Don't let that phone ring!
The man in the photo is the sports writing legend Reg Hayter. It’s 33 years since I worked for him in Fleet Street, and 31 years since his death. Yet I am still learning from him. And that’s why I’m posting this, and we’ll return to the great man…
But it’s been 100 days since the release of my book Football Fables, which I wanted to capture what fans really feel about our game. People have asked me how the sales are going, because you’re nice like that.
I’ve found I’m replying: “They are going ok,”….simply because they are going ok!
But I’m determined not to leave the book unseen by football fans whose own lives might be reflected in the book. Ultimately every piece of my writing is connected by the same theme: “What’s your story?”
I released the book for the Christmas market, having been soundly advised to do so, which meant an initial burst of sales. Then there was a New Year lull. Now I’m starting to see encouraging signs that word of mouth is having an effect. These fables are living and breathing and I want them to be read long into the future.
So please do spread the word, and of course buy the book!
Link: http://tiny.cc/7jqtzz
If you’ve read it already, and have time to leave a few words as a review I’m told that helps too!
And before I return to Mr Hayter, a reminder the eleven fables are based on real events:
The Footballer Who Kicked a Tortoise. The egos in football and poison of social media.
The Man Who Murdered Football. The greed at the top of the game.
The Check. A farce about VAR.
Ref! Is the abuse of officials out of control?
Lazy Susan A brilliant, misunderstood teenage footballer battle to survive.
A Tale of Two Clubs American businessmen try to merge two rival Irish clubs.
Superstition The daft rituals and habits we think will help our teams.
Tie a Yellow Scarf An old immovable tree in a football club causes chaos.
A Fable of New York The battle for which commentator gets the World Cup Final
Golden Eras Two football writers forced out of jobs bring back what they love.
I Wear Eleven A personal fable about finding your voice and confidence.
So what’s all this got to do with dear old Reg Hayter?
You may be aware that selling and publicising the book is not something I enjoy. I write from the heart with a lot of experience covering football - that’s the satisfying part.
Last week I had the honour of attending the 70th anniversary of the Hayters agency, still going strong, in Fleet Street. I posted something on LinkedIN about his inspirational words of wisdom, which applied to writing, work and life.
There was an inescapable theme at the reunion. And that was how hard he worked. And how hard we worked. “He used to say never let a phone ring more than three times,” said one veteran employee. “No, it was never more than twice,” corrected another.
We politely hustled. We asked the questions. We made ourselves available. We put our hands up. We never “died wondering”. On the way home from the reunion it hit me. It’s not enough to write a book. It’s not enough to be proud of the way it’s written, of the layers and imagination. I still have to spread the word persistently!
You’ll see in my LinkedIN post what Hayter said if our heads dropped and our glass was half full.
“Two looked out from prison bars, one saw mud, the other saw stars.”
The wise old owl has reminded me not to tire of putting my writing out there, rather than expect people to find it by themselves. You’ve got to put the work in, whether it’s flagging up your book or not leaving a caller hanging!
Lee x
PS- paying subscribers have two more pieces on the way before the end of February, including the new brand new online fable, Gangsta Ref! Please do subscribe or upgrade and I recommend an annual subscription, which works out a couple of pounds per month.
The Sports Specialist is Lee Wellings, a writer, broadcaster and advisor specialising in sports for 35 years. Lee has worked in key roles at the BBC, ITN, Sky and Al Jazeera English. His latest book ‘Football Fables, The First Eleven’ is available to buy here:
http://tiny.cc/7jqtzz