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Ex-Detroiter Is Helping
Unknowns Get Published

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

ournalist Gary Rivlin
covered the Chicago
mayor's office long
enough to know he could
write a book on the late
Mayor Harold Washington.
So he sent a query letter to
Elizabeth Kaplan, a literary
agent with Sterling Lord
Literistic, Inc. of New York,
who was in the Detroit area
recently to speak at the
Detroit Women Writer's and
Oakland University's 30th
annual writer's conference.
"It was great material,"
said Ms. Kaplan, 33, former-
ly of West Bloomfield. "I
called him and said it was
great; let's focus it."
Mr. Rivlin's proposal
didn't need much work.
Focusing the topic meant
expanding the story to ex-
plain how Mayor Washing-
ton's rise to power in
Chicago marked the beginn-
ing of racial politics nation-
ally.
"Mayor Washington was
the forerunner of what was
to be," said Ms. Kaplan, who
found a publisher for A Fire
On The Prairie, to be on book
shelves by February.
On a daily basis, Ms.
Kaplan's office is swamped
with unsolicited
manuscripts, telephone mes-
sages and cover letters from
aspiring book writers. She
reads everything, even
though most of the writers
with whom she works are
selected through referrals.
Her client roster includes
many investigative jour-
nalists, among them Donald
Goddard who wrote The In-
sider, the story of a Boston
police officer who believed
the only way to fight crime
was to become a criminal.
The book will be released
early next year.
She also is the agent of
choice for Zsa Zsa Gabor,
whose autobiography, One
Lifetime Is Not Enough, will
be released next month.
But what makes her most
proud are the "little books"
— the ones that are harder
to sell and attract limited
readers. She is working now
with a writer on a book
detailing politics in Central
America and South Africa.
"It was hard to sell, but I
believed in it," she said.
"Sometimes I must swallow
my pride. I sold Zsa Zsa for a
lot of money, and because of
that, I am able to go to work

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Quality of Life — Fiscal Stability — Political Courage

LET'S RE-ELECT COUNCILMAN ELI ROBINSON
TO THE SOUTHFIELD CITY COUNCIL

• incumbent, elected to South-
field Council in 1985,
re-elected 1987
• Council President 1988-90;
chairman Council Finance
Committee
• Certified Public Accountant,
President of Southfield CPA
firm
• 61/2 year Veteran U.S. Army,
U.S. Air Force, including World
War 11
• Member & chairman of
Southfield Administrative Civil
Service Commission, 1978-85

• Member Jewish War Veterans
• Member Steering Committee
of the Finance Committee, Na-
tional League of Cities
• Author and lecturer for
Michigan Assn. of CPAs, Mich.
Assessors Assn., & Int'l Assn.
of Assessing Officers
• Married to Zelda Robinson
(member, Southfield School
Board)
• Member Congregation
Shaarey Zedek
• Southfield resident since 1966

VOTE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1991
RE-ELECT COUNCILMAN ELI E. ROBINSON

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on the little ones. This is fun,
but I work hard.
"I read all of the time," she
said. "Writing is shaping
words to give it a certain
perspective, not just putting
words on a page.
"Everybody thinks their
story is a book," Ms. Kaplan
said. "I know what makes a
good book, and it is not just a
good story. It needs a central
character, it must be
riveting, and it must be sur-
prising."
Ms. Kaplan moved to New
York in 1980 after
graduating from the Univer-
sity of Michigan. She stayed
with relatives while hoping
to land a job in the
publishing business.
Six weeks later, Ms.
Kaplan secured an editing
position with a publishing
house. Five years later, she

She also is the
agent of choice for
Zsa Zsa Gabor.
"I sold Zsa Zsa for a
lot of money, and
because of that, I
am able to go to
work on the little
ones."

Elizabeth Kaplan

became an agent. Today, she
sells writers to publishers.
A book, she said, is diff-
erent from a newspaper or
magazine, which people
routinely buy. People need a
reason to buy a book, so it
must be clearly defined, she
said.
In her workshops, par-
ticipants read and critiqued
each other's non-fiction
work, and they discussed the
writing profession in detail.
She explained an agent's
role, and offered tips for
writing and selling
manuscripts. The market,
she added, is non-fiction.
True crime, science and
travels to odd places are top
sellers.
"I know who buys what,"
she said. "You can't send a
book on the pro-choice
movement to just anybody.
You must know who is sym-
pathetic to it.
"People don't know what it
takes to write a book," she
said "You have to live it.
You have to eat, drink and
sleep it." ❑