Content area
Full text
HAS THE man never heard of a pipe and slippers? Perhaps it was Kathy Botham, fearing that retirement might mean twice as much husband on half as much money, who pushed her old man out on the streets to flog the story of his life. Whoever or whatever the prompt, Botham is once again re-writing the record books.
Botham, My Autobiography (Collins Willow, pounds 15.99) is by some distance the best-selling sports book of the year and perhaps of all time. First, a perspective. Any sports book which sells 10,000 copies is doing well. Sales of about 40,000 mean you will be pushing for the Premier League title.
The initial print run for Botham was in the region of 100,000. Several hurried reprints later have seen almost 250,000 copies in circulation. And this in spite of the fact that the words come nowhere near matching the splendour of the original deeds. How has he done it? You get it simple and straight, which is the man's appeal. Larger than life to some; a pain in the arse to others. `Buy the book and you've got Botham in your living room,' says John Gaustad, owner of Sportspages, the specialist sports bookshop. `It's bizarre, but that's the only way to account for the success.'
With publicity has come money. Botham was reported to be on a pounds 250,000 advance. He has almost certainly earned that already and with royalties may well clear pounds 400,000. Small wonder that he happily scribbles away at book signing sessions, hearing the tills ring merrily. It's as if he's deliberately gone out to set new landmarks. `Botham has been enormous,' says David Hewson, sports buyer for W H Smith, who account for 40 per cent of the market....