Richard Hartzell

The competition from the small presses, which have sprung up around the country, and which seem willing to take risks, as led some observers to conclude the New York publishing industry will eventually lose its primacy as a showcase for new talent and as an arbiter of literary taste. The rising cost of doing business in Manhattan, they argue, will force its firms to pursue only the most commercially promising manuscripts – blockbusters to sell through bookstore chains (1983).