If
you've spent literally any time online in the past few years, you're probably
familiar with Shea Serrano and his prolific, hilarious, one-of-a-kind Twitter
account. A staff writer with The Ringer, and New York Times best-selling
author, Serrano's writing, sense of humor and generosity have garnered him an
almost cult-like following online, where his fans, the #FOH Army, will send him
pictures after big life events such as getting engaged, and answer the call
when he asks for donations to help people in need. Recently, following
Serrano's initial push, they raised over $100,000 for Hurricane Harvey victims.
In the age of social media and brands, Serrano has turned himself into a
formidable one-man marketing machine. In the months leading up to the release
of his latest book, Basketball (And Other Things), he generated over 24,000
pre-sales, almost exclusively through social media. Shortly after the release
of B(AOT), CBS Sports talked with Serrano about the book and basketball.
Q. How
are you feeling now that the book is actually out?
A. At
the moment I'm feeling frustrated because a bunch of the shipments weren't able
to be fulfilled because we sold more copies than the publisher thought we were
gonna sell for some reason.
Q. Ah,
man. Yeah, that's a weird feeling because you're happy you sold a ton of
copies, but people can't even read it.
A. Exactly.
Q. So
you finished this book a while ago. What is it like sitting around waiting,
like, 'OK, I've written this thing, and now I've gotta just wait around for
months for people to actually read it?'
A. Well,
the waiting period is actually a lot less than that, because for a book like
this we're going through proofs, where they're sending me all of the pages to
make sure all of the colors are right, junk like that. So that happens all the
way up until about a month out or something, and then they start printing them
all. There's less downtime than you would think, but yeah, once the book is
done, once I finished writing it, and once I have a digital version of it I
want it to be out. I'm ready to do it that day. I'm used to writing things and
they're published 20 minutes later. I would feel nervous waiting that long.
Like a sense of doubt and second guessing myself.
A. Oh
yeah, that's a big part of it. That's definitely a big part of it.
Q. If
you were trying to pitch this book ... If you were trying to explain it to
someone that was completely unfamiliar -- it's so broad -- what would you tell
people this book is about?
A. With
vinyasa yoga, you move gracefully from pose to pose. In this super-popular
practice, you focus closely on breathing.I would just say it's the coolest
basketball book that's ever been created. There's never been a book like it. I
would just try to oversell it. I would tell them there's a picture in there of
Dominique Wilkins dunking on Jesus. So go buy it.
