Suggested Readings

Below are a list of books that I have read that are relevant to sports business, public relations, or career counseling. This page will be continually updated as I find new and useful books.

Sports Public Relations

Sports Publicity is a great book written by Joe Favorito, the guy behind the blog Sports Marketing and PR Roundup. I read this book as part of my independent study class over the summer and it not only provides you baseline information about the various areas of sports PR (leagues, teams, tournaments, players, college, agency, etc.), but it also provides tips on how to improve your own skill set and what skills potential employees look for.

Public Relations

The Public Relations Writer’s Handbook: A valuable handbook that provides examples of strong PR writing in a variety of situations along with a step-by-step approach on how to write for that situation. Successful PR professionals must be strong writers and this book helps individuals improve their writing with specific instructions on how to write a speech, press release, media advisory, or obituary.

The Associated Press Stylebook is the journalist’s Bible. I’ve talked to former reporters turned PR professionals and they said that they would disregard a pitch or press release that did not abide by the AP style and would get really irritated by the PR professional’s ignorance of the style rules. There is even a small section for sports terms and usage. You can also check out Reuters Style Guide, which you can download as a PDF for free, and the sports section of the guide.

Making News: A fantastic guide to the world of media relations. The book draws on the author’s experience as a former CBS correspondent and emphasizes the importance of effectively reaching the media in today’s digital age. He encourages all PR professionals to first think about their story or article idea. Is it newsworthy? Am I wasting this reporter’s time? If so, how can I adjust it to make it more appropriate? Solid practical tips for anyone working in PR whether it’s your first day or you are an executive with years of experience.

Practice of Public Relations: A textbook that discusses the fundamentals of public relations. Topics range from the history of PR to ethics in PR to crisis communication to writing press releases. Each chapter features a case study and an interview with a PR professional, which makes it a great read for college students like myself wanting to learn more about the world of PR.

Career

New Girl on the Job is a 2008 book that advises young female professionals on avoiding the pitfalls of your first job and how to successfully handle the pressure and advance. It was an easy read packed with solid advice on how to deal with tough work situations and effectively promote yourself in the workplace. As someone still in college, I took away some great advice that will hopefully prevent me from making certain first job mistakes and help me handle tough situations that may come my way in my first job.

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: A book that discusses the 101 unconscious mistakes women make that sabotage their careers. The types of mistakes range from how you play the game (e.g. always working without a break, waiting to be given what you want) to how you act (e.g. sharing too much personal information, being overly concerned with offending others) to how you brand and market yourself (e.g. being modest, waiting to be noticed) to how you sound (e.g. apologizing too much, using touchy-feely language). Obviously each of the listed mistakes will not resonate with every female reader, but you’ll certainly come across the mistakes that do. The author provides coaching tips after each mistake, showing you ways that you can correct this habit and prevent it from happening again.