Writing a book remains a major bucket list item for many, it certainly was for me and I was delighted to publish my first book Connecting the Continent in 2023.
The self-publishing revolution has made it easier than ever to get your passion project in front of readers but knowing where to begin and how to navigate the process can put many people off, before they even begin to put pen to paper.
I was one of those people myself. It turns out it is not so difficult well at least some parts. This is what I learned on my journey to publishing my own football book.
Defining Your Goal
Holding your finished football book in your hand is an amazing experience only topped by seeing other people paying money to do the same.
All authors hold out hope that their book will blow up and you'll be able to quit your day job, and spend the rest of your days appearing on podcasts, jetting across the globe to the biggest games and interview the great and the good of world soccer. Whilst this may happen in a rare case, for most self-published football writers, this will not be the case.
Recognizing this right from the start will keep you motivated throughout. For me it was primarily an internal project, a means to learn more about the game I love, a test of self-discipline and something to show my kids when they're older. Plus, it seemed less painful than running a marathon and there’s only so many times you can tell yourself: “This will be the year I learn that second language.”
Choosing Your Subject
There really is no limit to what you can choose to write about as the proliferation in football books in the last few years has shown. I was transfixed with the legends of the European Cup from an early age and I wanted to put some flesh on the clubs and players that exist on the historical roll of honour. I decided to go right back to the start of the competition in 1955 and take it from there.
You will want your subject matter to have enough depth. An idea that may sound good in your head may well not have the legs to last an entire book. One way to test this is to try and write the first chapter. If you think there's enough there to keep going then you are probably on to something. If not, you may need to revise plans.
Some ideas for book topics are:
A memorable season for a team e.g. 1999 by Matt Dickinson
A recollection of a specific tournament e.g. Blood on the Crossbar by Rhys Richards
A successful period covered by a manager e.g. Pep Confidential by Marti Perarnau
A profile of a famous club e.g. Juve by Herbie Sykes
A biography of a player or coach e.g. Di Stefano by Ian Hawkey
A history of football in a particular country or region e.g. Tor! By Uli Hesse
Shining a light on a unique story within the game e.g. Thirty-One Nil by James Montague
Outlining
Once you've determined your topic, sit down and create an outline of your book. For me it was simple enough as I knew I wanted to write chronologically to illustrate how the competition, teams and coaches evolved over the years.
I knew that I had a steady source of material to draw on and a simple structure I could follow but that might not be the case for all books. Even within this I had to lay out each chapter and determine the key themes, matches and personalities I wanted to focus on. Taking something big and slicing it into smaller chunks makes things more manageable.
Research and writing process
My book involved a lot of research and reading. Via my outline structure I was able to create a loose framework of around 1000 words per chapter based on the scores and matches that occurred and my own background knowledge. I then identified the areas I wanted to expand on and drilled down into those sections.
I used a mixture of sources. Books were obviously vital, there were already a few books on the European Cup that provided material. Then there were biographies (e.g. Bela Guttmann), books related to a certain country (e.g. Calcio) and club histories. Aside from YouTube which is a dream for all football geeks, digitized newspaper archives allowed me to get a flavour of what was being said at the time. This was a vital piece to ensure my book offered the most complete picture to readers. I also found academic articles very helpful on certain topics, particularly the first few years and the formation of the European Cup.
The internet offers a number of articles which on the face of it can help, however they often lack sources or just regurgitate much of what has been written in books elsewhere (something you'll find a lot when you read a lot on a specific topic) so it's important to tread carefully. That being said there may be some interviews with players and coaches reflecting on a team, game or a player and those can be very helpful.
Actually writing the thing
It goes without saying that in a marathon you'll have to run and to write a book you have to write. If you're not a regular writer then you'll need to build a habit. In my experience, but also supported by advice from other writers, having a dedicated place to write and creating a schedule is essential to set yourself up for success. Doing this to allow me to get in a consistent habit.
For me the place was our spare room before my daughter was born, after, the basement. The time was when the kids went to bed. I worked off of the absolute worst case scenario which was (and is) around 9:30pm. With a wakeup time of 6:30am, I knew I could get 1-2 hrs writing done a night. If they went to sleep earlier, then I got some bonus time. Truth be told if you're waiting for the right time to write your book, you might be waiting a very long time and unfortunately, you’ll have to make some sacrifices.
You’ll also find the little voice in your head telling you that you need a night off (sometimes you will) and will make excuses for you. My basement has the heat off most of the time, so it was convenient for me to tell myself it would be cold down there and I could do my writing on the couch. To avoid this, I’d go and turn the heating on a couple of hours before I knew I was going to write. Keep track of these little barriers you put up, and make it easy to navigate them.
70,000 words (250 pages approx) is probably a good target to aim for and of course if you've still got more to write then you can keep going. On a good week I could write around 7000 words, more often it was nearer 5,000 and there weeks then I wrote very little due to other commitments or I maybe had to do a lot of reading.
It does seem like a mountain to climb to begin with and, as mentioned before, the key is to turn the early enthusiasm into a sustained habit. After 30,000 I hit a wall and decided I'd be better off blogging for a few years. The end just seemed so far away and I think that was one of those convenient excuses I told myself. It was a bad idea and I managed to get back into the book after a couple of months hiatus.
Editing
I completed my first manuscript around April 2022. I did not publish until September 2023. The bulk of this time was spent rewriting and editing. This will take longer you think and you'll have to be honest and unmerciful with yourself. Professional editors are not cheap but friends, good ones at least, are.
I also used a service called Pro Writing Aid for which I got a one year subscription for $59. It was not perfect but did pick up a lot of simple grammar mistakes and typos as well as suggestions on sentence structure.
You will be desperate to finish and fed up with your book by the end of it but these constant rewrites and spelling checks are worth it if you want to present your book in the best possible light.
That’s it for Part One of this guide to writing and publishing your own football book. In Part Two we will cover, formatting, cover design and how to publish.