"We don't consume a piece of art; we have a relationship with a piece of art. The painting or the novel or the movie speaks to us in ways that are specific to us, to our own experiences, our own connotative inferences. 100% success is not what it's about. We're not talking about a law. We're not talking about something I dictate to you and which you receive passively and are in thrall to. You bring your ear and I bring my voice and what happens between them is always something new, something neither one of us could have predicted."
- Scott Burr, SeriousReading.com, Jan. 2016
SCOTT BURR is a 2005 graduate of the creative writing program at the Colorado College. He is the author of the novels Bummed Out City and We Will Rid the World of You, the short story collection We Drove Out to the Desert, the strength training manuals Get a Grip and Suspend Your Disbelief, and the martial arts, mindset, and health and fitness essay collection Superhero Simplified. He is the co-author and audiobook narrator of Confessions of a Hollywood Trainer, John Petrelli's memoir of his 30 years as a fitness trainer to the stars, which was an Amazon #1 New Release and an Amazon Top-10 Bestseller, the co-author and audiobook narrator of Worth Defending: How Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Saved My Life, Richard Bresler's memoir of his over 40 years' involvement with Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and the Gracie family, which was an Amazon #1 New Release and an Amazon #1 Bestseller, and the co-author of Blood in the Water: America's Assault on Innovation, Kip Azzoni Doyle's genre-defying memoir / exposé about corruption in the U.S. Patent System, which was also an Amazon #1 New Release and an Amazon Top-10 Bestseller. He was the editor and designer for Robert Drysdale's #1 Bestseller Opening Closed Guard: The Origins of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil: The Story Behind the Film. His nonfiction work has appeared in Climbing and Urban Climber magazines; his short fiction has appeared in Metonym, Mildred, The Decades Review, and elsewhere. He lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.
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FICTION
WE WILL RID THE WORLD OF YOU
A Novel by Scott Burr
Punk rock. Pregnancy. Terrorism. The rural opiate epidemic. Podcasting. When you lose everything, sometimes you lose yourself as well.
"...a philosophical study of one man’s journey of discovery and loss..."
Available in Paperback, Audiobook, and Kindle eBook formats.
BUMMED OUT CITY
A Novel by Scott Burr
Artistic aspiration meets real-world compromise and disappointment in this offbeat debut.
"... a story that is sure to resonate with millennials and fans of American Splendor... Bummed Out City deserves a place on the Rust Belt Bookshelf."
Available in Paperback, Audiobook, and Kindle eBook formats.
COAUTHORED NONFICTION
LESSONS FROM THE MAT
12 Martial Arts Principles That Will Change Your Life and Supercharge Your Career
by Benjamin Chen and Scott Burr
"Maybe it was the fact that—newly and immediately unemployed—I had some spare mental energy on my hands. Maybe it was the nature of the deal and its six-year timeline that lent itself to reflection. Or maybe it was the simple fact that, while my mind was racing back through hundreds of memories from the course of the project, my body was still feeling the effects of my last hard roll, pumping adrenaline and endorphins through my bloodstream: whatever the reason was, it occurred to me then just how interrelated these two halves of my life truly were—how the lessons I'd learned in my over 40 years of martial arts training were exactly the lessons I'd called upon in hundreds if not thousands of situations and challenges and opportunities during not only this most recent project, but also my long career in venture-backed entrepreneurship.
An idea began to form, then, for a simple framework outlining and clearly articulating everything I'd learned—all of the lessons from the mat—that, collectively, had taken me to the pinnacle of success. It was the seed of something big, I thought: something that—more so than anything I'd done before—could have a positive impact on not only people's careers, but also their lives."
- from the preface to "Lessons From The Mat"
THE CHRIS HAUETER BOOK
A Memoir by Scott Burr and Chris Haueter
Chris Haueter is a legendary figure in the world of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: not only is he a member of the "Dirty Dozen"—the first twelve non-Brazilian BJJ black belts—but he is also a singular personality, known for his unique, concept-based teaching style and his broad-ranging intellect.
When he asks his friend and fellow BJJ black belt, Scott Burr, to help him write the story of his life, it seems a match made in heaven: Scott, after all, is the bestselling co-author of a series of similar collaborations, another BJJ-themed memoir among them. All is not well in Scott's world, though, and as the collaborative process ramps up he quickly finds himself overwhelmed, caught in the rip current of Chris's perpetually-expanding concept for a book involving everything from Chris's own personal history to politics to evolutionary theory to mass psychology to pop culture to martial arts to fine art to the rise of fascism in the twenty-first century.
Beset by his own problems and now shouldering a project whose scope has expanded beyond his ability to reckon with it, Scott finds himself caught between the seemingly impossible task of wrangling Chris's vision into a contained and intelligible whole and the prospect of failing to do so… with Chris and the rest of the expectant BJJ community looking on.
The Chris Haueter Book is the story of one of the most iconic BJJ practitioners of our time: a story about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, about artistic aspiration, and about the search for connection and understanding in a cultural moment defined by discord and division.
CONFESSION OF A HOLLYWOOD TRAINER
The Journey That Changed My Life... and the Lessons I've Learned That Can Change Yours
TEEN EDITION
A Memoir by John Petrelli with Scott Burr
The TEEN EDITION of John Petrelli's bestselling CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD TRAINER features new, previously unpublished material just for the teen reader, and has been edited for language and content.
"In his nearly thirty-year career, trainer John Petrelli has coached some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, from Grammy-Award-winning recording artists to A-list Hollywood actors. Not bad, when you consider the fact that at eighteen John seemed bound for prison... or the morgue."
Available in Paperback and Kindle eBook
CONFESSION OF A HOLLYWOOD TRAINER
The Journey That Changed My Life... and the Lessons I've Learned That Can Change Yours
A Memoir by John Petrelli with Scott Burr
"In his nearly thirty-year career, trainer John Petrelli has coached some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, from Grammy-Award-winning recording artists to A-list Hollywood actors. Not bad, when you consider the fact that at eighteen John seemed bound for prison... or the morgue."
- Amazon #1 New Release (Martial Arts Books, Sports Training Books)
- Amazon Top-10 Bestseller (Martial Arts Books, Sports Training Books)
Available in Paperback, Kindle eBook, and Audiobook.
BLOOD IN THE WATER
America's Assault on Innovation
by Kip Azzoni Doyle with Scott Bur
"The U.S. patent system is broken, fugazed, corrupt, and the way we are going, it will ultimately destroy this country’s ability to defend itself..."
- Amazon #1 New Release (Engineering Patents and Inventions, Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Law)
- Amazon Top-10 Bestseller (Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Law)
Available in Paperback and Kindle eBook
WORTH DEFENDING
How Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Saved My Life
A Memoir by Richard Bresler with Scott Burr
"The story of America's first BJJ student... and the martial arts revolution he helped create!"
Richard Bresler was Rorion Gracie's first student in LA, and is widely recognized as the first student of BJJ in America. Now a 6th-degree black belt, Richard reflects on his 40 years with the Gracie family and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, starting in the Gracie Garages and running through the founding of the Gracie Academy, the inception of the UFC, and the art's meteoric rise.
- Amazon #1 Bestseller (Mixed Martial Arts)
- Amazon #1 New Release (Mixed Martial Arts, Extreme Sports,
Martial Arts Biographies)
Available in Paperback, Kindle eBook, and Audiobook
NONFICTION
SUPERHERO SIMPLIFIED
Collected, Selected, Revised and Expanded
by Scott Burr
The Superhero Simplified blog served as a "fitness, nutrition, and skill resource for the aspiring superhero." This volume collects the best of the Superhero Simplified blog and includes over 50 pages of new, previously unpublished material. Written by BJJ black belt and certified fitness trainer Scott Burr.
Available in Paperback, Kindle eBook, and Virtual Voice audiobook
SUSPEND YOUR DISBELIEF
How to Build and Build Strength With the World's Most Rugged Suspension Training Device
A Strength Training Manual by Scott Bur
Build your own suspension training device and get a no-nonsense, full-body workout in under 30 minutes. This manual includes protocols I've used myself and with clients ranging in age from 25 to 65. Simple, safe, time-efficient, and highly effective.
Available in Paperback and Kindle eBook
EDITING & DESIGN
CONTACT
For all inquiries, including inquiries regarding co-authoring, editing, design, formatting, and/or publishing work, as well as interview and other requests, please fill out the form below, and Scott will get back to you.