Balancing The Books

We know that female athletes drive double the engagement of their male counterparts. And they accrue a 14% larger following. Fans of women’s sports love to peek behind the curtain and hear the stories behind the stories. They like the full dimension of the athlete, beyond the moments on the field or court. So it’s striking that this hasn’t yet translated to the longer form—books. Only seven of the current 100 best selling sports biographies on Amazon are about women. 

And only Dawn Staley’s new release is in the top 10, holding steady at number three. 

You might assume it’s because books are a more traditional medium whereas social media is a demographically younger crowd. But thanks, in part, to #Booktok and #Bookstagram, Gen Z and Millennials are actually the most avid readers, with a surprising preference for printed books over digital or audio versions. 

The real reason is baked into the big picture. Even though books are a different part of the media landscape they can’t untangle from the disparity of broadcast media rights and sponsorships. How do the two intertwine?

Consistently less media coverage and investment than men’s sports leads to less visibility and recognition of female athletes. And overall fewer dollars no matter the revenue stream. This means even book deals are smaller. And handed out less readily. Smaller deals means smaller investment in the marketing and less on-shelf distribution to brick and mortar shops. So even though there are a lot of great books from and about female athletes, they are more difficult to discover.

Findability and discoverability of women’s sports in all its forms is the cornerstone for fan growth and for Sport Shepherd. We know the audience is there for women’s sports. And stats show the readers are there, too. 

To make it easier to connect them, we’ve added the Book Buzz page to sportshepherd.com, aggregating great titles from and about female athletes like Dawn Staley’s “Uncommon Favor.” (https://amzn.to/4i1ohlb).

Think we’re missing a great title? Drop it in the comments and we’ll add it.

(Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases from Amazon.com)