The Winning Combination of Publishing and the Olympics

As we all know, big world events, particularly involving terrorism and major crimes, usually result in a number of books, but I was interested to learn that the same applies to the Olympics.

An article in Bowkers reports that even before the London summer Olympics began, over 120 Olympic-related print and ebooks have been published. This figure eclipses the 109 titles released for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Reviewing stats back to 1996, this spike in publication around Olympic time has been an ongoing trend, but one that applies to the summer Olympics more than the winter games. In fact, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics resulted in only 55 more titles. Bowkers notes, however, that the timing of the winter games in February makes it more difficult to track publications, although the article doesn’t explain why this is so.

The aftermath of the Olympics also prompts more books. After Michael Phelps’ remarkable swimming performance in Beijing, 32 books were written about him. Part of the reason for the plethora of books is attributed to the ease of producing books with today’s technology.

I imagine we can expect a lot more books once the Olympics are over, which is fine by me. You’ve got to admit that a lot of great stories will come out of these games, but at the moment, I’m enjoying every minute on TV.

To read the Bowker’s article, go to http://www.bowker.com/en-US/aboutus/press_room/2012/pr_07242012.shtml