华尔街日报：巴菲特新书背后的故事

The Backstory on the Buffett Book

巴菲特新书背后的故事

A coming biography on the Oracle of Omaha may not get much support from its subject

一本关于奥马哈先知的新书可能不会得到传主太多的支持

By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG
August 23, 2008; Page W1

One of the most anticipated books of the fall is "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life." The title's publisher, Bantam, paid $7.2 million for the North American rights and expects to sell more than 1 million hardcover copies of "The Snowball," which is due out Sept. 29.

秋季最令人期待的新书之一是《雪球：巴菲特和他的投资生涯》，出版商Bantam为本书的北美区版权支付了720万美元，并期望这本书的精装版销量超过100万，本书将于9月29日上市。

Few investors have generated as much sustained public interest as Mr. Buffett, one of the world's richest men, with a fortune estimated as high as $62 billion. R.R. Bowker's Books in Print says there are an estimated 60 titles in print about him, with more than a dozen new ones on tap this year. Now Bantam is about to find out whether there's a limit to Buffetmania.

很少有投资人能像巴菲特先生一样能保持如此长久的公众兴趣，他是世界上最富有的人之一，个人财富估计高达620亿美元。R.R.Bowker的在售图书库显示大约有60部和巴菲特有关的书籍，其中有超过12本是今年的新书。如今，Bantam出版社正尝试探寻，巴菲特迷的数量是否有个极限。

ABACAUSA/Newscom

Warren Buffett, 2008.

What separates "The Snowball" by Alice Schroeder, was that Mr. Buffett pledged his cooperation to the first-time author. He gave her open access to two large file rooms that included material on his investments, his correspondence and topics of personal interest, she says. She says he provided her with a letter that she was able to show to people she wanted to interview that confirmed he was cooperating with her. The author, who initially met Mr. Buffett in the late 1990s when she was covering Berkshire Hathaway Inc., as an analyst at Paine Webber, estimates she spent 2,000 hours with Mr. Buffett during the project and recorded 300 hours of interviews. Mr. Buffett is chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, an Omaha-based conglomerate with large insurance holdings.

《雪球》的不同之处在于，它的作者Alice Schroeder是巴菲特宣称的有生以来第一位合作者。她被允许进入两间巨大的资料室，里面包括巴菲特的投资资料、信件、以及有关个人兴趣的内容。作者说，巴菲特给了她一封信，可以向她愿意采访的人出示，证明她经过了巴菲特的授权。

The book's title is based on a comment that Mr. Buffett is said to have once made: "Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill."

本书的书名出自巴菲特的一句评论："人生就像一个雪球，重要的是寻找湿雪以及真正的高山。"

Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Mr. Buffett in 1980

Some publishers estimate Bantam will have to sell 600,000 to 700,000 copies to make a profit. The book's performance may well be affected by how much the 77-year-old investor cooperates in publicizing it and "how much he represents that the book is accurate," says Adrian Zackheim, publisher of the Portfolio business imprint of Pearson PLC's Penguin Group (USA). (Mr. Zackheim gave the manuscript a close look, but ultimately wasn't among the final bidders.)

部分出版社估计Bantam需要销售超过60-70万本书，才会有利润。新书销量的好与否，取决于77岁的传主在宣传上的合作程度，以及"他认为书中的内容有多少是准确的，" 企鹅集团皮尔森投资出版公司的出版人Adrian Zackheim说。（Zackheim先生曾很认真地看过该书的手稿，但没有参与最终的竞价。）

It's an intriguing issue because Mr. Buffett doesn't currently have plans to promote "The Snowball." In an email, an assistant to Mr. Buffett said the investor is "not doing interviews about the book at this time."

有趣的是，巴菲特近期并没有为新书促销的计划。巴菲特的一位助手在一封email中写道，巴菲特"现在不会接受有关该书的采访。"

A person familiar with the situation says Mr. Buffett was initially upset about some of the content. The issue has to do with his first marriage. Mr. Buffett's first wife, Susan, left him and moved to San Francisco in 1977. The two, however, never divorced, and with his wife's encouragement, Astrid Menks, a waitress at the French Cafe in Omaha, eventually moved in with Mr. Buffett. She later married him following Susan's death in 2004.

一位知情人士说，巴菲特先生最初是对书中的部分内容感到不满。主要是与他第一次婚姻有关的部分。巴菲特的第一任妻子苏珊在1977年离开他，搬到了旧金山。不过两人从未离婚。在苏珊的允许下，奥马哈一家法国咖啡馆的服务生Astrid Menks开始和巴菲特同居，两人于2004年苏珊死后成婚。

The matter has been discussed publicly in the past, specifically in Roger Lowenstein's 1995 "Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist," which stated that all three got along well together. Mr. Lowenstein is a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

这件事在过去就有过公开争论，特别是在Roger Lowenstein1995年出版的《巴菲特：一名美国资本家的诞生》中，书中说三人（巴菲特、妻子、情人）相处融洽。Lowenstein担任过《华尔街日报》的记者。

UPI/Newscom

Buffett withMr. Bill Gates in July 2008

In an email Friday, an assistant for Mr. Buffett said Mr. Buffett said it was "not true" that he was limiting his promotional support because he was initially upset with the contents of the book.

周五，来自巴菲特一名秘书的email说，巴菲特声明，关于他是因为不满书中的部分内容而不参与新书的促销活动的说法，是"不真实的"。

Ms. Schroeder says Mr. Buffett understood that her book would explore this aspect of his personal life. "He said to interview anyone I wanted," she says.
Schroeder说巴菲特事前了解本书有一部分内容是关于他的私人生活的。"他说去采访任何我想采访的人，"她说。
What is less clear is whether Mr. Buffett expected that Ms. Schroeder would seek out and interview as many people as she did who were familiar with Susan Buffett's life. "He said he wanted to reconcile his public and private selves," says Ms. Schroeder. "He knew I was thorough."

不太确定的是，巴菲特是否料到作者会采访如此众多熟知苏珊・巴菲特生活的人。"他说他想让自己的公共形象和真实自我统一起来，" Schroeder女士说，"他知道我做的很彻底。"

Ms. Schroeder acknowledges that Mr. Buffett disagreed with some of what he read in the manuscript but says he didn't ask her to delete anything. She adds that she has "multiple sources for everything of any significance in my book."
Schroeder女士知道巴菲特不同意他读到的手稿中的部分内容，但他并没有要求删减任何东西。她补充说"我书中每一个重大事件都有多方面的材料考证。"
In a previous email, Mr. Buffett said, "I'm fine with the book and hope it sells well. It treats me better than I deserve but I'm willing to adjust to that." An assistant to Mr. Buffett said the book will be available for sale at the company's next annual meeting in May and that "sales should be very high."

之前的一封email中，巴菲特说"我对这本书没有意见，并且希望他卖的很好。它对我比我应得的要好一些，不过我还是乐于进一步修正它。"巴菲特的一名助手说，新书会在公司的5月下一次年会前上市，而且它"应该会卖得很好。"

Associated Press

Mr. Buffett throwing out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, June, 2008

Some publishers wonder if the absence of Mr. Buffett on the morning talk shows could be a problem. Former General Electric Co. chief Jack Welch tirelessly flogged "Straight from the Gut," his 2001 memoir, on such shows and was able to overcome the fact it was published on the day of the 9/11 attacks. Revered both on Wall Street and Main Street, Mr. Buffett is only sporadically available to the public and would be a big draw in any television and radio campaign.

一些出版人担心，假如巴菲特缺席早晨脱口秀节目，那新书的推广可能是个问题。通用电气的前CEO杰克・韦尔奇为他2001年出版的自传"Straight from the Gut"不遗余力地进行宣传，出席类似的节目，最终扭转了书出版于911袭击这样的不利时机的负面影响。而巴菲特受到金融界以及实业界的广泛尊重，平日只零星地在媒体露面，假如能出席，那对新书宣传将是个大手笔。

"It's very curious, because Warren clearly authorized her to write this book," says Rick Wolff, publisher and editor-in-chief of Business Plus, an imprint owned by Lagardere SCA's Hachette Livre. "This is unusual. A lot of money was spent on the book."

"这很奇怪，因为巴菲特很明显授权作者写了这本书，"瑞奇・伍尔夫说，他是Lagardere SCA集团的Hachette Livre出版社Business Plus的出版人和主编。"这很少见，因为真本书已经花了很多钱。"

Irwyn Applebaum, publisher of Bertelsmann AG's Bantam Dell Publishing Group, says Mr. Buffett's participation in promoting the book was never guaranteed. "He gave her access to his contacts, his friends and the opportunity to get to know him better than any other writer, which is what makes the book so outstanding," he says. "Would we love to have Warren Buffett doing interviews for the book? Who wouldn't? But we're moving ahead as planned." Ms. Schroeder has been booked to appear on NBC's "Today" show on Sept. 29.

Bertelsmann AG 的Bantam Dell 出版集团出版人Irwyn Applebaum说，巴菲特从没有保证过要参与本书的促销。"他允许作者与他的伙伴、朋友联系，给了她更好的了解传主的机会，这是其他作者从没有做到过的，正是这一点才造就了本书的非凡，"他说。"我们希望巴菲特出席关于本书的访谈吗？谁不希望呢？不过我们已经按事先的计划进行了。"Schroeder女士已经预约要出席9月29日NBC的《今日》节目。

Ms. Schroeder, a public accountant by training, was a well-regarded insurance analyst at Morgan Stanley in 2003. After obtaining Mr. Buffett's cooperation on the book, she agreed to take a leave to work on the project full-time -- she remains an advisory director -- and when news of that decision circulated on Wall Street, several publishers contacted her. A friend then suggested that she work with agent David Black, who represents such best-selling authors as Mitch Albom and Erik Larson.

Schoroedr女士，一个经过训练的公众会计师，在2003年曾是摩根斯坦利一名引人注意的保险分析师。在得到巴菲特写书合作的意向之后，她经过同意暂时离职全心于这本传记――她保留了一个顾问主管的职位――而且，当这个决定在华尔街流传开来的时候，有几个出版商和她取得了联系。一个朋友建议他和出版代理人大卫・布兰克合作，他代理了像Mitch Albom和Erik Larson这些著名畅销书作者。

The cover of 'The Snowball' by Alice Schroeder.

"People were beginning to slice him into tiny bits: investor, corporate manager, whatever," says Ms. Schroeder of Mr. Buffett. "I thought: This man has a unified way of looking at everything. It is one set of ideas. The right book answers the question: What events in his life formed this man and influenced him?"

"人们一直以来都在关注巴菲特的片段：投资人、公司经理人，等等，"Schroeder女士这样评价道。"我认为：这个人是他观念的总和。这就是本书的出发点。它将回答这样的问题：是哪些事件塑造了这个人并影响着他的人生？"

In fall 2005, Mr. Black submitted a 160-page proposal to New York publishers. Two eager frontrunners emerged: Bantam's Mr. Applebaum and Gina Centrello, publisher of Bertelsmann's Random House Publishing Group. Each was asked to fly independently to Omaha to meet with Mr. Buffett. "He needed assurances from publishers he had never met that they wouldn't market the book in a way that presented him as the quasi-author or that would make untrue claims," says Ms. Schroeder, 51 years old

2005年秋，布兰克先生给纽约的出版商们提交了一份160页的纲要。两位热情的出版先锋浮出水面：Bantam的Applebaum先生已及Bertelsmann's Random House 出版集团的Gina Centrello。他们每人都被要求飞往奥马哈和巴菲特见面，"他需要这些从未谋面的出版商答应，不会把他作为共同作者推向市场，从而要求他本人作出与事实不符的声明。"51岁的Schroeder女士说。

Mr. Applebaum, who ultimately triumphed, declined to comment on the content of "The Snowball." And while he noted that it has become a ruthlessly competitive marketplace for new books, he added, "Some books burn brightly week after week, and that's our expectation here." Bantam declined to make a copy of the book available.

Applebaum最终取得的胜利，拿到了版权。他拒绝就《雪球》的内容发表评论。同时他指出新书市场已经成为一个竞争相当残酷的市场，他补充说："一些书每周都在创造辉煌，这也是我们所期望的。"Bantam拒绝发布书的复制版。

Many believe "The Snowball" will be a major hit. "It will be my biggest book of the year," says Dave Hathaway, business book buyer for Barnes & Noble Inc., the country's largest book retailer. "There's a certain amount of mystery that shrouds him. He's the last true business icon."

很多人相信《雪球》将造成轰动。"它会是我今年最大的买卖，" Barnes & Noble公司的采购戴夫・哈萨维说，该公司是美国最大的图书零售商。"巴菲特有很多神秘的地方。他是最后一个真正的商业偶像。"