Why publishers should move to Detroit

A friend sent an email about his wonderful new house. “We bought a 2,200 sq. ft. home on two acres for $120,000, with property taxes totaling $1,400 per year.”

That’s bigger than my home with more property, yet nearly 80 percent less expensive. The downside: my friend lives in Oklahoma.

But perhaps that’s no downside. Perhaps that’s opportunity. Why should publishers sit in New York? If being down 20 percent is the new up, where do you cut costs to get profits? Here’s a thought: move someplace else.

Why not dump your high-rent digs and go to some part of America where costs are lower. Move someplace like Pittsburgh or Cleveland and your staff would feel like they got an automatic raise, even if you cut salaries. If you go to Vegas, they get a raise and can be part of the broader western trend in the U.S. Why shouldn’t a national magazine, for instance, want to get closer to the national audience? Retailers seem to survive without being based in New York. JC Penney rather famously moved to Texas, and look, it’s still around. Perhaps publishers could do the same.

Heck, move to Detroit. Writers are used to squalor. Mayor Bing will probably give you an office building. Governor Granholm would probably cut your corporate taxes down to nil. A 2,000 sq. ft., four-bedroom,  two-bath house  sells for $200K in Grosse Pointe. At that price, even those revenue blackholes in editorial could buy a house. Worried about public schools? Send the kids to Cranbrook. Editors could rotate people through the New York bureau for a week and not feel the cost. We have our Wiis, flat screen TVs, and iPods. Do we really need Manhattan?