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| These sports books and others have taken up residence on The New York Times’ best-seller list. |
If the summer of 2003 becomes remembered as a golden period for sports books, the story might best be told not by the titles on the nation's best-seller lists but rather by the fact that Random House Publishing has fielded several proposals recently for a book about basketball phenom LeBron James.
Consideration of such a project, said Random House director of sales and marketing Anthony Ziccardi, would have been unlikely before a group of literary behemoths helped reinforce sports' widespread appeal.
"We're much more open to try different things," said Ziccardi, whose employer owns Ballantine Books, the publisher of "Seabiscuit." "If there's a good book, [sports fans] are willing to read anything."
Through last week, four sports books had spent every week since the beginning of June on The New York Times' best-seller list for hardcover nonfiction; three others had made at least one appearance on the 15-title list during that time. In addition to Michael Lewis' "Moneyball," No. 5 last week, David Halberstam's "The Teammates" (No. 8), Rick Reilly's "Who's Your Caddy?" (No. 10) and John Feinstein's "Open" (No. 15) have been mainstays on the list.
Separately, Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit" has been a Times paperback best seller for more than a year after its March 2001 hard-cover debut. Others, such as Sally Jenkins' "It's Not About the Bike," a memoir of four-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, have made multiple appearances this summer on the Times' paperback list.
The view of the top was much different a year ago, when only one sports book, John McEnroe's "You Cannot Be Serious," spent any time on the hardcover nonfiction list, and "Seabiscuit" was the lone sports entry on the paperback list.
"This is the best sports season I've ever seen," said Dermot McEvoy, editor of Publishers Weekly, which also has had the four hardcover titles on the Times' list on its own hardcover nonfiction list since June.
The Times' list ranks titles by sales at select bookstores and wholesalers, and statistically weights the figures to represent all such outlets nationwide. Publishers Weekly compiles data from large-city bookstores, bookstore chains and best-seller lists across the United States.
Sales of sports titles represent only a fraction of total book sales annually — 1.2 percent, or an estimated $117.5 million, in 2002, according to Simba Information Inc. Father's Day, however, typically makes this time of the year a prosperous one for sports books, and this year's success is further driven by several famous authors finishing projects concurrently. Halberstam, Reilly and Feinstein previously have written best-selling sports books, and Lewis, while a newcomer to the genre, is well-known for his book about Wall Street, "Liar's Poker."
"Moneyball," McEvoy added, had more than an accomplished author behind it. The book, which looks at how Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane has built a winning team on a shoestring budget, gives readers a peek at an area of sports that has never been explored in such depth — inside the mind of an MLB general manager.
"Its honesty is tremendous," McEvoy said, comparing "Moneyball's" impact to Jim Bouton's "Ball Four," which more than two decades ago shook the MLB establishment by exposing the private lives of ball players. "People like to be spoken to like they're intelligent, and told the truth for a change."
He added that Halberstam's "The Teammates" highlights a similarly private side of sports in its chronicling of four men who played for the Boston Red Sox in the 1940s.
"You've got guys with pedigrees," McEvoy said. "You may not see a summer like this again."
Maybe not, but publishers don't appear to be shying away from the category.
While Random House has not found a LeBron project with adequate appeal, Ziccardi said, it is forging ahead with several projects as the official publisher of both the New York Yankees' 100th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the World Series.
Rodale Press, long focused primarily on health and fitness titles, is expanding its sports efforts, according to Jeremy Katz, Rodale's executive editor of Men's Health and sports books. Rodale this fall will publish an autobiography from NBA hall of famer Oscar Robertson. In the spring, it plans to issue a book on Pete Rose, written by Rose with Rick Hill.
How well the recent sports titles have been promoted cannot be underestimated. Books like "Moneyball" have benefited from aggressive marketing strategies, according to Elizabeth Riley, associate director of publicity at W.W. Norton, publisher of "Moneyball."
Sensing the challenge in getting sports columnists and others who cover baseball to embrace a business book by an author new to the sport, Norton consulted other publishers with experience and contacts in baseball publicity. The publisher sent Lewis on a 14-city tour, and ultimately got newspapers and magazines throughout the country to help create some buzz around the book. It also was excerpted in both the New York Times Magazine and Sports Illustrated.
Riley said that once some "influential" people started talking about "Moneyball," word-of-mouth took over. "There's sort of a wonderful moment when people start calling you."
And for those who question readers' appetites for compelling sports stories, consider the fate of niche publishers like Lexington, Ky.-based Eclipse Press, which publishes only horse racing titles. Eclipse is about to publish the "Seabiscuit Story," a compilation of archival material about the horse from The Blood-Horse magazine, according to Jackie Duke, editor of Eclipse.
Although the book isn't yet out, Duke said, Eclipse has had to go back to press three times to increase the number of copies being printed.
"Laura Hillenbrand has raised the public consciousness about horse racing," Duke said, noting that the buzz surrounding "Seabiscuit" — which debuts as a feature film on Friday — prompted Publishers Weekly to offer to sell its June 30 cover to Eclipse, a first for the publisher. "It helped us introduce Eclipse Books to a broader audience."
