Publishers tackle World Cup tie-ins

Hodder Headline and Orion were this week racing to get the first books about England's triumphant rugby World Cup campaign into bookshops, Tom Holman writes.

Headline set the presses rolling on Martin Johnson's autobiography (£18.99, 0755311868) at Mackays on Monday, and planned to have its first run on shelves today—six days after he captained England to victory in the tournament final in Australia. Later reprints brought total copies to 150,000 by midweek after Headline saw big increases in orders from retailers.

Headline's non-fiction deputy publishing director Ian Marshall worked with Johnson and his management team to edit a final chapter about the final over the weekend and design the jacket. The fresh text was serialised in the Guardian from Monday after an auction held between the semi-final and final.

Headline hopes to arrange trade events. "Martin has shown amazing dedication to the cause considering everything that's been going on," Mr Marshall said.

Orion said that its book—World Cup 2003: The Official Account of England's World Cup Triumph (£16.99, 0752860488)—had drawn pre-orders of about 100,000 copies. The book is due in shops by the weekend, with a serialisation in the Telegraph today and tomorrow.

The book has been written by journalist and author Ian Stafford with the England team and coaches. England players will sign copies at W H Smith, Waterstone's, Ottakar's, Borders and Books Etc stores in December.

Other books being rushed out to coincide with the success include Sweet Chariot: The Complete Book of the Rugby World Cup 2003, edited by commentator Ian Robertson and published by Scottish firm Mainstream (£16.99, 1840188227).

Stars of the World Cup are likely to be the subject of bidding for memoirs, with Jonny Wilkinson—previously published by Headline and under contract for a second title—the most sought-after. Wilkinson's next book, provisionally titled My Rugby World, is likely to be photo-based and published for Christmas 2004. Two reprints of Wilkinson's 2001 diary Lions and Falcons went through this week.

See BookScan Bestsellers, page 13.

tom.holman@bookseller.co.uk