Talking Pays, Writing Stays

Books aren’t always written for reading, sometimes they're for selling other products. This is written not to try to take anything away from Jay Bilas new book, Toughness, only to note how well it serves as an accessory for his agents packaging him as a motivational speaker for $15-$25,000 a shot (so to speak).

Companies and professional organizations like to hire authors and jocks and celebrities to speak to employees or membership. Bilas, bballer and ESPN guy, had two of the three. So, taking the basics of his definition of toughness in a few pages he put together for ESPN and adding the quotes from  bunches of coaches he ran across, the IMG agency created a book proposal for NAL to run with in a bite-sized less-than-300, good-use-of-white-space pages. Not too hard on the brain and a a great read during airport delays and while circling the destination airport as you head home from a sales meeting or professional convention.

Hey, nothing wrong with any of that. Speaking has almost always paid better on an hourly basis than writing. Also, the book business has to be biz, too and so not everything can be Proust, to pay the bills some things have to be product.