Joel has authored or co-authored nearly 20 books (including a New York Times bestseller). They range from narrative nonfiction, to essays, sports, satire, pop culture, biography, and autobiography. As a journalist for the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, among other papers and periodicals, he reported on everything from politics to hot-air ballooning, pregnancy to cancer research, pop culture to business.

He has sold several feature-film scripts to Hollywood and produced about 60 hours of (cable) television.