Team Ineos (Formerly the Sky thread)

[fmk_RoI]

Book Doping

A clear books' gap is opening up between Team Sky and the rest of the peloton. Following the signing of Roche their current library on the Death Star now includes books by Wiggins (In Pursuit of Glory, On Tour, My Time, and The Official Bradley Wiggins Opus); Roche (Inside the Peloton); Froome (The Climb); and Ellingworth (Project Rainbow); plus The Pain & the Glory, 21 Days to Glory, and The Team Sky Way. No other team can boast such a volume of volumes in English. Nor, I think, in any other language.

What this is proof of I don't know. You decide.

 

[Parker]

What this is proof of I don't know. You decide.

It is continuing proof of a big market in Britain for autobiographies.

And also a healthy market for cycling books. Even glorified bloggers can get books released in the UK.

Nothing to do with Sky really. There's loads of books which have nothing to do with them.

 

[the sceptic]

A clear books' gap is opening up between Team Sky and the rest of the peloton. Following the signing of Roche their current library on the Death Star now includes books by Wiggins (In Pursuit of Glory, On Tour, My Time, and The Official Bradley Wiggins Opus); Roche (Inside the Peloton); Froome (The Climb); and Ellingworth (Project Rainbow); plus The Pain & the Glory, 21 Days to Glory, and The Team Sky Way. No other team can boast such a volume of volumes in English. Nor, I think, in any other language.

What this is proof of I don't know. You decide.

The skybot market is huge. Anyone and their grandmother can write a crappy book about sky and people will read it.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

It is continuing proof of a big market in Britain for autobiographies.

And also a healthy market for cycling books. Even glorified bloggers can get books released in the UK.

Nothing to do with Sky really. There's loads of books which have nothing to do with them.

No it´s not. Sky riders flood the markets with books to brainwash people with their evil minds.

 

[Parker]

The skybot market is huge. Anyone and their grandmother can write a crappy book about sky and people will read it.

Not as much as the Armstrong market though. Lapped up by the likes of you no doubt.

 

[fmk_RoI]

It is continuing proof of a big market in Britain for autobiographies.

Actually, only four of those books - a minority of those books - can be classed as autobiography.

Nothing to do with Sky really. There's loads of books which have nothing to do with them.

There's load of books which are very much about BC/Sky. Richard Moore can be credited with offering the earliest insights into recent British Olympic success, with his Heroes, Villains & Velodromes and his ghost-written Chris Hoy autobiography. We can add in books from Mark Cavendish (Boy Racer and At Speed) and Bradley Wiggins (In Pursuit of Glory, On Tour, My Time and The Official Bradley Wiggins Opus), from Victoria Pendleton (Between the Lines), from David Millar (Racing Through the Dark), from Charlie Wegelius (Domestique), from Rob Hayles (Easy Rider). We can add in Richard Moore's look at the launch of Team Sky, Sky's the Limit and his Dave Brailsford profile Mastermind. We can add in Edward Pickering's The Race Against Time which is only partly about the Obree-Boardman rivalry in the Hour years but also about British cycling then and now. We can add in William Fotheringham's recent collection of newspaper columns, Racing Hard. We can add in David Sharp's biography of Chris Froome, Va Va Froome and Froome's own autobiography, The Climb. We can add in the 94 insta-books that appeared in 2012 following Bradley Wiggins's Tour win. We can add in Rod Ellingworth (Project Rainbow), Sean Yates (It's All About the Bike), David Walsh (Inside Team Sky), Nicole Cooke (The Breakaway), Michael Barry (Shadows in the Road), And then there's Chris Sidwells (The Long Road to Glory) and Ellis Bacon (Great British Cycling), And - last but by no means least - the forthcoming titles from Chris Boardman (Triumphs and Turbulence) and Dave Brailsford (What it Takes). Rather a lot of the UK cycling publishing industry is tied to the success of British Cycling and Sky.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Not as much as the Armstrong market though. Lapped up by the likes of you no doubt.

1) The LA book market was much smaller (both in terms of books by him and inspired by him).
2) You clearly don't read my book reviews.

 

[BYOP88]

Actually, only four of those books - a minority of those books - can be classed as autobiography.



There's load of books which are very much about BC/Sky. Richard Moore can be credited with offering the earliest insights into recent British Olympic success, with his Heroes, Villains & Velodromes and his ghost-written Chris Hoy autobiography. We can add in books from Mark Cavendish (Boy Racer and At Speed) and Bradley Wiggins (In Pursuit of Glory, On Tour, My Time and The Official Bradley Wiggins Opus), from Victoria Pendleton (Between the Lines), from David Millar (Racing Through the Dark), from Charlie Wegelius (Domestique), from Rob Hayles (Easy Rider). We can add in Richard Moore's look at the launch of Team Sky, Sky's the Limit and his Dave Brailsford profile Mastermind. We can add in Edward Pickering's The Race Against Time which is only partly about the Obree-Boardman rivalry in the Hour years but also about British cycling then and now. We can add in William Fotheringham's recent collection of newspaper columns, Racing Hard. We can add in David Sharp's biography of Chris Froome, Va Va Froome and Froome's own autobiography, The Climb. We can add in the 94 insta-books that appeared in 2012 following Bradley Wiggins's Tour win. We can add in Rod Ellingworth (Project Rainbow), Sean Yates (It's All About the Bike), David Walsh (Inside Team Sky), Nicole Cooke (The Breakaway), Michael Barry (Shadows in the Road), And then there's Chris Sidwells (The Long Road to Glory) and Ellis Bacon (Great British Cycling), And - last but by no means least - the forthcoming titles from Chris Boardman (Triumphs and Turbulence) and Dave Brailsford (What it Takes). Rather a lot of the UK cycling publishing industry is tied to the success of British Cycling and Sky.

Wow those limeys sure have been busy.

 

[Parker]

1) The LA book market was much smaller (both in terms of books by him and inspired by him).
2) You clearly don't read my book reviews.

Really? Much smaller? Walsh, O'Reilly, Hamilton, Bassons, Macur, Albergotti, at least three documentaries - a feature in the pipeline. All one story. And that's just in English.

Point 2. I wasn't replying to you was I? But as for your reviews. I tend not to pay attention to them. They are usually about your opinions of the subject rather than book itself. However, I did note that you mocked Rod Ellingworth a page or two back in this thread but called his book "a brilliant how-to guide for aspiring coaches". I guess your views are malleable,

 

[fmk_RoI]

Wow those limeys sure have been busy.

The Café Bookshelf would have been able to close two years ago if it wasn't for them. They're dropping like babies in a trailer park.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Really? Much smaller? Walsh, O'Reilly, Hamilton, Bassons, Macur, Albergotti

Yes. Really. Much smaller.

(And if you've read the Bassons book you'll know it's got next to noting to do with LA.)

at least three documentaries - a feature in the pipeline. All one story.

But different media - you do know the difference between a film and a book, don't you? Or are you only familiar with books once they've been filmed and so think the two are the same?

However, I did note that you mocked Rod Ellingworth a page or two back in this thread but called his book "a brilliant how-to guide for aspiring coaches". I guess your views are malleable,

My God, you're ringing the sense of humour by-pass today, aren't you?
1) I made ref to a point David Walsh made about Ellingworth as proof of Sky's cleanliness. If that's lost on you, tough; and
2) regardless of anyone's opinion on Ellingworth the man, Project Rainbow is the coaching manual aspiring coaches should read. (Cause, like, you know, some people are able to separate the book and the author - ask Roland Barthes.)

 

[Parker]

There's load of books which are very much about BC/Sky. Richard Moore can be credited with offering the earliest insights into recent British Olympic success, with his Heroes, Villains & Velodromes and his ghost-written Chris Hoy autobiography. We can add in books from Mark Cavendish (Boy Racer and At Speed) and Bradley Wiggins (In Pursuit of Glory, On Tour, My Time and The Official Bradley Wiggins Opus), from Victoria Pendleton (Between the Lines), from David Millar (Racing Through the Dark), from Charlie Wegelius (Domestique), from Rob Hayles (Easy Rider). We can add in Richard Moore's look at the launch of Team Sky, Sky's the Limit and his Dave Brailsford profile Mastermind. We can add in Edward Pickering's The Race Against Time which is only partly about the Obree-Boardman rivalry in the Hour years but also about British cycling then and now. We can add in William Fotheringham's recent collection of newspaper columns, Racing Hard. We can add in David Sharp's biography of Chris Froome, Va Va Froome and Froome's own autobiography, The Climb. We can add in the 94 insta-books that appeared in 2012 following Bradley Wiggins's Tour win. We can add in Rod Ellingworth (Project Rainbow), Sean Yates (It's All About the Bike), David Walsh (Inside Team Sky), Nicole Cooke (The Breakaway), Michael Barry (Shadows in the Road), And then there's Chris Sidwells (The Long Road to Glory) and Ellis Bacon (Great British Cycling), And - last but by no means least - the forthcoming titles from Chris Boardman (Triumphs and Turbulence) and Dave Brailsford (What it Takes). Rather a lot of the UK cycling publishing industry is tied to the success of British Cycling and Sky.

OK. Half of those don't even have anything to do with Sky.

And there's two books about Merckx. two about Pantani, Robert Millar, Simpson, Anquetil, Bahamontes, the Peace Race, Coppi, Bartoli, McEwen, Fignon, Evans, the 1986 Tour, Bobet, Kubler, all the Armstrong stuff, all sorts of guide books, De la Pena, sport science, Colombians, Rwanda, climbs, monuments, the 1914 Giro, anthologies, The Hour.


Of course you wouldn't want to jump on this bandwagon with some sort of paper Wikipedia, would you? You've ridden this wave harder than anyone.

 

[fmk_RoI]

OK. Half of those don't even have anything to do with Sky.

Look, talking to you about books is clearly pointless, you clearly can't read. I said those books were about BC/Sky. Pay attention. Read what's written, not what you want to see.

 

[Parker]

(And if you've read the Bassons book you'll know it's got next to noting to do with LA.)

Do you really think that Bassons's book would have seen the light of day without the Armstrong angle that he's been milking for 15 years?

Oh. Of course you do. Because you think that your cut and paste tome would have made it without Wiggins & Froome.

 

[Parker]

Look, talking to you about books is clearly pointless, you clearly can't read. I said those books were about BC/Sky. Pay attention. Read what's written, not what you want to see.

Seriously, do you realise how stupid it is for you to be criticising the British cycling book market as being on the back of Sky's success, when even you yourself - a book reviewer on a little viewed website - has a book out? And not even a good one.

 

[Hawkwood]

It is continuing proof of a big market in Britain for autobiographies.

And also a healthy market for cycling books. Even glorified bloggers can get books released in the UK.

Nothing to do with Sky really. There's loads of books which have nothing to do with them.

A `healthy market for cycling books in the UK' doesn't mean much. When I worked in Waterstones years ago Tim Waterstone said that any book in the `official' top 20 list would easily be outsold by something by Dickens or Austen. Back then to get into the top ten on hardback sales an author needed sales around 200, I doubt it's changed much since then. I just looked at a couple of bestseller lists and the only book in the top 20 that has anything at all to do with cycling that I could see is about Guy Martin.

 

[del1962]

So what we know is the UK has a high level of literacy

 

[Parker]

A `healthy market for cycling books in the UK' doesn't mean much. When I worked in Waterstones years ago Tim Waterstone said that any book in the `official' top 20 list would easily be outsold by something by Dickens or Austen. Back then to get into the top ten on hardback sales an author needed sales around 200, I doubt it's changed much since then. I just looked at a couple of bestseller lists and the only book in the top 20 that has anything at all to do with cycling that I could see is about Guy Martin.

I just said the market was healthy - which is why there are lots of books out there. If they didn't consistently make a profit they wouldn't publish them. No-one is expecting Matt Rendell to rival JK Rowling.

 

[ferryman]

So what we know is the UK has a high level of literacy

Yep and very gullible to go with it.

 

[del1962]

Yep and very gullible to go with it.

Mostly made up of 46% of the population north of carter bar

 

[Hawkwood]

So what we know is the UK has a high level of literacy

I wouldn't bank on that. The figure used to be that an average Brit bought one book a year. This in a country where the industry published more books a year than any other country. I remember a poet winning the Booker prize and I think we sold just one copy of his book. I think cookery books subsidise a big chunk of the industry.

 

[del1962]

I wouldn't bank on that. The figure used to be that an average Brit bought one book a year. This in a country where the industry published more books a year than any other country. I remember a poet winning the Booker prize and I think we sold just one copy of his book. I think cookery books subsidise a big chunk of the industry.

I think most people buy books online now though.

 

[Hawkwood]

I think most people buy books online now though.

Most people don't buy books. But yes the ones who do go online to buy them discounted. Publishing in the UK is a very odd business, I spent many happy hours in the 1990s ripping off the covers of hundreds of paperbacks that had been written off by publishers, so they could be sent to be pulped. Our shop then got credits to buy in more books.

 

[gooner]

Yes. Really. Much smaller.

(And if you've read the Bassons book you'll know it's got next to noting to do with LA.)

Bassons' recent book was translated many years afterwards and no doubt it was done on the back of Armstrong's downfall. It paved the way for its publishing.

Granted it wasn't solely or mainly on Lance but the book was revised and updated with the meeting he had with Armstrong.

 

[fmk_RoI]

A `healthy market for cycling books in the UK' doesn't mean much. When I worked in Waterstones years ago Tim Waterstone said that any book in the `official' top 20 list would easily be outsold by something by Dickens or Austen. Back then to get into the top ten on hardback sales an author needed sales around 200, I doubt it's changed much since then. I just looked at a couple of bestseller lists and the only book in the top 20 that has anything at all to do with cycling that I could see is about Guy Martin.

The only recent cycling book to trouble the top 100 was Wiggins's My Time. None of the others.