Behind the Best Seller

Mika Lepistö, David Lagercrantz, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Albert Bonnier

They broke all the rules. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, top international soccer star, penning an autobiography while at the top of his game, pulling no punches. "His opinions of other players, his coaches, his personal life, it's all there, he didn't wait like everyone else until he was at the end of his career and it was safe," says Albert Bonnier, his publisher at Albert Bonniers Förlag. "It was incredibly brave. As he said himself, 'I'm standing naked in the middle of town.'"

The book, I am Zlatan, came out six weeks before Christmas 2011, which was also against all logic for the book industry. "We originally had orders for 67,000 copies and printed 100,000," says Albert Bonnier. "But one night about a week before the scheduled release, co-writer of the book David Lagercrantz called me and told me that the big afternoon papers Expressen and Aftonbladet had gotten hold of it and the cat was out of the bag."

A race began - ultimately 89 pages were written about the book in the papers - and the release plans for the book went out the window. "When these things happen, you have to just change course and go with it," says Albert Bonnier. "The book sold out immediately and we had to work hard to get out a second printing during the busy Christmas season, which wasn't easy but we managed to do it." Ultimately, the book was reprinted five times, with 500,000 copies sold, a record for Sweden, Albert Bonnier says. And an astounding figure, considering a Swedish population of 9 million.

"What really made the book a success, though, was the chemistry between Zlatan and David Lagercrantz," say Albert Bonnier. "It really takes that to give someone their real voice on the page."

The Zlatan and David chemistry began soon after Ibrahimovic's brand manager Mika Lepisto approached the publisher about producing an autobiography - seven books had already come out about him in Italy and three in Sweden. The soccer star wanted to tell his own story. Albert Bonnier knew immediately who he would ask. He'd worked with Lagercrantz on a book 15 years previously about adventurer Göran Kropp's scaling of Mount Everest, and though Lagercrantz had refused him many times since, he had a hunch this might be different.

"When I called David, he was so excited, it was an immediate 'yes!'" says Albert Bonnier. "Then I had to meet Zlatan, who was staying at the Park Hotel in Stockholm. I was nervous, worried he would think I didn't know anything about soccer and I really wanted him to agree to doing it, to working with David. But he was so nice, serving me coffee, and he said yes right away."

Everything in place, the two met and hit if off right away. "They're very, very different," says Albert Bonnier. "But they're both incredibly professional. David basically went and spent a lot of time with Zlatan, who was very open, very generous with his story. And very personally involved."

All in all, it took six weeks of interviews - Lagercrantz also went to a lot of games, spent time in Zlatan's hometown Malmö and met his father - and then six months of writing. Along the way, Ibrahimovic was heavily involved, it was important to him to get his story out the way he wanted, says Albert Bonnier. "The two went over every comma. And David is so passionate, and that passion really translates to the page."

The resulting book reflects that passion and commitment, a willingness to share, that captured the public like no other Swedish book has. "He's a real character and he was able to get across his being an outsider, his eccentricities, and gifted people really have to fight for this," says Albert Bonnier.