Pronoun was a New York-based company that provides free book publishing, marketing, and analytics services to authors. Pronoun was launched in 2015. Founded as Vook, the company was renamed Pronoun following acquisitions of publishing analytics platform Booklr and short-form ebook publisher Byliner. In May 2016, Pronoun was acquired by

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

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Vook

Pronoun was preceded by Vook, a digital book publisher that combined text, video, and links to the internet and social media into singular applications available both online and as mobile applications. Vook was founded by serial Internet entrepreneur Bradley Inman and was announced in April 2009. Vook was launched October 1, 2009 with four debut titles, published in partnership with Atria, an imprint of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

: ''Promises'', a romance by

Jude Deveraux Jude Deveraux (born September 20, 1947; née Jude Gilliam) is an American author of historical romances. Deveraux has written over 40 novels, many of which have been on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list, including such titles as ''A Knight ...

; ''The 90 Second Fitness Solution'', a fitness book by Pete Cerqua; ''Embassy'', a thriller by Richard Doetsch; and ''Return to Beauty'', a health book by Narine Nikogosian. In January 2010 Vook raised $2.5 million in seed financing from a group of prominent Silicon Valley and New York investors including

Ron Conway Ronald Crawford Conway (born March 9, 1951) is an American venture capitalist and philanthropist. He has been described as one of Silicon Valley's "super angels". Early career Conway graduated from San Jose State University with a bachelor's de ...

, Michael Maples and

Kenneth Lerer Kenneth Lerer is an American businessman and a media executive. He was the chairman and co-founder of ''The Huffington Post'', an American news website acquired by Aol in 2011. Lerer is also a managing director of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and chai ...

. In December 2010, Vook raised $5.25 million in Series A financing. Investors in this round included VantagePoint Venture Partners and FLOODGATE. In 2010, Vook, in partnership with NBC Universal and Perseus Books, launched ''JFK: 50 Days'', an interactive eBook, and the Video Guide series of eBooks, among other apps and eBooks. In 2011, Vook launched several new series of titles, including TextVook (animated eBooks and apps on academic subjects) and Brief Histories (historical overviews of popular subjects enhanced with video and text), in partnership with Charles River Editors. Vook partnered with ABC News to create several enhanced eBooks, including ''A Modern Fairy Tale: William, Kate, and Three Generations of Royal Love'', ''TARGET: Bin Laden – The Life and Death of Public Enemy Number One'', and ''The Amanda Knox Story''. In 2012, Vook launched a platform for

self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

ebook creation. The platform included management of multiple titles, a

WYSIWYG In computing, WYSIWYG ( ), an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, is a system in which editing software allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed d ...

editor, metadata, media management, push-button publishing to multiple ebook stores, and optional additional services such as marketing consultations and copyediting.

Byliner

In 2012,

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

and Byliner co-published ''Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek'', by New York Times reporter

John Branch John Branch Jr. (November 4, 1782January 4, 1863) was an American politician who served as U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Navy, the 19th Governor of the state of North Carolina, and was the sixth and last territorial governor of Florida. Bio ...

. More titles at 10,000 to 20,000 words, were written, for sale at $2 or $3, for reading in a single sitting. ;Byliner stories: *

Amy Tan Amy Ruth Tan (born on February 19, 1952) is an American author known for the novel '' The Joy Luck Club,'' which was adapted into a film of the same name, as well as other novels, short story collections, and children's books. Tan has written ...

''Rules for Virgins'' *

Ann Patchett Ann Patchett (born December 2, 1963) is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel ''Bel Canto''. Patchett's other novels include '' The Patron Saint of Liars'' (1 ...

''The Getaway Car'' *

Buzz Bissinger Harry Gerard Bissinger III, also known as Buzz Bissinger and H. G. Bissinger (born November 1, 1954) is an American journalist and author, best known for his 1990 non-fiction book '' Friday Night Lights''. He is a longtime contributing editor at ...

''After Friday Night Lights'' *

David Leonhardt David Leonhardt (born January 1, 1973) is an American journalist and columnist. Since April 30, 2020, he has written the daily "The Morning" newsletter for ''The New York Times''. He also contributes to the paper's Sunday Review section. His col ...

''Here's the Deal: How Washington Can Solve the Deficit and Spur Growth'' *

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir ''Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work f ...

''Everyone's Reading Bastard'' *

Richard Russo Richard Russo (July 15, 1949) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. Early life and education Russo was born in Johnstown, New York, and raised in nearby Gloversville. He earned a bachelor's degree, a Master o ...

''Nate in Venice'' *

Tony Horwitz Anthony Lander Horwitz (June 9, 1958 – May 27, 2019) was an American journalist and author who won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. His books include ''One for the Road: a Hitchhiker's Outback'', ''Baghdad Without a Map'', '' ...

''Boom'' (

Keystone XL pipeline The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Albert ...

) In 2014, Vook acquired Byliner, a digital imprint.

Change to Pronoun

In 2015, Vook was renamed Pronoun, a self-publishing and analytics platform for authors. In May 2016, the major publishing house Macmillan bought the firm, which retained its brand.

Discontinuance

In November 2017, Macmillan announced the closing of Pronoun, with no new authors or books being accepted. Legacy writers were told they could continue their account activities with already submitted materials but that Macmillan expects to terminate distribution around mid-January 2018.

References

External links

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Definition of ''Vook''

PCMag ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

Vooks
- Academics' Choice Awards {{E-book digital distribution platforms Ebook suppliers Defunct companies based in New York City Internet properties established in 2009 Publishing companies established in 2009 Defunct publishing companies of the United States 2016 mergers and acquisitions Internet properties disestablished in 2016 Publishing companies disestablished in 2016 2009 establishments in New York City 2016 disestablishments in New York (state)