Sports Biz

Published: Wednesday, 11 Nov 2009 | 9:26 AM ET

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Autobiographies of big sports stars don’t always sell well. Sometimes it has to do with a lack of cooperation between the star and the ghostwriter and sometimes it just has to do with the fact that there is just nothing new.

Source: amazon.com Andre Agassi's "Open: An Autobiography"

That’s not the case with “Open,” the new book by Andre Agassi, who uses the forum to reveal some shocking revelations including his fake hair and his crystal meth habit.

Agassi’s book, whose official debut date was Monday, has now been on Amazon’s top 100 best-selling list for 16 days. And, as of 9 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the book was at No. 3, behind only Stephen King’s “Under The Dome” and Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue.”

The book, which is 386 pages, is not cheap. Its retail price is $28.95, which Amazon has currently discounted to $15.92. The publisher Knopf has said it will not yet unveil the book in a digital version.

Although good sales numbers are not yet available, indications are positive. According to Google Insight, which tracks Web interest, Agassi is currently at 76 on a scale of 100, his highest score since the months after Agassi retired in September 2006.

Agassi kicked off his book tour with media interviews with CBS’ “60 Minutes” and People Magazine and is scheduled to be on “Live with Regis & Kelly” today as well as “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

Agassi is also expected to be signing books at a Barnes & Noble in Manhattan tomorrow. A store manager would not disclose how many books the store had purchased or how big of a crowd was expected.

Nielsen Bookscan says that the most successful sports biography published this year is “The Yankee Years,” by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. As of last month, it had sold 320,000 copies since its debut in February.

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