If I Did It sold to Beaufort's Eric Kampmann
By Bridget Kinsella -- Publishers Weekly, 8/15/2007 2:45:00 AM
New York-based Beaufort Books, a division of Midpoint Distribution, has signed a deal with the Goldman family to publish If I Did It by O.J. Simpson. Los Angeles-based agent Sharlene Martin, brokered the agreement.
Eric Kampmann, president of Midpoint, started the trade house Beaufort in 1980; in 2005 he started an initiative to co-publish a handful of books each year with some amount of author investment. Martin said the Goldmans are not contributing to publication of the book and that this is a traditional book deal.
“Eric came forward and he is really a well respected, fine Christian man who totally understands why this book should be published,” said Martin. “This was about finding a publisher who was like-minded in the approach and understood how important it is that this book not be buried.”
Martin declined to provide specifics of the deal but said the book the book will contain the same manuscript that Simpson approved and HarperCollins printed and then destroyed. Commentary will be added to it and the pub date has not been set.
“Obviously, I wanted to find a publisher who could react quickly to the situation and the beauty of a publisher like Beaufort is that the buck stops with Eric Kampmann,” said Martin.
Earlier this month a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to If I Did It to the Goldman family. The family has maintained that publishing the book is the only recourse afforded them in the wrongful death suit against Simpson.
“This is not about making money for the Goldmans, this is about taking money from O.J. Simpson,” said Martin. The Goldmans, Martin and the publisher will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice.
“I think when the general public reads this book they will completely understand why this book had to be published under this scenario and not the other scenario,” Martin said.
Martin set off industry-wide speculation earlier this week when she announced she had brokered a deal with a New York publisher for the book. The manuscript it believed to have gotten a cool response from major houses.
