Press Release: Pronoun Raises $3.5M from Avalon Ventures to Empower Authors

New York City - Pronoun, the digital book publishing platform for authors, announced today a $3.5 million investment from Avalon Ventures. This venture capital financing closely follows the announcement of Pronoun's new book publishing platform, which uses technology and data to empower authors to create, distribute, and market their books while controlling all intellectual property rights and keeping 100 percent of earnings.

With this financing, Pronoun is further developing its technology and data analytics, creating a viable alternative to the exclusions and restrictions of traditional publishing as well as to the complexity, limitations, and high costs of self-publishing for authors.

"At Pronoun our mission is to put the author at the core of everything we create," said Josh Brody, Chief Executive Officer of Pronoun. "This funding allows us to continue building a team of people who sincerely value authors and their books, and to deepen our commitment to providing authors with free and meaningful tools, resources, and capabilities."

Major media companies, brands, and bestselling authors, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fast Company, Jon Krakauer, Jodi Picoult, and Nick Hornby, have published more than 7,000 titles on Pronoun's digital book creation and distribution platform. Pronoun's proprietary data and analytics engine, which tracks performance, customer behavior, and pricing statistics on more than 5 million books each day, helps authors find and reach their audience for the lifetime of their books.

Pronoun joins Avalon Ventures' successful investment portfolio in digital media, which includes Zynga, Simulmedia, Tapad, and Bookbub. Avalon Ventures partners Rich Levandov and Brady Bohrmann join Pronoun's Board of Directors in conjunction with leading this investment.

"Book publishing remains a multibillion dollar industry and an important part of our media culture, but its infrastructure and business model is trapped in an analog world. We believe there's a massive opportunity to rethink how publishing works and operates," said Rich Levandov, Partner, Avalon Ventures. "As an investor, I look for companies and teams that are not only willing to be first movers, but that stand up for, and empower, creators. We invested in Pronoun because, like us, this team believes the future of publishing will be driven by technology, data, and a model that puts authors first."