As regular viewers of booktv now, all of the major book festivals this spring have been canceled due to the coronavirus. Booktv was scheduled to be live in tucson and los angeles, new orleans and san antonio as well, all cancels. 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 bookstores in coral gables, florida called books and books. Has coronavirus affected your business . Yes, unfortunately, it has. We have been holding on as long as we could but it looks like starting tomorrow, we are going to be closing down all six stores in the miami area and trying to move our sales online and encourage people to buy at our website. This is happening i believe across the country with independent bookstores everywhere. Like normally happens independent bookstores are representative of what is happening with Small Business so there are many thousands upon thousands of Small Business people who are suffering the same way we are. Host are you doing this because florida has mandated his or you have just seen such a drop in foot traffic and sales . Guest there are a couple reasons we are doing it. One is at this point the mandates that have come through, the guidance from the cdc about people not gathering in places where there are more than just a few people we feel it is our responsibility to heed those warnings. Ironically the thing that makes independent bookstores so great, which is that it is a gathering place, a place where communities come together is now the big liability we have and in an attempt to help flatten out that curve, as they say we are closing our stores. Host what about author events. If you have a lot of cancellations prior to the closing of your stores . Im sorry. We have had 30 or 40 author cancellations starting a couple weeks ago people were canceling so we have had lots and lots of cancellations, going into april, some very big name authors we expected very large turnouts for as well as smaller debut authors. It is having an impact all across publishing as well. Imagine being a young author, your first book coming out and it comes into the world right now. It is a very difficult situation for the literary community. Have you thought about doing online videos with these authors . Yes. That is something we are exploring and publishers are exploring, we are exploring it. The podcast on literary life, the podcast will continue in which i interview authors. I was doing with authors who were coming here but im doing remote interviews as well. We will keep everything alive as much as we can. Through facebook live, instagram, through our channel on youtube and our website. Host how long do you think you will be closed . Really good question. I wish i had the answer to that but what we are announcing as we will reassess every two weeks. Basically march 30 first we will look at it and see where we are then and see if there is a chance to open. I suspect that this is going to impact not only my business but Small Businesses everywhere for many many months to come. Even if we do get open. We have been open the last week with very very minimal business. People just dont want to go out. I think probably until a vaccine is found and people feel secure theres always going to be that sense of insecurity in gatherings. Have you shutdown your restaurant earlier or is that shutting down as well tomorrow . The restaurant is shutting down tonight. That is one thing the state has mandated that restaurants will only be open for takeout but that is not happening too much either. I have friends in the Restaurant Business and people are staying away from that too. People are really hunkering down. Booktv worked with Mitchell Kaplan for years. My guess is you are quite concerned about the employees of those six stores. That is the key thing, why i stayed open as long as i did in order to keep my employees working. Most people it has been said that most people work paycheck to paycheck and most Small Businesses work revenue data revenue day so you know, 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 they can, we are going to keep their Health Insurance going and try to protect them as much as we can and lobby i know American Booksellers Association is lobbying the federal government, when they are starting to bail certain things out today they pay close attention to these Small Businesses and the people they employ, people on the front line. Host Mitchell Kaplan is cofounder of the Miami Book Fair. Is there any talk yet about the Miami Book Fair not happening in november . Guest now, 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 a modicum that theres enough room for people to gather cautiously in a bookstore sitting. As you know you have been to our book fair. It is so meaningful to the city and the county, we never had to cancel the book fair completely. When you we had a hurricane coming in we strip canceled the street fair but we had all the oscars there. If we did cancel it would be the first time in close to 40 years that we have canceled. Finally what is your website if people wish to purchase books, see other interviews will listen to your podcast . Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell people about books, and books. Com. You have to start the and, books books. Com and you can purchase books online there and sign up for a newsletter. By podcast, available wherever podcasts, wherever you listen to your podcast but also available through lithub. Com but you can find it on apple and other things, called the literary life with Mitchell Kaplan. It is kind of like a conversation over your backyard fence, just a conversation with authors, people in the literary world. Host Mitchell Kaplan, thank you for spending a few minutes with booktv. Guest it is always a pleasure. And competition for startup businesses. Former Federal Reserve chair ben bernanke will weigh in on the actions the fed is taking to mitigate the Economic Impact of the covid19 crisis. Well highlight some of the books written by david mccullough. And Atlantic Council senior fellow jamie metzl will look at the future of genetic engineering and if it can be used to fight against covid19. Find more information on your Program Guide or online at booktv. Org. And now, historian