Perseus Book Group was founded in 1996 by venture capitalist Frank Pearl. It is an independent company that represents independent publishers. Imprints include Avalon Travel, Basic Books, Basic Civitas, Da Capo, Lifelong Books, Running Press, Seal Press, Vanguard Press and Westview Press. Perseus also partners with PublicAffairs, Nation Books, with Weinstein Books and The Daily Beast, and handles distribution for 300 publishers. In 2005, Perseus acquired “Client Distribution Services” to strengthen distribution.

With Constellation, Perseus offers a complete set of digital services for independent publishers aiming at enabling and supporting digital publishing, distribution and monitoring of digital sales and marketing.

Key Company Developments in 2013 & First Half of 2014

Financial

Perseus Book Group surpassed its goals for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013, according to CEO David Steinberger. Growth was attributed to success at Basic Books (“Consider the Fork” by Bee Wilson), PublicAffiars (The Great Deformation), Avalon, and print and digital sales for travel imprints Rick Steves and Moon. Perseus’s distribution business also closed with positive results.

Ownership, Mergers & Acquisition, Internal Organization

In May 2014, Perseus announced the launch of Perseus Academic, a client services division dedicated to university presses and scholarly publishers. The division will be run by Sabrina McCarthy, president of Perseus Distribution, as an affiliate. Clients include Princeton University Press, University of California Press, Columbia University Press. Other current Perseus Distribution clients will move into the new division.

With the departure of Joe Mangan of Perseus’ executive team to Hachette Book Group, Charles Gallagher, chief financial officer, was promoted to become COO at Perseus. New reporting relationships were introduced.

Perseus incorporated Legato Publisher Services, part of Publishers Group West, which will sell client titles under the leadership of Mark Suchomel.

Digital

Perseus expanded a piliot program with Oyster, the e-book subscription service, to make 4,000 titles available to subscribers in May 2014. The pilot program began with 100 Perseus titles and was Perseus’s first subscription e-book deal. Oyster launched in September 2013 and gives readers unlimited access to more than 100,000 titles for $8.99 a month.

Perseus also announced a partnership with Scribd, another subscription e-book service.

Perseus’ Constellation digital platform reached deals with over 400 publishers, with 30,000 active titles and digital printing of 2 million.

Earlier Developments:

Financial

Perseus showed significant growth in 2012, with revenues up to 425 million USD (up from 350 million USD in 2011 and 300 million USD in 2010), and predicted further organic growth for 2013.

Fiscal year 2012, which ended in June 30, 2012, “beat expectations” according to CEO David Steinberger. Perseus’s digital platform Constellation could add over 100 new clients.

Ownership, Mergers & Acquisition, Internal Organization

In 2013, Perseus announced the launch of a new division, Legato, headed by Mark Suchomel, former president of Independent Publishers Group (IPG). Based in Chicago, Legato aims to build a client list of 30 to 40 new publishers.

International

In 2011, Perseus launched a cooperation with British group Faber and Faber, branded FaberFactory, in order to extend their services to the UK.

Digital

Perseus operates its own digital distribution platform, Constellation and created Faber Factory for the digital market in the U.K.

In 2011, Perseus extended their distribution service to agents and authors under the brand of Argo Navis, aimed at the expanding self-publishing market. Investments and innovation focused on social media platforms to optimize title discoverability and improve metadata.

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