Scott Reister Excites Readers of All Ages with "Baseball Spy"

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And that's what I learned about myfriend Scott Reister. He is a sports
reporter and sports anchor in central Iowa, and he's joining us on our phone
line today. And Scott, firstof all, thanks for welcoming or welcome
into our show here in Omaha.Everry, thank you so much. I'm
so excited to tell all of yourgreat listeners in Omaha all the buzz.
It's some building on our side ofthe river up in Iowa for this book

(00:20):
Baseball Spy. And yes, you'reright, I had a deep, dark
secret. For the last six years. I've been working on this thing,
getting this book deal and getting itlaunched, and now it's really taken on
a life of its own here.It's been great. Yeah. So Scott,
is I mean, how do youmind if I ask how long you've
been at this sports anchoring and reportinggame. Yeah? Well I never really
wanted a real job, which iswhy I went into that. So yeah,

(00:43):
all I've ever done really, Soyeah, about twenty something years now.
Been in Central AIOA for about fifteenof those years. It's been fun
and now I'm added author to theresume, and it's another type of fun,
just as fun playing God and gettingthis type of book out based.
Yeah. So, man, Igotta tell you, I always liked the

(01:04):
idea of books because, like yousaid, you can get so creative with
the idea. But in talking toyou, this is really an idea that
wasn't something you came up with sixyears ago. This kind of premise had
been floating in your brain for awhile. Can you talk about how the
genesis of what Baseball Spy became kindof started for you? So if you've

(01:26):
ever played a sport, you've beenin that pressure situation and all the parents
and teammates want you to perform,and you're like, Deze, what is
this like life or death? Well? I had that feeling when I was
up to bad when I was aboutten or eleven years old, and it
always stuck with me, like whatif this really was that big of a
deal, like if somebody was goingto detonate a bomb, blow everything up
if I didn't get to hit?And I always thought that would be the
coolest idea for a book, andI never really got after it until I

(01:49):
was in my late thirties. I'mlike this, it never went away in
my mind. I just always thoughtit would be so cool and so fun.
So I really chased it hard onhow to make a really cool story
out of it. I settled onthe idea of somebody on this kid's team.
There's a fourteen year old nam ZaneMitchell. He finds out someone on
his team is actually a deadly spytrying to uncover these explosive government secrets.

(02:10):
There's a hidden device on his field, so Zane's got to figure out which
one of his teammates is a badguy. He's got to locate this device
using all this hidden gear on hisuniform, and then he's got to ultimately,
of course, keep winning in orderto survive. So if a James
Bond meets Sandlot type vibe that didn'texist out there, that I really wanted
to bring a life, And witha lot of help and some lucky breaks,

(02:31):
we launched the book. It's published. He's got a three book deal
and it's a number one new releaseon Amazon right now for baseball books.
All right, we're talking to ScottReister. We're talking about a book,
even though he is a guy thatjust lives and breathes sports with his anchoring
and reporting in Central Iowa. Andlet's talk about books in general. So
now we have the premise for thisbook, how do you go about trying

(02:52):
to get a book published? BecauseI know that this has been a horror
story and a nightmare for a lotof people who've done this. What was
your experience trying to get a bookpublished? Well, I definitely wanted to
reach out to as many people aspossible and learn as much as I could,
and that was the first step,admitting I do nothing. And the
first thing to tell you is donot rush it. You have to have
your manuscript looked at for you know, years, even I'd spent years on

(03:15):
mine, get it edited by multiplepeople, because then you have to send
it to literary agents. And thesepeople get query letters, you know,
maybe a thousand a year and theymight sign one or two authors a year.
So yeah, that was my experience. I knew it was a low
percentage. I was very fortunate tohave a lot of help and the manuscript
was It's a page turner, andI was a lot of affirmation when I

(03:37):
had sticked agents reach out and wantto read it. So that was very
fortunately. I got signed by agencyright before COVID publishing. It was very,
very very slow. We got abook deal after COVID and then it
was still another two years. Sohang in there, keep plugging away,
ask a lot of questions, andit can be done if you work hard
enough at it, and the endresults really really fun Scott, It sounds

(03:58):
painfully slow for somebody who doesn't havea lot of patience like I do.
I mean this, this definitely seemslike it was quite the process. How
much did they try to meddle withwhat you had done or did they just
give you suggestions and had you rewritecertain things, or was this a cooked
product ready to go from your brainonto the manuscript and into this book.
So by the time the publisher gotthe manuscript, it had already had lots

(04:24):
of changes from a lot of peoplethat I had like internally, like in
my inner circle, that before Isent it out to the world. So
by the time they got it,they absolutely loved it, and they said
we were looking for ways in BaseballSpy. They kind of change things up,
but not one chapter ended where theyweren't excited to read the next chapter.
So it was really a ringing endorsementfor the publisher. So I got
fortunate in order to play my cardsthat way get it cleaned up as good

(04:46):
as possible. Everybody loved it,and then I sent it as to the
big boys, and by then itwas good to go talking to Scott Reister.
His new books, Baseball Spy isavailable wherever you get your books online
and in stores, especially if you'reon the eye was side of the river.
People are recognizing the name Scott Reisterfrom the work that you do as
a TV sports anchor and reporter.Scott, and we're talking about this book.

(05:09):
Like you said, you send methe book, thank you for that.
I read the book. You're right. The way that you've designed this
book, it's kind of designed tojust not there's really not a spot where
you're just like, well, I'mgonna sit on this one. It's really
hard to put it down. AndI know that you made this for,
you know, a teenage audience,but this is definitely something if you like
baseball or you like kind of thatthe spy type of James Bond level,

(05:35):
you know, kind of vibes therethat you put in here. What was
kind of is that something that yousaw somewhere? Do you have like a
writing influence when it came to this, because it really is super well done
because they hit you so fast.I mean it's not like you're sitting there
for three hours getting through one chapter. I mean you can really burn through
this book really fast. And that'swhat I wanted to do. So,

(05:58):
like, if you're trying to getyour kid to read a book, or
you want to read a book,I don't love books that don't get to
the point right away. So thebook starts, He's having a crappy game,
doesn't like the teammates. He comeshome, boo, there's an agent
waiting at his door that your mom'smissing, and all this stuff's about to
go down and we need you,and you're often running into the plot.
The other thing is I really studiedstory structure for a long time on how

(06:19):
to figure out like lots of twistsand turns. I did a really long
period outlining like the complicated scenario,and then it sort of reverse engineered to
kind of unpeel the layers one byone, and we raised the stakes after
each short chapter, it's more andmore intense until it leads up to the
to the final in scene on thebaseball field, we're all heack breaks loose
and things go nuts. So yeah, that was by design and wanted to

(06:40):
hook readers, especially get parents abook they can sell their kids really easy
to sell, you know, sportsand spies and while on your team's out
up to know good to get youkilled. So we're really happy with the
final product with Baseball Spy. Well, you alluded earlier in the interview,
Scott that it doesn't really end withBaseball Spy because you've got a three book
deal. So how is this thinggoing to work moving forward for you?
So we got Football Spike coming outnext year and then Basketball Spy coming out

(07:02):
the year after that. People havesaid, what's next, you know,
pickleball Spy, Cricket Spy. Ihave no idea. So it's been a
lot of fun though the book,the series follows all the characters at the
first book and see the wraps itselfup, has a fun ending, great
ending, and then it kind ofgets you this one little teaser for the
next for the next book. Soit's been a fun ride and we're just

(07:23):
getting started with the Spy series,all right. And last thing, Scott
Reister joining us author, where canpeople find the book? More specifically?
I know, I said, it'swherever you can find your books. But
what's the easiest place for people toto go support this, support you as
an author, but also buy thisbook and help their kids interested in reading.
And I, like I said,as a baseball guy and a guy
that just loves spy stuff like thiswas an awesome read for me too.

(07:46):
Wherehere can people find the book?Awesome? Well? Thank you, I
Marie. Yeah. If you justgo to either Amazon dot com or Barnesandoble
dot com. If you're listening tothis in Omaha, type in Baseball Spy
Scott Reister, you'll see it comeup. It'll say top new release and
it's category, so it should beright there. It's got a cool silhouet.
If not in bookstores in Nebraska yet, we're working on that should be
hopefully by the end of the summer. But the time, check out Baseball

(08:07):
Spy and hope you guys like it, absolutely love it, Scott Reister,
find Baseball Spy anywhere that you getyour books, like you said, and
it's just fantastic work by a guywho's done such great work as a TV
sports broadcaster. Scott, thanks somuch for being on the show. Thanks
for what you do. Congratulations onthe book. Can't wait to talk to
you again soon. Awesome, Thankyou, Iver. Wey appreciate it.
Man, absolutely, three forty nineis the time we'll come back. Uh,

(08:31):
you know, Matt, are youready? Are you on the edge
of your seat? You know we'regonna do next? What We're gonna give
away some fs? Okay, we'redoing that next on news radio eleven to
ten kfa B