Meet Our Author: James Salmon

James is a published author, sports writer and editor from Melbourne, Australia. He grew up on a diet of sport, spending a large portion of his childhood at his beloved MCG watching the footy or Boxing Day Test, regularly heading to Bells Beach for the annual pro surfing event, and closely following the NBA from the other side of the world.

James officially turned his passion into a career in his mid-20s, and in the nine years since has covered a broad range of different sports, edited close to 70 books – including one by a successful former NBL coach – and written one of his own.

That book is titled Sport’s Greatest Statistical Anomalies, and with a title like that it’s no surprise that the nuances of betting are of great interest to James. Having been scouring the stats to find an edge for over a decade and writing about it for nearly as long, his insights are well and truly worth listening to – or at least, he thinks they are!

Education:

Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne – 2010-2013

Master of Business (Sports Management) – 2014-2015

Work Experience:

Writer, KadabraInc (various websites) – 2019-present

Writer, ClutchPoints – 2022-2025

Writer, Southern Man Surf – 2019-2024

Editor, Ultimate World Publishing – 2019-present

Author, Sport’s Greatest Statistical Anomalies - 2021

I must’ve always been destined to work in sports in one capacity or another, because my first ever job was as a ball-kid at the Australian Open circa 2006 – though they gave me the chop at the first opportunity!

The way James writes mirrors what he likes to read. You know the kind of writing that feels as though the author is trying to showcase just how impressive their vocabulary is? Not for him. James’ approach to writing is simple – write it how you would say it. He enjoys reading content which is interesting, well-informed and concise, and tries to mimic this in his own writing.

Of course, from a journalistic perspective, accuracy is also key. With the ever-growing number of different information sources out there, it’s easier than ever for readers to find themselves consuming content which is misleading or just straight-out wrong, so along with his commitment to keeping things simple, James will always endeavour to lay out the facts exactly as they are.

Over nearly a decade of working in the industry, James has acquired experience across a range of different categories. These are the areas in which he excels:

Sports previews – From AFL to NRL, NBA to EPL, James has provided previews and predictions for a huge range of different sports, providing both individual match tips, best bets and multis for his readers.

Futures betting updates – A lot of James’ work has also centred around providing regular updates on major futures markets – think Premiership favourites, Grand Final outsiders and so on. This generally includes taking a look at how the odds have changed, as well as which teams are looking like good value at any given time – and which teams to avoid.

When I was 7 years old, I was at the MCG the night the scoreboard infamously caught fire. My dad and I were promptly escorted from the ground along with thousands of others – only for Dad to be sent back in when a young me realised I’d left my jacket inside! Fortunately, we eventually made our way back inside and the game went ahead as planned – albeit a little late. Even more fortunately, the Tigers beat the Blues by 11 points.