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He Did It & This Time It’s Okay to Read It

Indie-Published O.J. Book Set to Hit Bookstands Sept. 13th

by Nina L. Diamond

I just read the O.J. book.

An advance reading copy of The Ron Goldman for Justice Authorized Version, to be precise, sent to me by the book’s new publisher, Eric Kampmann, of Beaufort Books, after I interviewed him.

This new edition of the book includes an Introduction by the Goldmans, a very informative Prologue by someone close to the creation of the book, and a big hug of an Afterword by a best-selling writer with a unique insight into the crime, the trial, and the book.

Although I’ve read the Prologue and the Afterword, I can’t tell you who wrote them. The honor of revealing their identities has been promised to Oprah Winfrey, who will announce that on her September 13th show when the Goldmans are her guests. For the rest of the media, this information has been embargoed until then, and I will honor that request.

The Introduction, Prologue and Afterword add context to O.J.’s telling of his story, which begins when he meets Nicole and ends when he turns himself over to the police at his home after his televised Bronco chase. Those three new sections also help the reader understand why the book was written in the first place, certain aspects of its bizarre journey, and why, after initially opposing it, the Goldmans, once they gained the rights to the book, chose to publish it.

All of this greatly reduces what could be perceived as the stigma attached to publishing the book. And to reading it, as well.

Last fall, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who thought that the original book with its original marketing plan, and owned by O.J. Simpson, was a good idea. In my November, 2006 Independent Publisher rant, I predicted that Judith Regan, the book’s original publisher, would be tarred and feathered by her boss, media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

What a difference a year can make.

HarperCollins canceled the book’s publication by Judith Regan’s imprint and fired her. Her TV interview with O.J. on the Fox Network, also owned by HarperCollins’ parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., was, of course, also cancelled.

The Goldman family won the rights to the book in August in bankruptcy court from the corporation that O.J. Simpson had set up when the book was sold to HarperCollins.

O.J. Simpson’s memoir of his relationship with Nicole, including his as-close-as-he’ll-get-to-a-murder-confession, If I Did It, was resurrected, re-packaged, and rehabbed under new ownership: the family of Simpson murder victim Ron Goldman, who will now get most of the proceeds, with a portion going to the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson, to help satisfy the civil judgment (now about $38 million, including interest) against O.J. for the deaths of Ron Goldman and Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole.

If I Did It’s brave new publisher, Eric Kampmann, owns the independent house Beaufort Books, and was approached with the project by the Goldman’s agent, Sharlene Martin, in August after the family won the rights to the book in court.

“She knew we could pick this up and publish it quickly,” Kampmann told me. “And the Goldmans questioned me about where I was coming from as a person, not just as a publisher.”

The family felt comfortable with him. He’s about as far from Judith Regan’s savvy, shrewd, over-the-top, tabloidesque persona as anyone could be.

Kampmann has a refreshing, down-to-earth quality that makes him the perfect publisher for such a hot-potato book. He’s the antithesis of the cut-throat publishing or media animal. When it comes to dealing with and understanding the media, he’s a neophyte whose mission has been to publish quality midlist books that are worth reading but aren’t written by authors with household-names and huge platforms, the marketing combo that now runs the publishing industry and determines which books get into the marketplace.

He’s never sought media attention because, like many independent publishers, he just figured his books wouldn’t get much of it, and is shocked, although he certainly shouldn’t be, by the media attention he’s getting now by publishing the O.J. confession for the Goldmans.

This is not an act. This deer caught in the headlights scenario is genuine.

Kampmann says he never would’ve published the book when O.J. still owned it “because the money would’ve gone to O.J.”

Now that the Goldmans own the book, Kampmann says he “never hesitated to publish it. For the first time the Goldmans have the upper hand over O.J. This is a total confessional.”

Kampmann says that the Goldmans wanted to publish the book because “they want O.J.’s own words to condemn him. At the trial, he didn’t testify. Here, he testifies.”

Kampmann appears with Denise Brown on the TODAY show.

The Brown family has opposed the publication of If I Did It, even by the Goldmans. And Nicole’s sister, Denise, the family spokesperson, has been very vocal about it.

“I can understand why Denise doesn’t want this book out,” Kampmann says sympathetically. “When you read the book, it’s obvious that Nicole and O.J.’s relationship is a relationship that never should’ve been. It was 'Mutual Assured Destruction.'"

Publisher Eric Kampmann, agent Sharlene Martin, and the Goldmans will all contribute portions of the book's proceeds to The Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice.

The book will ship on September 11th and should be in East Coast bookstores when the Goldmans appear on Oprah on the 13th. West Coast stores should have it on the shelves by the 17th and some perhaps as early as the 14th.

Kampmann thinks that readers who opposed the book last year with its original form and marketing when O.J. owned it “will totally change their mind about the value of this book.”

Just as importantly, he says, “The Goldmans have their justice.”

* * * * *

Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.

Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.

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