Here we go again

Apparently I'm a published author. Again.

I worked on "Rayzor's Edge," the autobiography of Rob Ray, a few years ago. I was thrilled to see it become one of the best-selling hockey books of the season, as the hardcover copies disappeared from the bookstores in less than a month. At one point, it was number one on Amazon.com's list of top selling winter sports books. Considering that Dorothy Hamill is much more well known nationally than Ray, I think we did something right.

The book eventually went into paperback, although I had heard stories that the publisher was in financial trouble. The new version was printed, but came out after the playoffs and didn't get a great deal of promotion.

Sure enough, the publisher went bankrupt a couple of months later. I became one in a long line of creditors from Sports Publishing. I didn't even know how much money they owed me until the court case was closed, a case that apparently only made the lawyers and bankers happy since they got first claim on leftover assets. I did get a $2,000 advance, but lost more than $2,000 due to the bankruptcy. Oh well.

But last spring, a letter came out of the blue from Skyhorse Publishing. It had purchased the rights to Sports Publishing's catalog, and had picked "Rayzor's Edge" for reprinting this fall. As I said to Rob in a note, this was money from heaven.
Skyhorse changed its mind about adding an epilogue, which seemed like it would have been the logical move to make after a few years.

But the book is apparently out. Amazon.com is advertising that it is available immediately. You can find a copy here.

The funny thing is, I looked in the local Barnes and Noble for a copy this morning, and it was nowhere to be found. I haven't heard of any autographing sessions requests either. I do have pens at the ready, though.

People seemed to like the book, although probably not enough to buy the same words from a different publisher. Rob's story is quite relevant in the light of the concussion issues that NHL players have had lately (Rob says in the book he had five concussions in his career). For those who missed it the first time around, though, here's your second chance.

End of the story

It looks like we have some closure on "Rayzor's Edge."

You remember "Rayzor's Edge." It was the book that I did with Rob Ray. The publication came out in November 2007. Happily for me, the hard-cover edition sold out in Western New York in less than four weeks. It actually was the best-selling winter sports book in America at times, according to the sales counter kept by Amazon.com.

The publisher was Sports Publishing LLC of Illinois. I had gone through a few odd experiences along the way with it, including stories from other writers about not getting paid. I also had an editor with the company who lasted, oh, about a week and a half before departing.

Was I nervous about that? You betcha, to quote a certain Alaskan ex-politician. But we (Rob and I both) got a check for our advance in January once we had fulfilled our publicity obligations. We had to pay the photographer out of that, but that was the deal and we fulfilled our end of it.

The paperback version finally came out in late April of 2008. That was nice, except for the fact that it arrived AFTER the Sabres had been eliminated from the playoffs. You might guess that it hurt sales, and you'd probably be right.

We were supposed to get paid in May and November. My guess was that we had sold 4,000 copies of the hardcover edition, but when asked about it (and getting some badgering from me) the publisher said we hadn't reached a high enough number in sales to get more money. Honestly, I didn't see how that could be possible, but I simply swallowed. Besides, we were never told how many copies were actually printed, so it was hard to know how much we might be owed.

The Sports Publishing Web site more or less stopped updating in June, and soon I started getting notes from the bankruptcy court of Chicago, Illinois. The Court got my address wrong, filling me with confidence. I checked with a lawyer who read the contract and said it might help me move closer to the front of the line when it came to payments. In other words, I might get 10 cents on the dollar instead of zero.

Every so often, for months and months, I'd receive a legal notice about some procedure. A few months ago, I got a note saying that the court had agreed to pay the lawyers a fee for their services. My first reaction was "What did they ever write?" However, I wasn't exactly ready to drive to Chicago to complain.

Finally, a short while ago, I received another notice saying the filing had been dismissed. What could that mean? I checked with a local lawyer, and she said the leftover assets probably had just been given to the main creditor, probably a bank, and there was nothing left for me or anyone else. Nice, huh?

I still don't know how many copies were sold, or how much I would have gotten in better times. I'm still glad I wrote the book; it's a good story that a lot of people liked. Besides, it could lead to more opportunities for me. The book also will be an ad for Rob for the rest of his life and thus help him in the years to come.

But as Scott Morrison of Toronto once told me, "Don't expect to get rich writing a sports book." He was right about that.

He got it...

"Rayzor's Edge" did not send America's book critics sprinting for their word processors to write lengthy commentaries on the hidden meanings and themes. A couple of bloggers seemed to like it, although one did think it was a little short (well, I can send you the original 80,000-word version instead of the 55,000-word version that actually got printed).

One writer, though, did write such a piece. I'm not surprised that Rob's hometown paper had a good review. I am a little surprised that it was extremely perceptive.

Here's the review from The Shield newspapers in Ontario.

Richard Turtle figured out the appeal in the story, at least to me. Rob Ray was never one of those guys who had a ton of talent in hockey and could afford to take anything for granted. He had to make a conscious decision to do what it took to make the next level. If it included getting punched in the face, so be it. If it meant helping his teammates on and off the ice, fine. If it meant sitting on the bench for all but 30 seconds a night, well, OK.

I particularly liked the line about the way the book reads like the man is sitting across the table from you, "telling it exactly the way he sees it." When I was covering the Sabres, I could count on Rob to give an honest, sometimes emotional reaction to events. That's why I didn't go to him constantly -- wanted to save him for the important moments.

Thanks for paying attention, Richard.