Why Are Publishers Still in New York? All to know!

For many years, New York publishers (also known as legacy publishers or corporate publishers) dominated the publishing industry. They decided which books would be published and when. They wrote books that launched pop-culture trends, and in a nutshell, they ruled the world. However, as we’ve progressed through the publishing mecca and other viable options have emerged, the question of how to publish and whether the big New York publishers still control the industry has become highly debatable. Even more concerning are the questions of what, if any, value these publishers bring to the author. eBooks, eReaders, and, of course, the often-vilified and always-mysterious Amazon have been great industry equalisers.

One of the most common remedies proposed by publishing outsiders is for publishers to abandon their New York real estate and relocate to the suburbs. Why do they have to pay rent in Manhattan?

Why, exactly?

To begin with, this ignores the fact that there are many publishers outside of New York. Sourcebooks in Chicago, Chronicle in San Francisco, and numerous others are available.

There’s also a historical explanation: since the early 1800s, New York has been an important centre of the American publishing world.

But, leaving that aside, why are all six of the Big Six still in New York? Why don’t they just flee to South Dakota?

The same reason that Apple and Google are in Silicon Valley, Wall Street is in Wall Street, and Hollywood is in Hollywood: industries tend to cluster in certain areas and gain more benefit from a talent pool and networking than they lose in increased rent.

On an individual store level, you can see this (think: the Diamond District in New York). Shops congregate and benefit from increased foot traffic. But this is retail.

Richard Florida, an urban studies theorist, has written about the power of industry density. He writes, “

Density facilitates interactions and connections between people and businesses by reducing the effort, friction, and energy required to make these connections. Density accelerates the creation of new enterprises and industries by increasing the rate at which new ideas are conceived and spread throughout the economy.

Publishers and Publishing Firms In Nyc benefit from being close to other major media outlets, from a highly educated and creative workforce, from the cachet of being one of the New York publishers, and from networking with writers themselves, many of whom live in New York.

Actually, HarperCollins’ accounting department is based in Scranton. What’s going on in New York? Editorial, art, marketing, sales, and management.

It’s easy to say, well, all those people can up and move, or you can find people with those qualifications somewhere else. However, moving has its own costs, and the people who work at publishers are highly skilled. It would be extremely difficult to migrate those operations elsewhere on a major scale.

All of this to say: Things do change!

Los Angeles and New York were once the epicentres of the music industry, but not anymore. Nashville’s clout is growing. Detroit was once the undisputed centre of the auto industry, but plants are increasingly being established in the Deep South.

Could publishing be pushed out of New York? Random House recently saved “millions” of dollars by downsizing its footprint, which isn’t anything to sneeze at these days, but we’re talking about a company with billions in revenue. “Millions” isn’t the difference between roaring profits and turning off the lights.

Then there’s this: Publishers in New York have access to a tremendous pool of publishing talent, and if there’s one thing publishers need to weather this massive transformation, it’s talent.

What are your thoughts? Is it all or nothing for publishers in New York?