Jeff Pearlman on Walter Payton

I didn't find it "so moving" so much as I was saying that I thought that he genuinely thought the world was going to embrace this book. I'm just going by what I've read over and over again on his blog leading up to this release. I think he genuinely thought that he was going to get nothing but hosannahs for this book, and it went the exact opposite direction, and he was shocked.

That doesn't necessarily mean that he should have whined about it on his blog. But it's like Buck said in a subsequent post: He's, admittedly, incredibly thin-skinned about people's reaction to his work.

Just started reading the book last night. I've never thought that Pearlman is a very gifted writer. He's a pretty decent storyteller, and he's a tenacious, hard-working reporter. I believe him when he says that he aspires to be David Maraniss, but I think that Maraniss has a writing touch that Pearlman probably lacks. LTL, I think you brought up the Clemente book earlier as an example of deftly dealing with a person's faults. I think Maraniss has a certain touch when it comes to that which Pearlman probably lacks. I don't think Pearlman is necessarily a bottom-feeder or a bad guy. I think he's just not as good at it as Maraniss or others are. Maybe he doesn't trust his material enough and he feels like he needs to really scream some of the controversial material.

I've read a lot of what Pearlman has written, as I have of most people who specialize in serious sports books and biographies. More than most of them, it's tough to read Pearlman without hearing his "voice" on the page. It's quite distinctive and it's almost like you can just hear him trying and straining more than you can some of the rest of them like Kriegel or Eig.

 

This is what Pearlman does for a living. He spent two and a half years on it.

Just because it's "for truth" doesn't mean he doesn't deserve what ever money he makes off of it.

 

The book made the New York Times best sellers list for Oct. 23 (sales through Oct. 9). According to BookScan it sold just slightly more than 3,000 copies, which would have also included all of the Amazon presales. Not the kind of start I'm sure that Pearlman would have wanted. Penguin can't be thrilled.

 

Sports books are just a tough, tough sell. And I wondered earlier whether salacious excerpts which generate publicity actually move books. Half the people are mad as hell. The other half wonder if the best part of the movie was in the trailer. In this case, the mad people weren't going to buy it anyway, and then you had Pearlman telling the others, in any venue that would have him, that the rest of the book wasn't as good as the excerpt.

 

I think you are right on both counts. Sports books, especially biographies, are really a tough sell. As for the excerpt, I too think it was a mistake.

 

3,000 that week? Or 3,000 period?

Not that it matters with regards to the book's importance, as sports book are indeed a tough sell, but I'd love if you could clarify that. I'd be completely dumbfounded if 3,000 books equals a a NY Times BESTSELLER.

 

This was the first week of sales. All of the presales get lumped into the first week and, yes, you can make the NY Times list with far fewer sales than 3,000 some weeks. The NY Times compiles its list based on one week of sales. It's actually possible to sell 1,000,000 copies of a book over a long period of time and never make the list. You could actually sell as few as 1,500 copies and be a New York Times best selling author.
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3,000 that week? Or 3,000 period?

Not that it matters with regards to the book's importance, as sports book are indeed a tough sell, but I'd love if you could clarify that. I'd be completely dumbfounded if 3,000 books equals a a NY Times BESTSELLER.
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There were fewer than 60 non-fiction books that sold more than 3,000 copies last week. It's tough selling books.

 

Just following up on sportbook's post: Bestseller lists are completely relative, the rankings just mean you sold more than another book. 3000 books for that timeframe--when the SI excerpt appeared--might be enough to pop onto the list, but surely will be a disappointment given all the hype and controversy. I am a great disbeliever in the splashy excerpt; give it away and they never buy the book.

Whatever you think of Pearlman and/or the book, these are the numbers we dread in the sports publishing biz.

 

A phenomenon made instantly and infinitely worse by social media.

 

With SI's new delivery delays maybe few have even read the excerpt yet.

 

Does anyone know what the sales expectation would be for a sports biography such as this? As a point of reference does anyone know how many copies the Leavy book on Mantle sold?