Press Release: Macmillan Acquires Pronoun, Formerly Vook
New York, NY – May 25, 2016 – Macmillan Publishers announces the acquisition of Pronoun, Inc., a New York City–based technology company that provides digital book publishing tools, analytics, and services for authors and media companies.
Pronoun’s author-focused platform encompasses automated digital book creation, distribution to major digital retailers, data-driven marketing tools, and a connected network of professional service providers. Pronoun also operates its own publishing imprints, including Byliner, and publishes books in partnership with leading media companies such as The New York Times, Fast Company, and Forbes. Josh Brody, currently CEO, will serve as the President of Pronoun; Ben Zhuk, currently Chief Product Officer of Pronoun, will become VP, Product for Macmillan.
Andrew Weber, Macmillan Publishers COO, says, “I’m excited to welcome Pronoun to Macmillan and look forward to working with Josh and Ben and the rest of the team on the further development of the platform and publishing imprints. We’ve been impressed with the team’s data, analytics, and technology capabilities and believe they will be beneficial to our publishers and authors in addition to an expanding set of independent authors.” Josh Brody says, “We’re thrilled to be joining Macmillan and can’t imagine a better place for Pronoun to continue the work we started two years ago: to build a new model for publishing and to enable writers everywhere to publish great books. Being part of Macmillan will allow us to create better tools and services for authors and will let us do even more for our growing author community.”
About Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers is a global trade book publishing company with prominent imprints around the world. Macmillan publishes a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.
U.S. publishers include Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Picador, St. Martin’s Press, and Tor Books. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, Macmillan publishes under the Pan Macmillan name. The German company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur. Macmillan Publishers is a division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a family-owned media company headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
