Oh, Andre.  Drugs and hair pieces, really?  Please don’t tarnish my teenage self’s ideals of you. I’m still hoping that this is just Entertainment Tonight going for the glitzy headlines and that once I’ve read OPEN, you will remain in my heart as the greatest tennis player ever.

Get ready to start see Andre everywhere in the media – the blitz is on!

Open by Andre Agassi

(9780307268198, On sale 11/09/2009)

Knopf

NATIONAL PUBLICITY LINE UP:

10/28/2009 — Cover story/feature with excerpt (first serial) — People
10/29/2009 — Dual first serial with People magazine — SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
11/06/2009 — Review by Sean Gregory — TIME Magazine
11/08/2009 — Interview with Katie Couric — CBS-TV 60 Minutes
11/08/2009 — Interview with Howard Fendrich — Associated Press
11/09/2009 — Feature/Profile — USA TODAY
11/09/2009 — Interview — TENNIS CHANNEL
11/09/2009 — Two hour taped interview with Rick Reilly — ESPN
11/11/2009 — Interview— NBC-TV Today Show
11/11/2009 — Live interview — WNYC-AM Leonard Lopate Show
11/11/2009 — Live interview with host Michael Kay — YES NETWORK Center Stage
11/11/2009 — Taping (air date tk) — CBS TELEVISION Rachael Ray Show
11/11/2009 — Interview with Terry Gross — NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO Fresh Air
11/11/2009 — Interview — WABC-TV Live with Regis & Kelly
11/12/2009 — Live interview with anchors Chetry — CNN American Morning
11/12/2009 — Air date tk – Interview — CHARLIE ROSE INC. Charlie Rose Show
11/12/2009 — Live interview with host Joe Scarborough — MSNBC Morning Joe
11/12/2009 — Live interview /Chris Russo/  Mad Dog Unleashed — SIRIUS XM RADIO Mad Dog Radio
11/12/2009 — interview (now also on Fox Business Network) — WABC-AM Imus in the Morning
11/13/2009 — Drive Time Radio Satellite Tour — ABC RADIO NETWORK
11/15/2009 — re-airing Agassi documentary “Between the Lines” to coincide with the book release — TENNIS CHANNEL
11/16/2009 — Drive time radio tour — ENVISION RADIO NETWORK
11/18/2009 — Interview — PBS-TV/KCET-TV Tavis Smiley Show
Month of December — Feature with Stefanie Graf and Andre about his book — VOGUE (on stands mid-November)
Month of December — Proust Questionnaire — VANITY FAIR  (on stands mid-Nov)

REGIONAL PUBLICITY:

09/03/2009 — Fall preview in free weekly local paper — Las Vegas Weekly
10/12/2009 — “I want to Read: ‘Open’ by Douglas Perry — The Oregonian
10/22/2009 — tennis writer Michelle Kaufman promotes Andre’s events in Miami — MIAMI HERALD
11/03/2009 — Cover feature — LAS VEGAS MAGAZINE
11/09/2009 — Feature/Profile (run date tk) — Yerevan Magazine —   CA – Los Angeles
11/09/2009 — Review by Joel Drucker (run date tk) — Confirmed
   CA – San Francisco
11/10/2009 — Feature in Doug Elfman’s 3A column — LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
11/11/2009 — Interview — WPLJ-FM Scott and Todd in the Morning —
   NY – New York City
11/11/2009 — Interview — WOR-AM Joan Hamburg Show —
   NY – New York City
11/13/2009 — Live interview — Boomer and Carton in the Morning, WFAN-NY
11/16/2009 — Feature/profile by Michelle Kaufman (run date tk) — MIAMI HERALD
   FL – Miami/Fort Lauderdale
11/18/2009 — Interview — KFI-AM Bill Handel Show —   CA – Los Angeles
11/18/2009 — Interview — KPCC-FM AirTalk with Larry Mantle —   CA – Los Angeles
11/18/2009 — Live interview on Good Day LA — KTTV —   CA – Los Angeles
11/20/2009 — Live interview on the Ronn Owens Show — KGO-AM —   CA – San Francisco
11/21/2009 — Interview — KALW-FM West Coast Live —   CA – San Francisco

-Erica

This could very well be my favorite day to work in publishing.  Knopf is publishing Andre Agassi’s memoir!  It’s been a long journey from the days when his posters decorated my teenaged bedroom, but my respect and admiration (with the tiniest of crushes, of course) for this sports icon never waivered.   Let the countdown to November begin!

Open: A Self-Portrait by Andre Agassi

A remarkable memoir by one of the world’s great athletes—an indispensable inside view of the world of tennis that transcends its subject to relate with stunning candor the amazing story of Andre Agassi’s life.

   On sale:  November 3, 2009 / First Printing: 750,000

   Hardcover • 416 pages  • ISBN: 9780307268198 • $27.95 ($34.00 CAN)

   Audio: 5 CDs •  Abridged •  CD •  ISBN: 9780739358566 •  $32.00 ($39.00 CAN)

 -Erica

American Icon

The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime

by Teri Thompson, Nathaniel Vinton,

Michael O’Keeffe, and Christian Red

With Roger Clemen’s astonishing fall from grace at its center, the New York Daily News Sports Investigative Team has written the definitive book on corruption and the steroids era in Major League Baseball. An extraordinarily inside look at Clemens, baseball players such as Andy Pettitte and Jose Canseco, trainer Brian McNamee, and the myriad lawyers, politicians, drug dealers and sexual trysts that all make up the incredible Clemens story.

Knopf editor Peter Gethers addresses the question of how this book differs from the upcoming release from HarperCollins on Clemens.

    “The Harper book is a biography of Roger Clemens. Our book is not a bio – it’s a book of investigative journalism by the Sports Investigative Team for the NY Daily News – the reporters who have broken almost every big story on Clemens and every big steroid story over the past 3 years.

    While Clemens is the center of the book, it his role in the steroid investigation that dominates when he’s on stage. But the book gives equal time to Brian McNamee – the trainer who brought Clemens down – as well as the various lawyers, big time sports agents, Andy Pettitte, his father Tom Pettitte, Jose Canseco, politicians, even various drug dealers, criminals and porn stars. Ours is a muck-raking book – examining, among other things, the whole gym rat, drug culture of Texas athletes and dealers.

    Clemens is the villain of the book – and the book has enough proof of various perjuries on his part to do him some serious legal damage. None of this book’s major sources spoke to the author of the Harper book.

    I can give you more if you need it. But think of it this way – we’ve got the Woodward and Bernstein of sports journalism writing about Clemens, focusing on the Senate investigation and the truth behind the drug accusations – and in doing so, exposing the whole drug and sex and cheating culture of baseball.” – Peter Gethers, Knopf

-Erica

I’ve always said that the Olympics should be aired around New Years. By the time they come around in August, they’re just a painful reminder of the physical-fitness resolutions we’ve made, and how, compared to these people, we’ve failed miserably. For me, it’s back to the drawing board…er, weight room/treadmill. We have some books, though, that can help those who feel similarly.

 NATURAL FLEXIBILITY- Charles Kenny, M.D. - If Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin make you feel about as flexible as a dry twig, you’re not alone. But stretching, surprisingly enough, is not the only way to get there. This book will teach your patrons how to enhance their muscle function and performance through natural exercise.

THE BODY SCULPTING BIBLE FOR ABS- Hatherleigh – Olympic swimmers. Perhaps the tightest abdominals you’ll find outside of a Mr. Universe competition. In case your patrons feel inspired, be sure to have these-the men’s and women’s editions-around. More than a lap pool, they’ll need some kind of guidance.

STABILITY, SPORT AND PERFORMANCE MOVEMENT-Joanne Elphinston - Physiotherapist Joanne Elphinston explains that sporting technique is rooted in stability, symmetry, and balance. Just about any Olympic athlete wouldn’t have gotten far without these skills. But the large injury-prevention portion unfortunately does not account for book-cart accidents.

LIVING WITH CHRONIC PAIN- Jennifer Schneider, MD, PhD – This book, coming in April 2009, will be around just in time. By then, your patrons will have given up their Olympic dreams (or at least their dreams of looking like a silver medalist), and will have a new problem. This comprehensive and authoritative volume will be indespensible for a smooth convalesence.