Doubleday Publishing pulled a perfect storm of sorts with book publicity this week…they hit a quiet week (Super Bowl bye) with n. New York team in the Super Bowl to launch a baseball book about a former manager in th. hottest of hot stove time…Joe Torre and Tom Verducci's work about Torre's Yankees years. And as the case with any mass media work, from print to big screen, the publicists pick the juciest pieces to feed the tabloids, which will drive the advance of the book through th. roof. Now the question is, in a co-authored book, what is real and what is hyp.? Richard Sandomir in the New York Times does a great job of breaking down the book battle and its layout and reasons, and how Doubleday played the media and the fans for some great advance success. In this challenged economy, moving hardcover books is a huge mountain to climb, and in publishing the saying for sports books is the smaller the ball the bigger the sale. However Doubleday picked their spot, lopped in all the buzzwords needed to spice a cold New York sports winter devoid of many compelling stories, and launched a campaign that will help drive interest in the book, baseball the Yankees, the Dodgers and all the casual interest the sport will need. Will it help the Yanks move suites in the new stadium or will it get the Dodgers some added ink in L.? Certainly can’t hurt. One thing is for sure, by picking the right strategic time to release and orchastrating the quotes with the topic, Doubleday has created enough drama to get the writers to justify the advance and get the Yanks top of mind in a quie. January.
