bette Lee Crosby | Jul 12, 2014 | In the News, Interviews
Interviewing Authors features Bette Lee Crosby
Such a great interview with Tim Knox. I love talking about my characters all most as much as writing about them. I explore that in this new interview as well as the avenue I took to get my books published. Tim asked great questions and I hope you learn from my answers!
CLICK HERE to listen to the interview.
Tim Knox: Do you remember the first thing that you wrote that you thought was good enough to be published or you wanted to publish?
Bette Lee Crosby: Yes.
Tim Knox: What was it?
Bette Lee Crosby: That was a story called Beneath the Snow. It was a novel and it’s still not published. I have it in the drawer upstairs but I sent it out and I had an agent accept it and represent me for about six months but they never sold it to a publisher. Looking back I’m not really surprised because I don’t think it’s anywhere near as good as the work I do now.
Tim Knox: Is that something you think you might pull out and dust off someday?
Bette Lee Crosby: Possibly but, you know, my voice has changed so much in the way I write. I think that with each novel I wrote I got deeper and deeper into the development of the characters and when I really got to the point where I could develop the character I would physically feel everything they’re feeling; I could run the gauntlet of emotions right along with them.
When I got to that point I had stories people would believe in, that they would love, that they would care. I’ve read books where I’m reading the book and I’ll get a third of a way through and I say I don’t really care what happens to these characters.
I guess I was fighting myself on that and it took that long to really get to the point where I could honestly say that it’s really, really good enough. This is as good as anything else that’s out there. Then I felt confident about it and I felt like I could go ahead.
Tim Knox: Did you go back with your agent on that and go traditionally published?
Bette Lee Crosby: No I didn’t. I went to a publisher, Publish America, and they accepted it and they published it but they priced it very, very high. I was such an ingénue at that point. I’d written to several agents before and had a whole packet of rejection letters. Actually they used to ask me, well I really like the story but you don’t have a platform. I didn’t even know what a platform was. I was just focused on the writing itself.
So when Publish America published the book they released it and I started doing some speaking engagements locally and the word started to spread a little bit and the book started to do reasonably well considering. I mean it was overpriced to start with. Luckily those were the days before eBooks were out.
When the book started to sell reasonably well they increased the price $5. It was high to start with. It was priced at $19.95 and for an unknown author that’s just way, way, way too high for a paperback. Then they raised the price to $24.95 so then I just quit promoting it. I had a seven year contract with them. I said, you know what, I’m just going to let it run its course and whatever they sell they sell.
So about two or three years into the contract I had quit publicizing it or working on it at all. I went back to writing again and about three years into the contract they wrote to me and said we’d like you to give us the rights to do the eBook.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice. So of course I said no way. I knew they’d overprice the eBook and when I wouldn’t give them the rights to the eBook they offered me the opportunity to buy the book back and I did.
Tim Knox: Good for you. What book was that?
Bette Lee Crosby: It was actually Twelfth Child but when I first went with them they changed the name. They said they felt it was a little bit of a conflict and they changed the name to Girl Child. So it’s been re-released now under Twelfth Child.
Tim Knox: Well congratulations on getting those rights back.
Bette Lee Crosby: Yeah that was very lucky. I was very fortunate. I think it was only because of the advent of the eBook.
