Scott Semegran's Blog, page 15
June 18, 2019
To Squeeze a Prairie Dog - Available Everywhere You Buy Books
My latest book, To Squeeze a Prairie Dog: An American Novel, is available in paperback, hardcover, eBook, and audiobook. BlueInk Review declared in their starred-review, "An entertaining slice-of-life story that's humorous yet uplifting at the same time. By the novel's last page, readers will be longing for more."
Available on Amazon Kindle, Audible, Amazon.com, and wherever you buy books. Buy it today!
Read more about paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions of To Squeeze a Prairie Dog: An American Novel
Read more about the audiobook version To Squeeze a Prairie Dog: An American Novel
June 8, 2019
Episode #3 of Austin Liti Limits
Episode #3 of Austin Liti Limits is now live on the website. We filmed mystery / thriller author Kane Lesser reading a selection from her book, then followed it with an interview I did with her. Check it out!
Watch Part 1 of Episode 3
Watch Part 2 of Episode 3
For more Austin Liti Limits, please visit https://austinlitilimits.com.
May 28, 2019
Virtual Book Club: Award-winning author, Scott Semegran introduces To Squeeze a Prairie Dog
Originally posted by the Jane Davis, Author website on May 28, 2019
I’m delighted to welcome Scott Semegran to Virtual Book Club, my author interview series which gives authors the opportunity to pitch their books to your book club, be it virtual or real.
Scott is an award-winning writer of humorous fiction with a dose of heart. BlueInk Review described him best as “a gifted writer, with a wry sense of humour.” His latest book is a comic sendup of state government—an entertaining slice-of-life story that’s humorous yet uplifting at the same time—titled To Squeeze a Prairie Dog: An American Novel. His previous novel, Sammie & Budgie, was the first place winner for Fiction in the 2018 Texas Authors Book Awards. His book BOYS was the 2018 IndieReader Discovery Awards winner for Short Stories. His other books include The Meteoric Rise of Simon Burchwood, The Spectacular Simon Burchwood, Modicum, and Mr. Grieves. He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, four kids, two cats, and a dog. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English.
Q: Welcome Scott. Please can you start by telling us how you came to be a writer.
A: I was inspired to write after studying literature at the University of Texas in Austin. It seemed, after I graduated, to be the logical thing for me to do after spending four years dissecting and analysing great works of literature. With an English degree, my parents assumed I would teach. I didn’t want to teach; I wanted to write. So, I started writing literally the week after graduating from college. That was over twenty-five years ago. Early on, I dabbled in all kinds of writing: poetry, short stories, screenplays, novels, even comic strips, hundreds of which have been published in newspapers. But I mostly now write novels and short stories. That’s what I enjoy the most as well as what I have been recognised for. I won three book awards in 2018.
Q: Not a bad year! Raymond Carver said, “I like to give myself enough time between books to become a different kind of writer.” How much of a gap do you leave between writing projects and why? What do you do between writing projects?
A: It seems to me when looking back at my book release dates (and this isn’t a scientific observation by any means) that I wait at least a year or so between writing projects. I feel I put so much creative energy into each book that I need time to fill up that well of inspiration again. And I would change Carver’s quote from “a different kind of writer” to “a better writer.” When I’m not writing, I focus on two things: promoting my books (which uses a very different part of my brain and is not my favourite part of being a writer) and consuming as much literature and other forms of art as possible. This consuming of literature and art is where I become a better writer. Since completing To Squeeze a Prairie Dog, I have read voraciously, particularly other indie writers. Discovering other indie writers that were very talented was quite illuminating to me. I even wrote an article for Medium.com about my discovery of other self-published authors. Anyway, when I’m not writing, I read books, watch movies, listen to music, watch TV shows, go to museums, anything that inspires me. And hang out with my wife, kids, family, and friends. That’s important to me, too.
Q: Let’s talk about To Squeeze a Prairie Dog. At what point in writing the book did you come up with its title?
A: To Squeeze a Prairie Dog had a few variations of this title before I started writing the novel. I knew without a doubt that I wanted the title of the book to be an idiom. I felt it would be more memorable that way, but I wasn’t quite sure what the exact phrasing of the idiom would be. I had six or seven variations before I settled on this title about halfway through writing this book. I’m pleased with it.
May 10, 2019
Austin Liti Limits
I've recently been working on a web series I created with fellow author Larry Brill called Austin Liti Limits. It's a show about writers talking to writers about writing, something akin to Inside the Actors Studio but with writers. We will feature writers living in or visiting Austin, Texas and the episodes are filmed on location in Austin. Our next two episodes will be filmed at a cool coffee shop called Kick Butt Coffee on May 27, 2019 at 7pm. For more info about this live event, please go here.
Our focus is to feature a variety of writers to talk about the craft as well as the writer life. Our writers will range from bestsellers to indies to up-and-comers. Larry and I are very excited to bring this show to you and the viewers on the internet. You can view the Austin Liti Limits episodes on the website or subscibe to the two video channels:
https://vimeo.com/channels/1453667
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQibsX2zypXAl41Ci4EpNig
Here are the two videos from Episode #1 featuring yours truly. Enjoy! And for more, visit https://austinlitilimits.com.
April 14, 2019
The Indie Writer Book Launch Guide
In the fall of 2018, I received the final version of my novel To Squeeze a Prairie Dog from my proofreader. The novel had gone through countless revisions, then spent long stints with two editors, so receiving the final version was very gratifying. After a few weeks of creating various eBook files, the paperback PDF, and the hardcover PDF, I was ready to release my lovingly crafted novel to the world. But wait, excited indie writer! I said to myself. You need to launch this new novel correctly. I saw my reflection in the computer monitor and remembered all the mistakes I made when launching my previous two books. It was a painful memory filled with regrets and poor decisions. I wanted to give this new novel — one that I had painstakingly written, revised, edited, proofed, and created — the proper send off. I wanted to release this book the way the big publishers release theirs.
How do you do that? you may be asking. That’s easy, my indie writer friend: careful planning.
In an effort to share what I have learned about properly launching an indie book with my fellow indie writers, here are all the things I did to properly launch my new novel. This is a long, comprehensive guide. It’s not for the cavalier writers, the ones who are too impatient to even read this guide in its entirety. Prepping a proper book launch is in many ways more difficult than actually writing the book you will be launching. But I promise you, there is some excellent information here. When possible, I will link to or at least refer to the sources of this information. I didn’t learn these things in a vacuum; I used Google, of course, to find this information. Each of these sections of information are out there on the internet for you to find, but I will collate the information in a concise, chronological guide the best I can.
Warning: some of this advice involves spending your own money and just like starting a small business, you will need to wisely dip into your bank account. This guide is not a pie-in-the-sky fantasy for a delusional writer who believes they can simply publish their book then land on a bestseller list; it’s a practical guide. I had to spend some money to launch my new book, but I tried to be smart and frugal about which services to pay for (then I eventually did land on a bestseller list). I will try to explain when and where it was worth spending money for me.
One more thing: I mostly write and publish humorous, literary fiction. You may publish romance or thrillers. There may be some promotional avenues I didn’t pursue because of the type of books I publish. I will acknowledge and elaborate on this when possible.
Ready? Let’s do this.
Read the full article on Medium.com
This blog post originally appeared on Medium.com, April 15, 2019. Written by Scott Semegran.
April 10, 2019
Scott Semegran Interview on Austin Liti Limits
Award-winning author Scott Semegran sits down for an Austin Liti Limits interview to talk about what drives his creative spirit.
For more from Austin Liti Limits, please visit their website or subscribe to their channels on Vimeo and YouTube.
April 1, 2019
Audiobook Giveaway!
SIGNUP TODAY!
https://www.scottsemegran.com/contact-me/signup.html
March 25, 2019
Listen to the Audiobook of To Squeeze a Prairie Dog: An American Novel
Get the digital audiobook of To Squeeze a Prairie Dog by Scott Semegran on Libro.fm at https://libro.fm/audiobooks/978099971...
Also Available on:
Audible
Apple iBooks
Google Play Books
And many more. Go to the web page for more info:
https://www.scottsemegran.com/audiobooks/to-squeeze-a-prairie-dog.html
March 19, 2019
The Future of Literary Fiction Is Self-Publishing
Recently, writer and contrarian Will Self declared that literary fiction is not widely read anymore. I couldn’t agree more. Sixty years ago, the likes of Lolita, Doctor Zhivago, and Catcher in the Rye were bestsellers; nowadays, a recent NYT bestseller list is filled with mostly crime fiction and thrillers. You’d be hard-pressed to name a literary fiction novel that has sparked the imagination of the masses recently in the way The Da Vinci Code, Fifty Shades of Grey, or any Harry Potter books did. In fact, I’ve recently had to explain to many curious readers just what exactly literary fiction is. As a writer of humorous literary fiction, I find this to be very disheartening.
Literary fiction is a catch-all category of fiction, an umbrella category covering a broad range of themes; it is a spectrum of literature. Many of you may be asking: What is literary fiction? NY Book Editors define literary fiction as a type of fiction that “doesn’t adhere to any rules. Anything can happen which can be both exciting and unnerving for the reader. Sometimes, literary fiction takes a common theme in genre fiction and turns it on its head.” This is opposed to genre fiction, such as mysteries or romance, which is also “known as popular fiction… Genre fiction is more appealing to a wider audience. It’s written for the mainstream reader” and typically follows a storytelling formula and is plot-driven: Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy loses girl, etc.
NY Book Editors further describe genre fiction as entertaining, often featuring happy endings, making it easier to sell for publishers, mainly because something easier to categorize is easier to sell. “It’s a romance!” That’s a simple widget to describe, which makes it easier to commodify — supposedly. Literary fiction isn’t plot-driven; it’s character-driven. Literary fiction uses creative storytelling, explores the human condition, and many times has ambiguous endings. Most of the great works of literature are categorized as literary fiction: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, and To Kill a Mockingbird, to name a few. (These are American examples, of course. There are numerous examples from other countries as well. That’s another article for another time.)
Many works of literary fiction plumb the depths of the human condition and could be described as serious and dour. When many readers look to reading as a form of escapism, a book that is “serious and dour” can be a hard pill to swallow. Genre fiction can be easier to consume and therefore more appealing to a wider audience. But this an oversimplification. If literary fiction “doesn’t adhere to any rules,” then it doesn’t have to be serious or dour. In fact, two of the three examples of literary fiction I gave above are hilarious, and that’s not just my opinion. Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield have endeared themselves to countless generations with their humorous and witty observations. So why is literary fiction now perceived as “serious fiction” and more substantive — therefore not as entertaining? Why does exploring the human condition have to connote that literary fiction is “depressing?” Defining a type of fiction that doesn’t follow any rules as depressing is, in itself, depressing. Literary fiction can be fun and entertaining while exploring the human condition. Literary fiction can also have happy endings.
And indie writers are leading the way with radical literary fiction that is free from constraints. Indie writers are breaking the rules, not only with their writing, but with the way they publish literary fiction: self-publishing.
Read the full article on Medium.com
This blog post originally appeared on Medium.com, Feb 24, 2019. Written by Scott Semegran.
March 14, 2019
To Squeeze a Prairie Dog is 99 Cents for a Limited Time
Please leave a rating and/or review on Amazon and here on Goodreads. This uplifting and humorous novel has a 4.3 star rating on Amazon and a 4.41 star rating on Goodreads.
Buy it here: https://amzn.to/2zN9qYr
