Now This is Keeping It in the Family

Back in March, I mentioned that football wide receiver Terrell Owens had signed a book deal. At the time, I stressed to his editors the importance of getting the book the first year and gave some tongue-in-cheek warnings of what would happen if they didn’t.

Evidently, they didn’t need my warnings since T.O. is now on the shelves. The book was originally intended to be titled Ineligible Receiver but I guess that was changed.

Here’s the interesting thing… look closely at the book photograph on Amazon and you’ll see the co-author is Jason Rosenhaus. Jason is the brother, and financial wizard, of NFL superagent Drew Rosenhaus. The Rosenhaus brothers have been known to hardcore football fans for some time. But it was a November 8, 2005 press conference on Owens’ front lawn that brought Drew Rosenhaus to mainstream attention. His abrasive manner, harsh tone, and curt refusals to answer several questions provided sound-bites that were replayed over and over again. Many commentators blamed Drew for ruining Owens’ career. But in the end, the agent was vindicated when he got his client exactly what was desired.

But I wonder how the payments for the co-authoring gig went. Drew is Owens’ agent, but Jason works for Drew. So Drew gets a cut of T.O.’s income and presumably pays Jason. And then Jason gets, presumably, payment for working on the book. The invaluable database of deals at Publishers Marketplace (well worth the subscription fee) indicates that Ian Kleinert of Literary Group International negotiated the book deal with David Rosenthal at Simon & Schuster so he has to get paid as well.

Royalty statements are notoriously difficult to decipher, but man, this one must be confusing as hell.