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Publishers are aiming for the boundary as they look to profit from England's expected success in the Ashes, which commenced overnight yesterday (25th November). However, one specialist sports book retailer cautioned that though backlist cricketing titles may see an uplift, sales may not score a six due to the series being an away fixture, with much hinging on the performance of the team.
Roddy Bloomfield, consultant editor at Hodder, who is to publish bowler Graeme Swann's autobiography next October, said: "Cricket is in people's minds and it will be for the next six weeks. We can't expect them to suddenly be on the bestseller lists but it will definitely give some uplift." Aurum Press publisher Graham Coster is also expecting "an uplift for our other cricketing titles" and will be releasing Ashes 2010/11 by Gideon Haigh at the end of February. He said: "We deliberately made it a B-format hardback, for £12.99, so that it can be quite an impulse buy. Whether we win will affect sales, of course."
Liam Doyle, owner of specialist online sports bookseller Word of Sport, predicted a "bit of a kick [to backlist sales]", though said the fact the matches would be broadcast late at night and only on Sky could weaken their audience. He mentioned titles by cricket broadcasters Jonathan Agnew and Brian Johnston as particularly likely to see a boost.
Doyle also stressed the need to produce quality titles, not just rushed books using the Ashes as a link. He said: "Publishers have got carried away in the past, as in 2005 when you had a slew of autobiographies coming out. It is a natural reaction for publishers to use an event as a hook, but the balance has to be right. Publishers have been burnt in the past, and in these more prudent times they have been forced into being a bit more circumspect." Bloomfield added that Hodder would only consider quickly turning out a celebratory book on the series if the matches proved "very exciting".