Advance praise for Cheater’s Guide to Baseball
DMZ · January 8, 2007 at 2:28 pm · Filed Under General baseball, Off-topic ranting, Site information
“It’s all right here, from Vaseline to superballs to licorice, from Arnold Rothstein to Gaylord Perry to Sammy Sosa — a book sure to find its place in the pantheon of underground manuals. Wielding his sardonic humor like a freshly corked bat—lightly yet forcefully — Derek Zumsteg knocks it out of the park. The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball is funny, true and entirely original.” — Jeremy Schaap, ESPN correspondent and author of CINDERELLA MAN and TRIUMPH
Pre-order now, folks. Your purchase supports me writing for USSM.
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oooh! can we write some pre-publication blurbs??!
“Slippery!”– Gaylord Perry.
Why 11.16? Did you sell your price to, uh, the 11-16 Mart?
“Im not here to talk about the book”
-Mark McGwire
I welcome any and all ideas for selling the book, publicity, or anything.
I know!! You should plug it on “Q it Up Sports”!
I bet Dan Devone is a big reader.
I’d run an ad in the program for the next show I’m producing (which will be in March)…
Maybe if we had a contest for the funnist ads we could run for the book…
5. That’s pretty funny. Good old Dan got a little pissy last night after they showed the Romo fumble two times in a row. Must’ve been getting in the way of some Hockey scores or something.
Well I pre-ordered one for myself, and I’ll probably give a copy to my dad for his birthday in june. What else should i do?
I plan to pimp it on every message board I come across, but I can’t really do that until it’s released (because then I can credibly claim to have read it and adopt some controversial position in order to foment debate).
“It was an honor to co-author the book with Derek.”
Al Martin
Once it’s out, I’ll have a “things you can do now that it’s released” list that includes items like Evan’s excellent idea.
But beyond spreading the word and prodding people to pre-order, that’s my question — if you’ve got an idea for ways to get the word out ahead of release, I’d love to hear them.
Here’s the thing — that first week of sales is a lot like a movie’s opening weekend. Getting ranked on lists gets attention and drives sales, and that drives attention, and so on. And so far as I know, pre-orders count as first-week sales on the big charts.
Pre-order a bunch yourself, get them at a discount and then sell them on Amazon as used. You get the pre-order sales plus you get to sell them again.
We should buy 25 comp copies for the Mariners. Probably end up generating more marginal wins than anything else that’s happened this off-season.
“Hey! This corked bat thing sounds neat!”
–William P. Bloomquist.
Get Bill Simmons to read it and comment in his columns.
get the NPR/PRI ear by getting baseball-loving’ John Moe (soon-to-be Senior Reporter and back-up host at Weekend America) to read it …
This book sounds fascinating!
Maybe get the Mariner Housewife to mention it on her blog? .
Derek, as I’ve mentioned before, I’d be happy to host a signing at my bookstore. I can’t seem to find your email address, but mine is available by clicking on my name. I assume you can see my address there, but if not, it’s available at my website. Thanks, and hope we can work something out.
Donate copies to schools so the kids have fun stuff to read instead of boring textbooks.
Oh, and by all means, get a copy to John Marshll, book critic for the PI. He’s also a big baseball fan.
this is exactly what the M’s do: get ‘em hooked while they’re young. Also, produce video games based on the book.
Yeah, I’ve been trying to get Simmons a copy for a long time, and I haven’t gotten anywhere with it.
John Moe’s on the advance reader list, too. So I’m working it.
Put a direct link to it at the top of the USS sidebar so us procrastinators can pre-order it.
Carpet bomb the blogosphere with advance excerpts and beg other writers to *review* it.
I’ve already started that blog recruiting effort, though in a much more above-board manner.
GOOGLE ADSENSE
Buy the terms “Barry Bonds” “Mark McGuire” “Cheated” and “Hall of Fame”
I’m a used and collectibles bookseller through Amazon. I promise not to sell a used copy (or new copy) until the book is out of print + I’ll buy a new one for myself.
Eric Neel used to review books for ESPN before he got lost in the columnist shuffle.
What about announcers? I’m sure they’d love another book to mine for anecdotes they can tell during blowouts.
Derek: the best option I see is for you to construct a series of cardboard stand-ups of yourself with a mechanical arm that moves up and down, waving your book about, and a voice recording that repeats “BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!” ad nauseum. Take these stand-ups and place them on street corners throughout the greater Seattle area.
I don’t see how this won’t net you a pullitzer.
Sigh.
What about announcers? I’m sure they’d love another book to mine for anecdotes they can tell during blowouts.
“Whoa that one went a long way! Say friends, you know who used to hit them a long way? Sammy Sosa, that’s who, because he corked his bat. Sosa is one of a number of cheaters you can read about in the great new book, ‘The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball’.”
Tell Joe Morgan that Billy Beane really wrote it.
Hey, mock it if you like, but I’ve heard Niehaus and Scully mention the books they’re reading on-air a few times before.
Heck, you don’t even have to have them read the book for them to talk about it. Ask Joe Morgan about Billy Beane’s book, Moneyball. (Wonder how many people type in “Billy Beane Moneyball” into Amazon and discover it was Michael Lewis who wrote it.)
I wasn’t mocking, I really do want to hear Rizzs going on about stuff like that, rather than the usual “let’s keep it friendly” theme.
Derek, you know I’m always writing baseball book reviews on Marinerds and would be happy to review yours — once I have a copy of it to read, of course…
Can you have the book do a provacative Super Bowl halftime show? I hear that’s good for a week or two of national headlines, maybe more.
That book is something like four years old now, but it’s still #3 (and #10) on Amazon’s bestselling baseball books.
I’m coming for you Billy Beane!!!11!!!
28: Wow, didn’t you ever watch The Critic? Shame on you.
Two words: Sky Writing
Skywriting over Safeco! Brilliant!
I really think you could get the P-I to do a fancy bit with a big graphic and everything, all lifestyle-like. They’re doing a lot of those these days. And the title is definitely an attention-getter: “Cheater!” is always going to get a look. Seriously, talk to the P-I. Give ‘em a few free books to make sure the word gets around.
Re: ideas for selling the book:
I’m sure you already realize most or all of this stuff, but just in case there’s something you missed . . .
Set your computer to pull up any articles in the US or Canada on cheating in baseball. When one occurs, email the writer of the article (or the newspaper if the article is published without a writer’s name) with some relevant information from your book, telling the person (or newspaper) that they can publish the quote if they attribute it to you and give the title of the book. This latter is particularly important–I’ve seen articles that mention a subject and author but not his or her book.
This will not only get you a few more sales, one or two of the publications will contact you to do a followup article or perhaps a telephone interview, particularly if it’s their team that is involved. You probably won’t get paid much, but it can lead to even more sales than a simple attribution.
Also, don’t limit yourself to major league baseball cities–they cheat in the minor leagues too. Saturation should be the goal.
Speaking of NPR, Scott Simon who hosts Morning Edition on the weekends is also a big baseball fan. He’s written a couple of books on baseball (one on Jackie Robinson) and I believe he even dropped out for a while to do announcing in the minor leagues.
3rd Place Books, Elliot Bay, and the U Bookstore all do readings/signings, but you have to give them some lead time to get on their schedules. Of course, that’s just here; I assume you’re planning to do some kind of book tour? You could actually turn that into kind of a fun road trip: go hit the spring training cities while that is going on, and then visit every major league city (like the kids in that mastercard commercial from a couple of years ago).
Actually, it would be easier (and garner more publicity) to just hack the “Hammering Man” statue to do this…
Not at present, no. That may change.
maybe Dave Sims would like a Welcome to Seattle basket…
I honestly don’t know much about promoting a book come the first week of sales, so I can only offer what I do know – that you’ve got yourself another pre-order right here
Woohoo!
Quality will sell its self. Most of your readers on this site will buy for themselves plus friends that are fans. An interesting gift for one not familiar with DMZ style. Abit difficult to promote as Valentines Day or Easter as release a secret.
Am purchasing for myself and gifts for a couple that would not normally receive a gift of substance. Hope will be able to get copies signed at Pub unknown to Author as will give opportunity (if extras in trunk) to create desire for limited edition book.
Just ordered one.
Doesn’t the publisher help with promotions or are you on your own?
I’ve been looking for an excuse to learn to read, this seems as good as anything.
And if the reader(s) of my site have any taste, they’ll know
when they’re being pimped toa good quality read when they hear of it. And hear of it they shall.“I couldn’t put it down” — George Brett
I just pre-ordered 2. DMZ, I think this is when you get to see USSM pay some financial rewards for once. I sure hope so at least.
I’d trade my wife for a copy.
– Mike Kekich
Me too.
–Fritz Peterson
My birthday list:
BP2007
Cheater’s Guide to Baseball
I know most of us here frequent at least several baseball blogs on a daily basis…. I’ll use word of mouth to promote your book in relevant threads on SOS and Redszone (both pretty big blogs)…
The HOF balloting reveal would be a good opportunity to promote the book…
Also, Cincy has an all sports talk format station on AM with several shows devoted to local issues…. I can send the 3-6pm host a quick email to let him know about the book….I don’t know if you’re sending out advanced copies to guys like that, but an interview on air would be a great way to promote the book…..
BTW…thats how I came to buy Dewan’s fielding bible…. he did a 15 minute interview during my drive home right around the time his book was being released… this is perfect hot stove stuff…
and the nice thing about radio…. you can be interviewed from your living room…
I may be captain obvious but that Schaap quote would probably be helpful on the Amazon page for the book.
Anyway congratulations on the positive feedback. I’m anxious to receive my preordered copy. Is April the correct publishing date, I thought it would be earlier?
Generally speaking, unless you’re an A-lister, you’re SOL. There are some things they’re doing, and there is stuff in the book that should be interesting/controversial enough to get it some attention, and if that happens, they may well seize the moment. Or I might.
#52– speaking of which, doesn’t Grosby do a book-a-week thing on his show?
56. I get it. They throw throw enough at the wall and if something sticks…
Derek,
Our biggest sales came from pre-sales, which is the dedicated fans who bought the book sight unseen. You must already have that, since you would be #10 in this list, right after Hardball Times, and ahead of Larussa/Mick. So, this is good.
Alot of those people have blogs, and they spread the word. You should capture those reviews on a review page that you maintain. My policy is to link to all reviews, good or bad.
Our other great sales came from an article in the Wall Street Journal. My takeaway from that is that already paying subscribers of something makes for a good potential client.
Another great source is unbiased reviews.
And another one was online excerpts, the online equivalent of “flipping through the book”.
Finally, a dedicated page or site to all-things-book is necessary. We posted the first two or three pages of each chapter online.
The giveaways/goodwill didn’t really add much in most cases. Rob Neyer is wonderful, because he’s truthful and has a good audience. We didn’t ask him to say anything nice, but he was pretty good to us. King Kaufman was also good. Again, he spun an article out of the book, and he was unbiased as well. You don’t want an a$$-kisser.
If I think of something else, I’ll jot it down here.
40…Scott Simon is indeed a big baseball fan, but the NPR host who dropped out of sight for a summer was Neal Conan, who left to do play-by-play for the independent league team Aberdeen Arsenal. Conan would be a great target, since he hosts “Talk of the Nation” on NPR and often interviews Alan Schwarz about all things baseball.
There’s a site for the book coming.
I’d trade my other wife for a copy.
– Al Martin
All right, all right….your relentless badgering got me to buy a darn book! Just kidding. Can’t wait to read it. I purchased it from Barnes and Noble, not Amazon, since I had a xmas gift card…lol.
I suppose you have to be an A-lister to do The Colbert Report, but it seems like Stephen’s faux reverence would be a perfect match for your real irreverence.
Oh, and one thing USSM readers can do for you is to offer reviews on Amazon. There’s likely no more faithful+passionate group of readers than here, so there’s a definite way to drive interest. (Post-release of course)
I’d try to get some publicity through deadspin.com. Although the site isn’t focused on just baseball, the editor/main writer is a big baseball fan (and a book writer himself) and might be willing to do some shilling on your behalf.
The problem with Talk of the Nation is that it is only available in the Seattle area by streaming it, either through NPR or KUOW, which has an on-line service, KUOW-2.
As for reviews, in addition to maintaining links from the site you’re creating for the book, also make yourself a copy of the review pages themselves. They tend to disappear or go into “paid-subscriber-only” archives and other inaccessible places. You generally can’t (legally) post your copies online when that happens, but you still want your private copy for excerpts etc.
Amazon lets anyone write a review, and sometimes you get real whackjobs with an axe to grind. Keep an eye on your Amazon page and if that happens, recruit people to shout down the bad review (or at least push it down the page); in some cases you can get Amazon to remove reviews when they are completely out to lunch. (Hopefully none of this will even be an issue for you, but I have author friends who had to deal with it).
Heh, you know who would be the ultimate blurber for a baseball book? Fidel Castro. My mother was just in Cuba, she could have dropped off a copy at the Ministerio de Esportes for you
“A wonderfully humorous summary of the Yanqui’s cheating ways, and the many techniques the working-class athlete has used to revolt against his capitalist owner/oppressor. I laughed so hard I bust my gut!”
- Fidel Castro