Business strategies learned in the classroom have quickly gone from the hypothetical to the practical for Efraim Wakschlag, a graduating YU senior from Silver Spring, Maryland and long-time sports enthusiast. As an accounting major and marketing minor at Sy Syms, Wakschlag combined his business education with his love of sports to develop, market, and publish his recently-released book on the NBA, entitled 10 Squared. Wakschlag also serves as the general manager of Hazan Sports Management, a sports agency founded by fellow Sy Syms student Daniel Hazan (’14) that recently made the news when one of the players it represents declared for the 2014 NBA Draft.
The idea for 10 Squared first took root in 2012, when, as part of a CJF summer mission, Wakschlag interned for an accounting firm in South Bend, Indiana. With his evenings free, Wakschlag had time to brainstorm an outline for his book. 10 Squared, as the name implies, is comprised of 10 different top-ten lists about different aspects of the NBA. Some of the items on the list may strike NBA fans as controversial, such as Wakschlag’s claim that Wilt Chamberlain, over Michael Jordan, is the greatest player in NBA history. According to its Amazon page, 10 squared “will leave you laughing, pondering, and reconsidering everything you thought was true about the NBA.”
Wakschlag was also inspired to write 10 Squared after reading Bill Simmons’s Book of Basketball. Though Simmons is a well-respected voice in the sports world, Wakschlag took issue with many of Simmons’s claims and wanted a set the record straight.
When school resumed in the fall, Wakschlag continued to write, sometimes skipping class when the writing bug hit particularly hard. (The book is dedicated to all the friends who took notes for him when he missed class to work on his book.) After he finished a draft, he decided to self-publish it. He had his sisters Naomi (’15) and Adina (’16) review the book, hired a professional editor, and enlisted the help of a family friend, Avigayil Niman, to format the book so it would fit the standards of the self-publisher. “I couldn’t have published my book if not for the wonderful people that helped me,” Wakschlag said.
Wakschlag’s business education at Sy Syms proved especially useful when it came time to market the book. He compiled blurbs for his back cover by sending advanced copies of the book to athletes and NBA analysts that he connected to on LinkedIn. In order to generate buzz, he posted comments about the book on the four NBA Facebook pages he administrates, which have a combined 3 million likes. He also created a Facebook page called “10 Squared”, on which he regularly posted updates about the publishing process.
Wakschlag describes the YU community as “very supportive” of his book, and jokes that “many people know me as the guy that sits and writes during my free time” or as “the guy that goes crazy during basketball games in the Morg lounge.” He plans to promote the book within the YU community by posting flyers around the Wilf Campus and arranging for the books to be available for sale at Nagels Bagels, a mini-mart in the lobby of the Gottesman library.
The feedback thus far has been very positive. Wakschlag has already sold a number of copies of 10 Squared on Amazon and was featured in an online Jewish newspaper. Wakschlag is not sure if the success of 10 Squared will change the direction of his plans to become an accountant. What he does know is that he will continue to be involved with Hazan Sports Management and to use the business know-how that he gained in the classroom to spark fresh and passionate debate about the game of basketball.