MY PURPLE WRITER BRAIN: February 2024 Edition
Book Publicity, My Latest Book Review, an Author Interview, and More
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Book Publicity
Hello, hello! I’ve been busy getting ready for the publication of my new novel, THE CODGER AND THE SPARROW! If you’re in the Austin area on March 28th, there’ll be a book launch event at BookPeople, a fantastic bookstore in downtown Austin, Texas. RSVP and preorder the book at this link. The event starts at 7pm and I’ll be in conversation with James Wade. There will also be an event at Nowhere Bookshop in San Antonio, Texas on March 30th at 6pm. I don’t have a link yet. I’ll be in conversation with Andrew Porter at this one. Both events should be fun! Hope to see you at either one. These are the only two events I’ll be doing in March; more events to come later in the year (I’m looking at you Texas Book Festival).
Now that there’s only 49 days (!!!) until my new novel is published, I’ve been in book publicity mode, not my favorite mode to be in, but I do it nonetheless because I want readers to find my books and read them and enjoy them and hopefully feel inspired by them. But in this day and age, all of us creative types of people (I refuse to call us “creatives” because that’s stupid; I’m a writer, not a creative) are pretty much forced to put on our marketing and publicity hats and tasked with selling our wares…I mean products----I mean, our books. Most authors, including myself, are not extroverts or salespeople or marketers, not our strong points, anyway. We like to be by ourselves and write stories, preferably with lots of coffee and a fuzzy pet nearby. Asking us to publicize our books is a BIG ask. But why do publishers expect us to promote our books when our specialty is to write down our words in a secluded room? You got me. Doesn’t seem to me to be the best strategy for selling books. But what do I know?
My publicist Kathleen Schmidt (she’s the best!) posted a link to an article on Vox about the push for all of us—everybody—to have our own “personal brand” online, what many call “building a platform.” Barf. Even the author’s 65-year-old mom, who’s an accountant, is being encouraged by her company to “build her brand” on LinkedIn. Why? The hardest thing about doing this is, to be successful at it—building that virtual platform—you have to post constantly, all day long, day in and day out. And I just can’t do that. For me as a writer, to be most successful at actually writing books is to go away and think about things, by myself, without an audience, most of the time in my room with coffee and a fuzzy pet nearby, or out on a walk all BY MYSELF. So what are writers to do? I figured this out recently: hire a publicist. So, I hired Kathleen Schmidt. She’s a professional publicist and she knows what she’s doing. I don’t mind posting on social media, sometimes it’s even fun for me. But more importantly, I need to focus on being a writer. And that, folks, requires me to disappear at times and think about writing—by myself.
So what should creative people like writers do: hire a publicist or build their own platform? I don’t have the answer for you. I decided to hire a publicist because I can afford it and I value my sanity. But I know some people, maybe even most, can’t afford to hire their own PR person. In that case, put on that PR hat and learn about building your own platform. There’s many great resources for this. Reedsy is one. Whichever way you go, good luck! It’s a jungle out there, pilgrim. I hope you can wade through it and find what you’re looking for.
Now, for my latest book review of a classic novel. Read on!
My Latest Book Review
Norwood by Charles Portis is a humorous novel that is a picaresque road trip story. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “Out of the American Neon Desert of Roller Dromes, chili parlors, The Grand Ole Opry, and girls who want "to live in a trailer and play records all night" comes ex-marine and troubadour Norwood Pratt. Sent on a mission to New York by Grady Fring, the Kredit King, Norwood has visions of "speeding across the country in a late model car, seeing all the sights." Instead, he gets involved in a wild journey that takes him in and out of stolen cars, freight trains, and buses. By the time he returns home to Ralph, Texas, Norwood has met his true love, Rita Lee, on a Trailways bus; befriended Edmund B. Ratner, the second shortest midget in show business and "the world's smallest perfect fat man"; and helped Joann, "the chicken with a college education," realize her true potential in life.”
Norwood is Portis’s first novel and another book lovingly brought back to life by The Overlook Press along with classics True Grit and Dog of the South (another picaresque novel and a stronger one at that). Norwood Pratt is sent home to check on his sister Vernell after their father died, as it’s claimed she’s unable to look after herself. He helps her get a job and she quickly meets an older suitor who she marries. Finding himself now sharing their father’s house with his sister and her grumpy husband, Norwood happily accepts a “job” from Grady Fring, the Kredit King, where he’s tasked with driving a pair of cars to New York along with a beautiful yet pissed off performer, Miss Phillips. And the adventure begins. Norwood confesses his dream of becoming a country singer, Miss Phillips steals one of the cars and drives away to Chicago, and Norwood trips from one strange situation to another.
Portis excels at dry yet hilarious conversations and Norwood has plenty with a plethora of rascals on the trip, where he confesses his dream of singing on a radio show and doesn’t hesitate to tell people when he doesn’t like something. Norwood has a fantastic ability to stumble into one weird situation after another, yet is able dance through them without falling down. He even meets his future bride Rita Lee on a Greyhound bus—of all places—on the way back home to Ralph, Texas, and many of his acquaintances razz him about this, but he’s lovestruck and determined to marry her, nonetheless.
Unfortunately, Norwood suffers from also being a relic of its time, and the use of the slurs “nigger” and “midget” becomes wearing later in the novel, and the humor of its time related to race and dwarfism just isn’t considered funny nowadays. This is where later novel Dog of the South leapfrogs over Norwood as the better picaresque novel as it jettisons this type of humor for the most part, and focuses more on the foibles of its characters rather than their physical appearances.
Despite this, there is plenty to enjoy in this novel. I recommend it. I would give this book four stars.
Buy the paperback on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/152/9780879517038
An Author Interview
Watch my Austin Lit Limits interview with May Cobb, a fun interview with a fantastic suspense writer. She has a new book coming out this summer called THE HOLLYWOOD ASSISTANT. Watch our interview here:
https://austinlitilimits.com/episodes/episode-52-may-cobb.html
Preorder THE HOLLYWOOD ASSISTANT here: https://bookshop.org/a/152/9780593546826
Also, I did a wonderful interview with Kerri Schlottman, author of the novel TELL ME ONE THING, in Well Read Magazine. You can read the interview here:
https://issuu.com/wellreadmagazine/docs/february_2024_magazine_aff2/140
Support This Newsletter
I can’t sign off without mentioning the book I have coming out March 22, 2024: THE CODGER AND THE SPARROW. (Uh oh, more book publicity) It’s a comical yet moving story about a widower’s unlikely friendship with a young troublemaker. New York Times bestselling author Kevin Wilson (yes, that Kevin Wilson!) said this wonderful thing about it. “Scott Semegran’s The Codger and the Sparrow is a wondrous novel of the road, where two unlikely people seek out the larger world, and in their uncertainty, help each other navigate the way toward something like home. Told with such an abundance of both humor and tenderness, this is a novel of discovery, of searching for answers, and I could not think of two people I’d rather ride alongside than Hank and Luis.” You can read more about this novel here or preorder the paperback at the following book retailers: Bookshop, BookPeople, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Thrift Books, and TCU Press. eBook and audiobook links coming soon.
Please consider supporting this newsletter by buying one of the books I mentioned or preorder my new book. Until next time, read more books, support your local bookstores, support your local libraries, and above all else: ask a friend how they’re doing. They may really need it.
Sincerely,
Scott
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