Transcripts For CSPAN2 Interview With Mitchell Kaplan About The Coronavirus Impact On Bookstores 20240713

Been canceled due to the coronavirus. Booktv was scheduled to be live in tucson, los angeles and cover festivals in new orleans and san antonio as well. All canceled. We know the effect it is having on book fairs and large gatherings, but is it having an effect also on bookstores and smaller businesses . Mitchell kaplan runs a chain of bookstores based in coral gables, florida, called books books. Has coronavirus affected your business . Guest yes, peter, unfortunately it has. We have been holding on as long as we could, but it looks like starting tomorrow were going to be closing down all six stores that we have in the miami area and trying to move our sales online, and encourage people to buy at our website. And this is happening i believe across the country with independent bookstores everywhere. And like normally happens, independent bookstores are very representative of whats happening with Small Business. So there are many, many thousands upon thousands of Small Business people who are suffering the same way we are. Host are you doing this because the state of florida has mandated it or because you just in such a drop in foot traffic and sales that its a necessity . Guest well, theres a couple of reasons why we are doing it. One is at this point with the mandates that have come through and the guidance from the cdc about people not gathering in places where there are more than just a few people, we feel its our responsibility to heed those warnings. Ironically, the thing that makes and independent bookstore so great, which is that it is a gathering place, and a place where communities come together, thats not one of the big liabilities that we have. And so in an attempt to help flatten out that curve, as they say, we are closing our stores. Host what about author events . Have you had a lot of cancellations prior to the closing of your stores . Go ahead. Guest weve had 30 or 40 author cancellations starting a couple weeks ago, people were canceling. So weve had lots and lots of cancellations going into april, and some very big names that we expected very large turnouts for, as well as smaller debut authors. Its having an impact on the cross publishing as well. Imagine being a young author and its your first book coming out and it comes into the world right now, and its very, very difficult situation for the literary community. Host have you thought about doing online videos with these authors . Guest yes, thats something that we are exploring, and publishers are exploring it. We are exploring it. Also i have a podcast called the literary life and my podcast is going to continue in which i interviewed authors. I was usually doing it with authors who were coming here, but im going to do remote interviews as well. So were going to try to keep everything alive as much as we can with the spirit of the store alive online through facebook live, through instagram, through our channel on youtube as well as our website. Host how long do you think you will be closed . Guest thats a really good question. I wish i had the answer to that, but what we are announcing is that we are going to reassess every two weeks. So basically march 31 were going to look at it and see where we are then. And see if theres a chance to open. I suspect that this is going to impact not only my business, but Small Businesses everywhere for many, many, many months to come, even if we do get open. We have been the last week with very, very minimal business. People just dont want to go out, and i think probably entail a vaccine is sound and people feel secure, theres always good to be that sense of insecurity and gatherings. Host have you shut down your restaurant earlier, or is that shutting down as well tomorrow . Guest the restaurant is shutting down tonight. Actually, that is the one thing that the state has mandated that restaurants will only be open for takeout. But thats not happening too much either. I have friends in the Restaurant Business as well as our own, i think people are staying away from that, to. People are really hunkering down. Host booktv has worked with mitch kaplan for years. For most people it has been sad that people are going paycheck to paycheck. Most Small Businesses work revenue day to revenue day. If in fact there is no revenue coming into Small Businesses, there isnt much money to pay employees. If nothing is happening. So, i have kept my employees on as long as i can. We are going to keep their Health Insurance going, we are going to try to protect them as much as we can. Were going to lobby and i know the Book Association is lobbying the government when they are starting to bail certain things out, that they pay close attention to the Small Businesses, and the people they employ. The people on the frontline. Host Mitchell Kaplan is also cofounder of the Miami Book Fair. Mr. Kaplan, is there any talk yet about the Miami Book Fair not happening in november . Guest no, we have not gotten to that point yet. And i hope we dont have to. I hope by then, there is a modicum of caution or that there is enough room for people together cautiously in a bookstore setting. You know peter, you have been to our book fair. It is so meaningful to the city into the county. We have never had to cancel the book fair completely. One year we had a hurricane coming and we canceled the street fair but we had all the authors there. If we do cancel, it will be the first time in close to 40 years that we cancel. Host and finally, what is your website if people wish to purchase books, see author interviews, or listen to your podcast . Guest that is wonderful, peter, thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell about books and books. Com. Books and books. Com. You can purchase books online there, you can sign up for our newsletter. Where podcast its wherever they are available, wherever you listen to a podcast but is also available through lit hub. Com. You can find it on apple and other things its called the literary life with the Mitchell Kaplan. Its kind of like a conversation over your backyard fence. Its a conversation with authors and people in the literary world. Host Mitchell Kaplan, thanks for spending a few minutes on book tv. Guest peter, it is always a pleasure. Here are some of the current bestselling nonfiction books according to the Washington Post. At the top of the list is a story at Prime Minister Winston Churchills leadership during the london blitz in the splendid and the vial. After that is talking to strangers, new yorkers staff writer Malcolm Gladwell examination on how we miss read to strangers words and actions. Then in a very civil genus, the Washington Post White House Bureau chief, philip rutgers and staff writer carol suggests that the Trump Presidency has been defined by self enrichment. Carol westover recalls growing up in the idaho mountains and her introduction to formal education at age 17. In her book, educated thats been on the bestseller list for two years. Repping up our look at some of the best looks according to the Washington Post is becoming. Former first lady Michele Obamas memoir which was a best selling book of 2018. The most of these authors bent on book tv. You can watch them online a booktv. Org. [background noises] fica novembers attention with exit started. I am Brian Anderson on the editor of city journal and i want to welcome you here today on behalf of the manhattan institute. It is with great pleasure that i get to introduce joh john tierney and coauthor with an esteemed useful new book the we