Top Selling Sports Books of 2010

[sportbook]

Darren Rovell just tweeted about the Top Sports Books of 2010. Don't plan on writing the next great best-selling sports book. That's a tough road.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39688242

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I'm guessing the days of sportswriters and columnists getting $50K-$100K for books are a thing of the past, unless you're a very select few.

 

[DanOregon]

I didn't realize Mike & Mike had a book out. Can't believe they couldn't sell enough books to fill a football stadium given their platform.

 

[Dick Whitman]

It's very, very, very, very hard to sell sports books. Very hard. The problem is that the target audience are not book readers.

 

[sportbook]

Just found this about the Brees book. Don't write about a current athlete.

http://www.tyndale.com/news/000000000179/Drew-Brees-Memoir-Hits-Best-Seller-Lists

The lofty rankings on the various best seller lists puts Brees’s Coming Back Stronger in elite company as one of the best-selling biographies or autobiographies about an athlete still playing his sport. Its debut at No. 3 on the primary New York Times hardcover, nonfiction list was the highest appearance on the list by an active NFL player since Bo Jackson’s Bo Knows Bo reached No. 2 in 1990. Since 1970, it marked only the eighth time that a current athlete in one of the major four sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) reached at least No. 3 on the list. That list includes the following: Jackson’s Bo Knows Bo; For the Love of the Game: My Story by Michael Jordan and Mark Vancil (1998); Bad as I Wanna Be by Dennis Rodman with Tim Keown (1996); The Boz by Brian Bosworth with Rick Reilly (1988); McMahon! by Jim McMahon with Bob Verdi (1986); Balls by Graig Nettles and Peter Golenbock (1984); and Ball Four by Jim Bouton (1970).

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Best selling sports books of 2011

10. **** I made up - Mitch Albom
9. Ralph Macchio Ramblings - Bill Simmons
8. Marley and Me II - Michael Vick
7. Shawshank Redempion II - Urban Meyer
6. Where my ******* at? - Tiger Woods
5. Liliputian Rambles - Mike Lupica
4. Great, incredibly well-written book on subject nobody other than him cares about - Joe Posnanski
3. Smelling Coach K's farts - John Feinstein
2. Wow, 10 years ago I really wrote great stuff - Rick Reilly
1. Who wants to see my ****? - Brett Favre (with Peter King) a coffee table book.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Best selling sports books of 2011

10. **** I made up - Mitch Albom
9. Ralph Macchio Ramblings - Bill Simmons
8. Marley and Me II - Michael Vick
7. Shawshank Redempion II - Urban Meyer
6. Where my ******* at? - Tiger Woods
5. Liliputian Rambles - Mike Lupica
4. Great, incredibly well-written book on subject nobody other than him cares about - Joe Posnanski
3. Smelling Coach K's farts - John Feinstein
2. Wow, 10 years ago I really wrote great stuff - Rick Reilly
1. Who wants to see my ****? - Brett Favre (with Peter King) a coffee table book.

I actually think S.L. Price is the author of No. 4.

 

[Small Town Guy]

I don't know whose mistake it would be - Nielsen perhaps - but there's no way Simmons' book shouldn't be on there. The No. 10 book sold 27,000 copies. Forget sports, at one point it was the top-selling nonfiction book.

 

[sportbook]

The Simmons book came out in October of 2009. It's sold 162,000 copies, including 26,000 this year.

There are probably a few books that would be on this list that you could categorize as sports-related titles that may not be categorized as a sports book by BookScan. Tony Dungy's The Mentor Leader comes to mind.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Thanks for the explanation and numbers. Perhaps Rovell should then ask Nielsen for numbers from September 09 through September 2010, so it's a full year. Especially since a lot of big releases come in the fall and sell a ton of copies out of the gate, like the Book of Basketball.

 

[EagleMorph]

I didn't realize Mike & Mike had a book out. Can't believe they couldn't sell enough books to fill a football stadium given their platform.

It's been universally panned. The fact that they got 45K is impressive.

And almost all of the books there are either pretty off-the-beaten-path (Born to Run) or about well-known subjects that have been written about countless times before (Mays).

 

[Double Down]

Is Rovell saying Born to Run is the best book he's ever read, or the best sports book he's ever read?

 

[DanOregon]

It's very, very, very, very hard to sell sports books. Very hard. The problem is that the target audience are not book readers.

I think that's why most sports books are targeted for Father's Day gifts or Christmas presents. You don't sell the book to the reader, but to the buyer (wives).

 

[Small Town Guy]

Is Rovell saying Born to Run is the best book he's ever read, or the best sports book he's ever read?

That caught my eye as well. I took it to mean best ever. Which, well, I liked it too. But...

 

[playthrough]

I didn't realize Mike & Mike had a book out. Can't believe they couldn't sell enough books to fill a football stadium given their platform.

Yeah, and that platform beat it to death. They had a huge book tour too. To sell 45k copies, to me, sounds flat embarrassing. Then again, those are all sobering sales figures once you get past the first couple.

 

[TigerVols]

The linked list does not include books sold at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club or BJs. Especially in the case of the first two, that's akin to coming out with a list of favorite barbecue recipes at a vegetarian retreat.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Best selling sports books of 2011

10. **** I made up - Mitch Albom
9. Ralph Macchio Ramblings - Bill Simmons
8. Marley and Me II - Michael Vick
7. Shawshank Redempion II - Urban Meyer
6. Where my ******* at? - Tiger Woods
5. Liliputian Rambles - Mike Lupica
4. Great, incredibly well-written book on subject nobody other than him cares about - Joe Posnanski
3. Smelling Coach K's farts - John Feinstein
2. Wow, 10 years ago I really wrote great stuff - Rick Reilly
1. Who wants to see my ****? - Brett Favre (with Peter King) a coffee table book.Forward by Tiger Woods

Don't forget Feinstein will squeak out a book about the starter at the British Open or some obscure golfing ****

 

[Double J]

Darren Rovell just tweeted about the Top Sports Books of 2010. Don't plan on writing the next great best-selling sports book. That's a tough road.

Maybe it is tough, but if you don't aim high, what's the point?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Making-of-Slap-Shot/124672400920487

 

[CarltonBanks]

Anyone read the Mays book? I have picked it up in the store numerous times but never bought it. Just curious if it is worth the read.

 

[Shaggy]

So if a sportswriter writes a book that sells, say, 40,000 copies, how much of a cut do the writers get roughly?