Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books, with stores in South Florida, the Cayman Islands and Westhampton Beach, N.Y., has been involved in more varieties of business ventures than any bookseller we know. At a Winter Institute panel on new partnerships between booksellers and publishers, he discussed some of these ventures and said he hoped booksellers would feel that "if you have something you'd like to pursue that flows naturally out of the book business or what you're doing now, you might say, 'Why not?' " He noted that he has always had an entrepreneurial spirit--he was a founder of the Miami Book Fair International--but that six or seven years ago, he decided simultaneously to try to "create value" out of the many relationships he had in the industry and community as well as have "a good time."
Among the projects he's done in the past few years:
Kaplan became a "kind of co-agent" on Bringing Home Adam: The Abduction That Changed America by Les Standiford with Joe Matthews, about the famous Adam Walsh case, which is being published by Ecco in March. The project began when Matthews, "a burly Miami Beach detective, came to me and gave me a huge sheaf of papers," Kaplan said. Mathews had worked on the case, which occurred in 1981--and led Adam's parents to create America's Most Wanted--and he had finally identified Adam Walsh's killer. Kaplan introduced Matthews to Standiford, the author and director of the creative writing program at Florida International University--they met and wrote the book.
Kaplan facilitated another deal between a customer and Ausbert de Arce and Petra Mason of Assouline Books fame (the art book publisher has consignment displays in two Books & Books stores). The resulting book is appearing next month: it's called South Beach: Stories of a Renaissance by Charles J. Kropke and Eleanor Goldstein with artwork and photos by Joe Davis and photos by Petra Mason. Kaplan said that he can sell "thousands and thousands" of copies of the $49.95 title.
This collaboration led the principals to form a contract publishing group, which is working on another project: a book by Allen Susser, a Miami chef, author of The Great Mango Book: A Guide with Recipes, who also works at the Jade Mountain resort in St. Lucia. The book will be about St. Lucia as much as Susser and include many photos. Because of connections with the fashion photography industry, "we may have a little cookbook with photos by Bruce Weber, and I'll be able to make a little money on it," Kaplan said.
Kaplan is publishing a book with John Dufresne, author of Louisiana Power & Light. Blue Christmas, an anthology of original "non-sentimental" Christmas stories from "interesting" authors, will appear in December.
Kaplan also talked about his alternate life as a movie producer (Shelf Awareness, September 3, 2008). In 2008, the Mazur/Kaplan Company optioned The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by the late Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece Annie Barrows (Dial Press). Fox 2000 is going to produce the film, and Kaplan happily said at the session that "I'm allowed to say that Kate Winslet is attached to it." The company has optioned other books, including Delirium by Lauren Oliver and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson.
"What we do as booksellers is extremely valuable," Kaplan told the audience. "You should be able to leverage that." He noted that it was important for booksellers to be a part of deals that they help make. "I wouldn't do any of these projects if I don't make money," he said. "In past I would have put people together and hoped for a karma credit."--John Mutter