Let's Go Knicks!
from a fan of community, not basketball
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Let’s start with a story…
I grew up in Westchester, New York, with an extreme loyalty to the Yankees. Never got into basketball, and became a Rangers fan as an adult.
When I was in grad school in Boston, the Red Sox won the World Series. The entire city celebrated so hard that it genuinely took willpower for me to hold true to my New York roots and not participate. It was the first time I really understood the energy and camaraderie of sports.
Because I refused to waver in my baseball loyalty but felt a strong urge to be included in my current city’s culture, I decided to root for the Patriots during football season. And every Sunday, all of the girls in my dance company (myself included) would deck out in red, white, and blue and head to a bar to watch the Pats game, and have the time of our lives cheering alongside everyone else there for the same reason.
You may be wondering why I’m sharing my personal sports journey on a Substack about books, branding, and business, but stick with me. The Knicks are three games into their championship right now, and Knicks fans nationwide have shown up.
My brother lives in Los Angeles, and goes to a Knicks bar for every game. My friend Steve referenced the Knicks in a wedding speech at our mutual friends’ wedding in Italy. Bianca, a friend and artist down in Tampa, came back to New York with custom Knicks designs to plaster around the city (one of which is the cover image of this essay).
Our Connecticut grocery store updated their coffee labels to root for the Knicks, and even my boyfriend Rob said he has literally never seen anything like this.
Maybe it’s because the Knicks haven’t won a championship since 1973. Maybe because it’s New York. Either way, culture breeds community, and sports are really good at creating culture.
I spend time deciphering culture with each of my clients on a weekly basis. Together, we analyze conversations that are already happening, and determine which ones they can join, either through themes from their book, or themes from their personal brand.
Stew Leonard’s joined the Knicks movement with a simple swap of their New York City Blend coffee label. If your book takes place in New York or has a sports component, or you live(d) in New York, how could you sync up?
It doesn't have to be complicated. Even a small, timely connection to a cultural moment can shift your trajectory.
Increased visibility. Joining conversations already in place puts you in front of people who may not have found you otherwise. When you connect your book or brand to a cultural moment, you’re stepping into a room that’s already full, and the people in that room are linked by a common interest that has nothing to do with you (in a good way!). You get to participate without the pressure of standing under a spotlight, which for most of us, sounds like a breath of fresh air.
Conversation starters. Think about how you recommend books to a friend: do you sell them on the story, or tell them the story made them think of you because of something you know about them personally? The fastest way to build a relationship with a potential reader is to connect over something you both love, whether that’s a sport, a show, a recipe, or a shared hometown. It’s an opportunity to say to your reader, ‘I thought of you, you’d like this because…’ which is so much more powerful than ‘read my book.’
New invested readers. Someone who discovers you through a cultural moment, whether it be from something small like a comment on a post or something larger like a creative brand pivot, might pop over to your platform out of curiosity. But that's all it takes when you have a solid brand. One visit becomes a follow, a follow becomes a reader, and a reader who found you through something they already cared about is far more likely to stay than one who found you through a sales pitch.
At the end of the day, the Knicks didn’t ask for the sports world to indulge in Knicks Fever. It’s like Ann Patchett (and myself, humbly) said: nothing sells [a book] like a passionate [reader].
Chase the Bandwagon
The Bandwagon Effect: Everyone is talking about Off Campus, and whether you love it or love to hate it, I’m willing to bet it’s on your mind, too.
When people read books because of their preconceived hype, whether it be through Booktok, Bookstagram or their community, it could be argued they’re bandwagon book fans. A term that came from sports, but carries over without loyalty to a specific industry.
As a sign on the side of Metlife Stadium — home of the 2026 soccer World Cup — currently says: ‘Congratulations to all of soccer's bandwagon fans that will win this year's World Cup.’
Welcoming bandwagon fans is the whole point. You want people showing up for whatever reason, because once they’re in the room, the relationship can grow.
Life Between the Lines: What I’m enjoying this week
Tell me, whether it's book-based, the Knicks or something else entirely, what bandwagon are you on right now?
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Jessica Sorentino is an author brand strategist with over a decade of experience, including time at both Simon & Schuster and Macmillan Publishers. She believes nothing promotes a book better than a passionate reader, and works with authors to position their books as the next recommendation on every reader’s list.
