Cruz scores deal to author memoir

Victor Cruz, the salsa-dancing standout wide receiver for the New York Giants, will soon be able to add author to his list of accomplishments. The Penguin USA imprint Celebra Books is said to have won a spirited auction for the post-Super Bowl memoir of Cruz, with an advance estimated to be in the mid-six-figure range. "Yes, we've reached an agreement in principle and are going to contract," said Sandy Montag, a senior vice president at talent agency IMG, which represents Cruz. The agreement comes a few weeks after Cruz appeared as a celebrity presenter at the Grammy Awards. The obstacle for any publisher is that sports books generally have a tough time busting out beyond the city or region where a team is based. A seasonal memoir faces the hurdle that it must add something the avid fan doesn't already know from blanket coverage in newspapers, websites and magazines. Giants coach Tom Coughlin penned a memoir on the 2008 season, which featured the team's improbable first upset victory over the previously undefeated Patriots. That book, titled "A Team to Believe In," sold just 10,000 copies, according to Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of the US retail market. Cruz's representatives are hoping to get the manuscript completed and off to a printer by May so it will be ready to hit shelves in July, in advance of the opening of NFL training camps in August. The 25-year-old Cruz, undrafted out of UMass in 2010, came out of nowhere to set the Giants' franchise record for receiving yards in a season, with 1,536. He had 10 catches for 142 yards in the NFC Championship victory over San Francisco and caught the Giants' first touchdown in the 21-17 Super Bowl XLVI win over the Patriots.