Paul O’Connell outsells Brian O’Driscoll in Christmas book sales
O’Connell’s autobiography, The Battle, sold 66,217 in this country during the 12-week period after its launch up to the end of December.
O’Driscoll’s autobiography, The Test, published in 2014 sold 55,227 copies in the same high season 12 week sales period after its launch two years ago.
However, O’Driscoll has come out on top in the UK market where The Test sold almost 51,000 copies in the 2014 Christmas market period compared to sales of more than 18,000 of The Battle in this year’s UK Christmas market.
However, one man who shares in both success stories is Limerick journalist Alan English, who ghost wrote both books.
Mr English, 51, who is editorial director of Iconic Newspapers whose titles include The Limerick Leader where he was editor prior to taking up his current position, said: “I enjoyed every bit of the process from writing the books to seeing the sales rise week after week.
“In writing the books a big part is gaining the trust of the people, Paul and Brian, who you are collaborating with. That is something people might not appreciate.
“You encourage them to be as honest as they can and it is their choice about how much honesty they want to put on the page and it is your job to get as much as you can.
“There are a lot of nuances. Both Paul and Brian were very honest about big events in their lives.”
While Mr English spent seven years working with O’Connell in the writing of The Battle he was brought in at a late stage to work with O’Driscoll after Paul Kimmage dropped out.
Mr English said: “That was the big difference: the amount of time I spent with Paul and the amount of time I had with Brian.
“The seven years I spent with Paul on The Battle definitely paid off. If I had been two years on the book it would not have been as good as it turned out.
“I never thought The Battle would take so long when we embarked on it, but I’m glad in retrospect, as the book is the better for it.
“I would have preferred to have had more time working with Brian, but the book has got a huge response and its Christmas 12-week sales period in this country and the UK were almost equal which was very interesting.
“It is now in paperback and total sales are over 160,000. The Battle will come out in paperback in May,” he said.
The Battle, this year’s top Christmas seller, won Sports Book of the Year at the annual Bord Gais Energy awards while The Test won the same award in 2014.
