Bigger, Not Better.

The 1980s was a decade in which publishers' business decisions changed the sorts of works available to readers and markedly altered the format in which those works were presented. The combination of recession and inflation that afflicted the American economy in the late 1970s and early 1980s adversely affected book sales and made publishers easy prey for large conglomerates more concerned with profits than good books. At the same time, independent bookstores, often owned and staffed by book lovers, were giving way to large chain stores that had large advertising budgets and could sell books at lower prices because publishers gave them discounts for buying in large quantities. Even after publishers responded to complaints from independent store owners by offering them discounts as well, the small bookshops had difficulty competing with the chains. The result was a growing standardization of offerings nationwide, with both publishers...