War in the Middle East, nukes in North Korea, the stock market in severe recession. Not the happiest of days for Americans. In turbulent times, America has always looked for security from within. And what's more American than baseball? Even through the perils of World War II, President Roosevelt kept baseball alive. Baseball says something good about America because of its purity, simplicity and straightforwardness. There are no Republicans or Democrats in baseball, no hawks or doves, either—only the grace of angels in the guise of Willie Mays chasing down a long fly ball on a summer's day.
Of course, all sports are apolitical, at least outside of the Olympics. But none generate as much reverie and poetry as baseball. Nearly half the books PW received for this feature were about baseball, many of them simply marvelous, covering virtually every facet of the game. One that immediately caught the eye in this time of turmoil was The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, the Dodgers, and Their Final Pennant Race Together by Michael Shapiro (Doubleday, Mar.). It is the story of the 1956 Dodgers, the last Dodger team to win the National League pennant before moving to Los Angeles. This is much more than a baseball book. Shapiro, in an approach reminiscent of the best of Robert Caro, David Halberstam and Roger Kahn, portrays the dying away of a part of city life, as Dodger owner Walter O'Malley and "power broker" Robert Moses traded Machiavellian plots.
"I grew up in Brooklyn, and my father was a diehard Dodger fan," says Gerald Howard, executive editor-at-large, Doubleday Broadway. "The first racy words I ever heard my father say was 'that son of a bitch O'Malley' after he moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn." Ironically, the villain of The Last Good Season is not O'Malley but Moses. "Naturally, we are making every effort to tap in to the still flourishing network of diehard Brooklyn Dodgers fans," adds Howard. "We think the book provides a natural subject for sports columnists to write about and also sports talk shows, television and radio. The fact that the bad guy in the whole saga seems to be more Robert Moses than Walter O'Malley is a genuine news hook that we are certainly exploiting." Doubleday is starting out with a 15,000-copy first printing.
The story of the Dodgers' move from the historical perspective of 1962, its effects on New York and the birth of the totally inept New York Mets is told in a reissue of Jimmy Breslin's brilliant Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? Part sports, part politics, all New York, it tells the story of the American metropolis changing with the help of the likes of Marvelous Marv Throneberry and Choo Choo Coleman.
"We were surprised to find that Can't Anybody Here Play This Game? was out of print," says Ivan R. Dee, the publisher. "It fits right in with the kind of literary baseball list we are trying to build, so we went out and secured the paperback rights."
Next to the New York Yankees, the team that probably has the most books written about it is the Boston Red Sox. The 1975 World Series is fondly remembered as one of the great series of all time by the Red Sox Nation—although the team did eventually lose. The Long Ball by Tom Adelman (Little, Brown, Apr.) captures the essence of this pivotal series and season. "The book is about the entire 1975 season," says executive editor Geoff Shandler, "so it deals with just about every team in the majors at the time. It is also about that year as a pivot point for baseball, the moment when baseball began to irreparably change from being a game with a business side to a business where the game was secondary." Little, Brown plans publicity not only in Boston and Cincinnati but with events from coast-to-coast and an initial printing of 23,000 copies.
Another title that takes a close-up look at the same season is The Boys of October: How the 1975 Boston Red Sox Embodied Baseball's Ideals—and Restored Our Spirits (McGraw-Hill/Contemporary, Mar.) by Doug Hornig. A regional publicity tour is planned.
The Red Sox came so close so many times. In The Teammates (Hyperion, May), Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist David Halberstam takes a look at the heart and soul of those great teams built around Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky. "This is also a book by David Halberstam—which makes it unique," says Will Schwalbe, editor-in-chief. "Interestingly, too, it's not a book that David feels he could have written when he was younger. What he is doing is not just exploring the measure of these players' lives but also the measure of his own. This is a book that really causes the reader to examine what makes a life a full life." Hyperion is looking at a first printing of 250,000 and plans a coast-to-coast media blitz and book-signing tour.
They didn't call Bill Lee the "Spaceman" for nothing. The flaky left-hander, renowned for his outlandishness, his opinions and helpful suggestions as to where the establishment could file them, has been applauded by many and loathed by a select, adept few (see Don Zimmer's scalding comments in Zim). Since he's been called everything including a Communist, he has taken a page from Chairman Mao and, with Jim Prime, is back with The Little Red (Sox) Book: A Revisionist Red Sox History (Triumph, Apr.). "Publishing this book has the potential to be as much fun as anything I've been associated with in sports publishing," says veteran publishing executive Tom Bast, now editorial director of Triumph. "Taking off from the what-if subgenre of publishing, the book looks at three questions: What if the Sox had not sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees? What if Ted Williams had not lost five prime years to the service? And what if Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier with the Sox instead of the Dodgers?" Triumph plans a 20,000-copy first printing and major media. "He'll be doing little else other than promoting the book during the months of April and May," says Bast. "We have full cooperation of the Red Sox, and he'll be throwing out the first pitch at a game in April, doing media throughout New England and New York."
The way Bosox fans fantasize about a World Series triumph, you'd swear they never won one. Au contraire. Although Boston hasn't won since 1918, the Red Sox were the predominant team during the first two decades of the 20th century. Running Press, aiming at a pure trade market, thinks it has a winner in When Boston Won the World Series: A Chronicle of Boston's Remarkable Victory in the First Modern World Series of 1903 by Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan (Mar.). "It's the celebration of a simpler time," admits Carlo De Vito, associate publisher, "when baseball players relied more on the money they made in the off-season than they did during the season. It's filled with the sights and sounds of an era long gone by, but its themes of sportsmanship, competition, braggadocio and business shrewdness bring home truths we know today." Running Press is planning a 40,000 first printing for this BOMC selection, and a $25,000 marketing campaign, which will include a national publicity tour and radio satellite tour.
Interest in the Yankees always remains strong. A book with a different angle is Pride of October: What It Was to Be Young and a Yankee by Bill Madden (Warner, Apr.). "It clearly is more than a baseball book," says Rick Wolff, v-p/executive editor. "I told Bill that nobody wants to read another book filled with stats or the play-by-play of each historic game. Rather, focus on the players and their stories as people. That's what makes the book so compelling. Jerry Coleman talking about his buddy being shot down in the war. Arlene Howard reflecting on the racism that she and Elston faced in suburban New Jersey, and how she still bristles at it. Whitey Ford going back to his roots in Astoria, Queens. They're just great, great stories." Warner plans a 50,000 first printing and an all-out media blitz.
For Yankee fans it will be heaven, for Red Sox fans it will be déjà vu all over again, as Yogi likes to say. October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Billy Martin, and the Yankees' Miraculous Finish in 1978 (Harcourt, May) is Roger Kahn's take on one of the wildest pennant races this side of the 1951 New York Giants—Brooklyn Dodgers heart stopper. Bucky Dent will once again be in the spotlight as the Yankees make one of the great comebacks to win the pennant, then go on to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series. Harcourt is planning a 10-city national publicity tour, with a $50,000 marketing budget and a classy launch party at the 21 Club.
Taylor has two Yankee titles this spring: The Yankees: An Authorized History of the New York Yankees by Phil Pepe, Centennial Edition (Apr.), and The Proudest Yankees of All: From the Bronx to Cooperstown by David Hickey and Kerry Keene (June). "Simply put," says Nancy Rothschild, "New York is America's city, and the Yankees are America's team. Combine their persistent winning record with a large and diverse fan base—any kind of quality product with a reputable and talented author, we hope, will be well received among their followers." Taylor plans local media and bookstore appearances for both titles.
A different baseball perspective is offered by long-time Houston Astro Larry Dierker in This Ain't Brain Surgery: How to Win the Pennant Without Losing Your Mind (Simon & Schuster, July). "As it happens," says assistant editor Jon Malki,, "perhaps no one is more qualified than Larry Dierker to write a funny, broad-ranging and sharp-eyed appraisal of major league baseball, having seen the game from more angles than just about anybody." Dierker was a star pitcher for the Astros and in their radio booth for years before he became the Astros manager. S&S plans a 40,000-copy first printing and a three-city Texas publicity tour.
One of the most popular baseball series around is Tales from the Dugout from Sports Publishing. "We published our first Tales from book on the New York Yankees in 1999," says Peter L. Bannon, president of Sports Publishing. "We had an author who had great stories on the Yankees, but not in a way that would lend to a comprehensive book. However, everyone who read the stories loved them. We made the decision to publish the book as a collection of the greatest stories ever told [now the series subtitle] and titled it Tales from the Yankee Dugout." This series has become very popular and now includes more than 40 books on various professional and college sports teams. In addition to the 40 titles in print, Sports Publishing has more than 50 additional Tales from titles under contract for the next several years. This spring, books on the Phillies, Pirates and Cubs will be featured. The average print runs are 10,000 to 15,000, backed with local publicity.
Bios: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
There's a sports biography or autobiography for everyone this spring. Some will make you cry, some will make you laugh, but almost all will entertain you in one way or another.
"Although sports fans analyze stats, compare teams and sometimes dabble in labor relations issues," says Jim O'Leary, publisher of Sport Media Publishing, "at its core, sports is about personalities."
"I think there's a little kid in all of us that hangs on to that 'gee whiz' attitude regarding sports heroes we had growing up," says Tom Bast of Triumph Books, "and no matter how cynical or jaded we may become, we like to try to relive that childlike innocence and wonder."
Probably the most controversial autobiography of spring is Perfect I'm Not!: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches & Baseball by rotund Yankee southpaw David Wells. Wells's contentious comments—which apparently came as a surprise to him—on booze, drugs and personalities placed him in that precious circle of sports figures like Lenny Dykstra, Charles Barkley and Darryl Strawberry who may have actually written one more book than they have read. One of the biggest confessions made by Wells was that he was "half drunk" when he pitched his perfect game in 1998. Morrow was unusually tight-lipped about promotional plans for Perfect I'm Not! as the publisher waits to see what the repercussions of the $100,000 fine and gag order imposed by the Yankees might be. (See PW's exclusive q&a with Wells in last week's issue [Forecasts, Mar. 17].) In the finished book, Wells's estimates about the percentage of major leaguers using steroids has been revised downward to what he originally alleged in the galley sent to publishers. Because of the controversy, Morrow has rushed up the pub date from April to March, and plans to go out with 75,000 copies.
Another title that will raise eyebrows is Chocolate Thunder: The Uncensored Life and Times of Darryl Dawkins by Dawkins and Charley Rosen (May). "Dawkins was never an all-star, but he is among the funniest, larger-than-life characters basketball, and sport, has known," says Jim O'Leary of Sport Media Publishing.
The chapter everyone will be talking about is entitled "Scoring Off the Court." This is not about perfecting your three-point shot. It is about sex, and if it doesn't shock you, it will at least leave you in awe of what millionaire athletes do to kill time between games. Dawkins will be covering all the TV sport talk shows as well as doing a satellite TV tour. Not surprisingly, Penthouse will feature Dawkins in its May issue. The first printing will be 25,000 copies.
Yet another Joe D. book is DiMaggio: Setting the Record Straight by Morris Engelberg and Marv Schneider (Motorbooks International). Readers of Pulitzer Prize—winner Richard Ben Cramer's biography Joe DiMaggio: A Hero's Life (Simon & Schuster, 2000) will remember its scathing allegation that Engelberg hijacked more than $1 million worth of products that DiMaggio had autographed. Although Engelberg initially threatened a lawsuit, this book is his only substantial retort so far.
DiMaggio also marks MBI's first venture into mainline trade publishing. "Sports publishing is a natural extension from MBI's core publishing," says Rich Freese, president/CEO of MBI. "This book was particularly attractive because of its insider's information. DiMaggio was a very private man. Morris Engelberg was his closest friend for the last 15 years of his life. Marv Schneider is an exceptionally well-respected journalist. Together, they had the ability to offer what could almost be called Joe's autobiography." MBI is backing the launch of DiMaggio with a $100,000 publicity and promotion campaign.
In June, Marlowe & Company will wrestle one of the great taboos of modern sports—gays in the clubhouse. The memoir is Going the Other Way: Lessons from a Life In and Out of Major League Baseball by former San Diego Padre Billy Bean with Chris Bull. "I'm absolutely certain that the time is right for this book," says publisher Matthew Lore. "In the last few years, the debate about the de facto ban on openly gay players in pro team sports has reached a fever pitch. The Sandy Koufax story these last few weeks again suggests that there is just something about the zeitgeist, that people are hungering for word about a gay pro ballplayer."
When asked what kind of a market this book might attract, Lore insisted that this "is not a book for gay readers alone, just as Greg Louganis's Breaking the Surface wasn't a book only for gay readers. Going the Other Way is a landmark book, coming at just the right time, and I hope a broad spectrum of readers will connect with it—especially young athletes who will feel empowered by the book—they're not alone—as well as their parents and coaches." Marlowe is planning a 35,000-copy first printing and a $50,000 marketing budget, including a 10-city author tour.
Last year baseball lost one of its great voices, Jack Buck, the long-time announcer of the St. Louis Cardinals. This spring, Sports Publishing will present Jack Buck: Forever a Winner. It seems SP and the Buck family have a history. "We released Jack's autobiography in 1997," says Peter Bannon, president of SP. "The book was very successful, selling more than 50,000 copies in hard and soft covers. Through that process, we became close to Jack and his family. When Jack passed, we contacted the family about publishing a remembrance of Jack. After careful consideration, the family, agreed to publish the only family-authorized book covering Jack's life." SP plans a printing somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000 copies.
One of the nice stories this spring is that I Never Had It Made, Jackie Robinson's autobiography, is being reissued in May by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins. "I've always been moved by Jack's story," says Ecco's editorial director, Daniel Halpern. "An amazing story about a remarkable man. I thought an Ecco edition would allow young athletes and readers who were not athletes but had an interest in American history—black and white—a chance to discover for themselves what the man lived." Ecco will repackage the book, and it will have a "respectful first printing." "We intend to treat this edition as a new publication," says Halpern, "not a reprint. We are planning a lot of radio giveaways, targeting sports radio shows and other sports venues—online promotion and a close working relationship with [Jackie's widow] Rachel Robinson and the Jackie Robinson Foundation."
If it's out-and-out laughs you're looking for, the book for you is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cooperstown by Mickey McDermott with Howard Eisenberg (Triumph, Apr.), one of the flakiest and funniest players of all time. He could throw 100 mph and had some fine years, once winning 18 games for the Boston Red Sox. But booze and the nightlife got to him. McDermott found redemption when he won the Arizona state lottery and stopped drinking. "When you have a chance to publish an autobiography with the tagline, 'A wacky southpaw's wild ride from legend to loser to boozer to lottery millionaire' you don't pass it up," says editorial director Tom Bast. Expect a 20,000-copy first printing with local and national promotion in New York and Boston.
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Watching or playing baseball, for all its virtues, isn't everyone's idea of sport. For the most adventurous among us, it will come as no surprise that this year marks the 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's conquest of Mount Everest—and publishers know it, too.
"The first ascent of Everest broke a psychological barrier that allowed people to move on to harder and more dangerous climbs," says Clint Willis, series editor, Adrenaline Books, published by Thunder's Mouth Press. "It's also one of those feats like being first on the moon that is impossible to replicate."
"A first is always important in mountaineering, and reaching the summit of Everest—and descending successfully—was big news in 1953," says Helen Cherullo, publisher of the Mountaineers Books. "It's always going to be a big deal to be the first, and that's what drives a lot of mountaineering/climbing to this day."
Ragged Mountain Press has published Chris Bonington's Everest, which takes a sober look at the difficulties in conquering Everest. Bonington—who is Britain's greatest living mountaineer—recounts the stunning successes and brutal tragedies of his own Everest expeditions. "This book is the unique record of one man's obsession with Everest over many years," says Jonathan Eaton, editorial director. "Bonington happens to be—as are many mountaineers—thoughtful, articulate and a wonderful photographer. This book is an unusually happy marriage of words and color photography—handsome but more than a coffee-table book." Ragged Mountain had an initial print run of 7,500 copies, and hopes the book will be reviewed in concert with Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest, which Ragged Mountain is reissuing in trade paperback in April.
"I don't think that a story is worth telling just because it happened on Everest," Clint Willis of Adrenaline opines bluntly. "There are plenty of boring and badly written books about climbing there. I set out to create an anthology of the most exciting and best-written stories about climbing on Everest during the past 80 years." The result of this effort is Epics of Everest: Stories of Survival from the World's Highest Peak, edited by Willis (Apr.). Thunder's Mouth/Adrenaline is planning a 15,000 first printing with targeted magazine advertising and a radio tour.
In May, Simon & Schuster will publish Everest: Summit of Achievement by the Royal Geographical Society, with a foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary. "It is the only book produced under the auspices of the Royal Geographic Society," says Rebecca Davis, senior publicist at S&S, "which sponsored Hillary's 1953 climb and virtually every other previous Everest expedition. The 400 photos in the book are drawn from full access to the over 20,000 subjects in the society's Everest archive and feature many images that have not appeared in any other book. There are pieces by Sir Edmund Hillary; Stephen Venables, the book's general editor and major contributor; Tashi Tenzing, climber and grandson of Tenzing Norgay; Ed Douglas of the Alpine Journal; and there's a prefatory message from the Dalai Lama." The U.S. edition of Everest, which was developed by John Kelly of Book Creation, is part of a 100,000-copy international print run.
Fatal Mountaineer: The High-Altitude Life and Death of Willi Unsoeld, American Himalayan Legend by Robert Roper, which won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, will be published in trade paperback by St. Martin's/Griffin (Mar.). "There has always been a strong core U.S. audience for mountaineering books," says George Witte, editor-in-chief of St. Martin's Press. "Many of those books sell only to that core, but some break out to the more general adventure reader—usually those books that are very well written and focus on strong personalities and ethical questions, or that provide a larger historical context, rather than simply narrating the story of a given expedition."
Mountaineers Books has three original trade paperbacks this spring: The Beckoning Silence by Joe Simpson (June), Day Hiker's Handbook, and the one they are most excited about, The Mountaineers Anthology, Volume IV: Everest. (June) "This collection," says Mountaineers Helen Cherullo, "represents the best in Everest literature—including some of the biggest names in mountaineering from Frank Smythe to Reinhold Messner to Jim Whittaker. It's drawn entirely from the Mountaineers Books' deep Everest backlist spanning the past four decades." Mountaineer plans a 15,000-copy first printing and major bookstore and media exposure.
Lyons Press will be publishing The Greatest Climbing Stories Ever Told: Incredible Tales of Risk and Adventure, edited by Bill Gutman (Aug.). "This is part of one of our most successful series," says Lyons senior editor Tom McCarthy. "It elicits a wide number of reader comments and favorable reviews." Lyons plans a first printing of 20,000—25,000 copies.
Also scheduled for spring is Taylor's Because It's There: A Celebration of Mountaineering, from 200 B.C. to Today, edited by Alan Weber (May), which features the writing of Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, Sir Edmund Hillary and Peter Matthiessen, among others. And Chronicle Books will publish Climb Against the Odds: Celebrating Survival on the Mountain by the Breast Cancer Fund with Mary Papenfuss, edited by Jessica Hurley (July).
Equestrian Publishing Makes Horse Sense
Even a year after its publication in trade paperback, Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand (Ballantine) is still riding high on the bestseller lists of Publishers Weekly and the New York Times—a fact not overlooked by competing publishers.
"Seabiscuit not only examined an era in American history that showed our country's mettle and resilience," says Jacqueline Duke, editor at the Eclipse Press, "it also illuminated a sport many people know little about these days. Although racing ranked as the number one spectator sport at one time, its peculiar charms appeal to a much smaller audience today. Seabiscuit brought to life racing's fascinating characters, the grit and glamour of the sport and the nobility of the horse. There is something elemental about horse racing that touches a nerve in today's jaded, weary world."
"I think [racing] has always been popular with segments of the market," says Matthew Holt, senior editor at Wiley. "Seabiscuit was a beautifully written book and that was essential. Also, I think that with the behavior of athletes becoming at times more extreme—everything from murder, rape to the perceived greed around sports—horse racing seems a bit more pure."
Horse biographies continue to be a hot topic, and anniversaries are an apt time to remember them. Eclipse will not only honor Secretariat with a new bio in its Thoroughbred Legends series (Secretariat by Timothy T. Capps [Mar.]), but the publisher is also launching a children's line with I Rode the Red Horse: Secretariat's Belmont Race by Barbara Libby (Apr.). "We waited a long time to publish our first children's book," says Eclipse editor Duke, "rejecting dozens of proposals. We think we found the right vehicle in I Rode the Red Horse. Author Barbara Libby is also the illustrator, and her wonderful pastels of Secretariat capture the unique accomplishment of his Belmont victory. Additionally, 2003 marks the 30th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown. What better time to introduce I Rode the Red Horse? We have had a tremendous early response, and the author will appear at numerous events during this year's Triple Crown season." Eclipse will also publish Genuine Risk by Hallie McEvoy as part of the Thoroughbred Legends series (June). This brings to 20 the number of horse biographies published in the classy line.
Warner Books is moving into horse publishing this May with Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost, Hero of a Golden Age by John Eisenberg. Says Les Pockell, associate publisher of Warner, "Native Dancer is, like Seabiscuit, a book about a special time in American history—America at mid-century, about to be transformed into a television nation. Native Dancer, because he was a gray colt, was immediately noticeable on black-and-white TV screens, and his dramatic come-from-behind victories played into the melodramatic tastes of the early days of television." Warner plans to hit the Triple Crown publicity circuit with the author and a national radio/TV/print media blitz.
Taylor will enter the sweepstakes in April with the story of the 1948 Triple Crown winner: Citation: In a Class by Himself by Phil Georgeff. "Citation profits from the unique and rich writing style of Phil Georgeff, who's lived it," says Ross Plotkin, associate editor at Taylor. "Name any horse or jockey of the last 60 years, and the man has innumerable first-hand stories about them." Racing announcer and publicist Georgeff will be promoting on the Triple Crown horse circuit this spring.
Come on Seabiscuit! by Ralph Moody, illustrated by Robert Riger (Bison Books, Mar.) once again tells the Seabiscuit story from his humble beginnings to his unforgettable showdown with the feared Triple Crown winner War Admiral.
One of the most intriguing behind-the-scenes tomes is Horse Sense: The Business Behind the Sport of Kings by Bert Sugar and Cornell Richardson (Wiley, Mar.). "Horse Sense is really a look at all of the characters that are involved in the sport," says Wiley editor Holt, "trainers, jockeys, owners and syndicates, gamblers and of course the magnificent horses, plus the tracks and the regulating body. All of these stories are told in the style that is uniquely Mr. Sugar, a Runyonesque figure with an encyclopedic mind and a wicked sense of humor." An added feature is a beautiful cover by famed sports artist LeRoy Neiman. Bert Sugar plans to do a lot of promotion around the last leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes in June. Expect major national publicity on TV, radio and in the press. There will be a 20,000-copy initial printing.
The Da Capo Press has published William Nack's My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life. One of Nack's books, Secretariat: The Making of a Champion, was recently named Sports Illustrated's Top 100 Sports Books of All Time. Says Kevin Hanover, editor and director of marketing for Da Capo Press, "My Turf not only features Nack's best turf writing but also features great profiles on everyone from Sonny Liston to Secretariat." Nack will be signing on the racetrack circuit, taking advantage of the 30th anniversary of Secretariat's winning the Triple Crown.
Tour de France
One man is responsible for popularizing the Tour de France in the United States, and that man is Lance Armstrong. His book, It's Not About the Bike, amazingly jumps back on the bestseller lists every summer as he competes in—and usually wins—the Tour de France. For the record, It's Not About the Bike is presently in its 13th trade paperback printing with 766,219 copies in print. The 2003 edition will feature an updated cover, but the contents of the book remain the same.
"I suspect that the success of Armstrong and his book is nearly totally responsible for the crop of Tour de France books this spring," says Steve Kirk, senior editor with John F. Blair in Winston-Salem, N.C. "Armstrong is arguably the world's greatest endurance athlete and a source of inspiration for cancer victims and countless others suffering serious illness. Everyone knows who Lance Armstrong is, but precious few could name a single other active American rider."
But, says Lionel Koffler, president/publisher of Firefly Books. "cycling is more of a participation sport than ever in America. People relate to the sport, rather than just being spectators. The Tour is the third most watched sporting event in the world. It's a huge feat of endurance, and the suspense is carried over a long time—weeks, not just hours or days. It feels more like a pure sport, and people are getting sick of the 'business' of mainstream sports."
"Lance Armstrong's repeat victories have created an American media frenzy surrounding the race," says Sarah Malarkey, executive editor at Chronicle Books. "While the race has always been popular worldwide, it's never received as much American interest as it has in recent years."
"I think Armstrong's victories have sparked enormous interest in the sport," says Brian Tart, editorial director at Dutton, "and his story of overcoming cancer has brought unprecedented media attention to cycling. Coupled with the fact that cycling is fast replacing running as the exercise of choice for middle-age men and women, this is a boom time for the sport."
Tart is the editor for The Ultimate Ride by Chris Carmichael with Jim Rutberg (Putnam, June); Carmichael is Lance Armstrong's coach. "Armstrong and Carmichael are very close, both personally and professionally," says Tart. "Armstrong credits Carmichael with making him a champion, and of course Carmichael credits Armstrong with being a once-in-a-lifetime athlete." Tart believes this is the right time to publish The Ultimate Ride because "being able to work with the sport's top coach was irresistible. His techniques are cutting-edge, his stories are uplifting and his training programs obviously work extremely well. He has written what we hope will become the Bible for cycling fitness." Putnam plans national media and, after the Tour de France is completed, some bookstore events.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France, Firefly will published Tour de France: The Illustrated History by Marguerite Lazell (May) in both hardcover and trade paperback. The book contains 190 photographs. "We are publishing Tour De France," says Lionel Koffler, "because we had a chance to inform people of the nature and history of the Tour, and put the recent victors, like Armstrong and Indurain, into a context."
John F. Blair will publish Road Cycling: The Blue Ridge High Country by Tim Murphy (June). "I don't know that Tim Murphy has a formal connection to Lance Armstrong," says editor Steve Kirk, "but each man has a deep affection for cycling the Blue Ridge. Tim is a longtime resident of the Blue Ridge foothills. Armstrong was out of shape, recovering from cancer and in a deep funk after quitting his U.S. Postal cycling team when, in 1998, he came to the Blue Ridge for a last chance at reviving his career. It was on the tough climb up Beech Mountain that he experienced a kind of epiphany and began to regain his love of the sport, as he details in his autobiography. The first of his four consecutive Tour de France victories came the following year." The publisher plans a regional publicity tour in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
"We first published Tour de France/Tour de Force in 2000 as a hardcover," says Chronicle editor Sarah Malarkey. "The lavish illustration and insider's viewpoint set it apart from the few other books on the market. In fact, at the time, there were no other English-language books that gave a highly visual overview of the Tour from its inception to the year 2000. Our 2003 edition is a paperback and fully updated with photos and race results to 2002."
Trafalgar Square has already published Tour de France: The History, the Legend, the Riders by Graeme Fife. This title is updated yearly, guaranteeing its timeliness. Simon & Schuster's Children's Publishing is also jumping on the bandwagon with Lance Armstrong: A Biography by Bill Gutman (June), aimed at the 10 and up market.
