Constellation in the News
Reprinted with permission from Publishers Lunch, April 8, 2010:
Perseus Opens Up Digital Distribution Service; Will Aggregate for iBookstore
The Perseus Books Group is expanding their digital distribution service Constellation to make it an option for any independent publisher, now opening it up to clients who are not already customers of the company’s physical distribution services. In concert with that strategic move, Perseus has been named an approved aggregator for Apple’s iBookstore, joining the list of seven other companies that we covered earlier in the week.
As is the case for existing Constellation publishers, new clients can choose which of the 20 Constellation partners they want to work with through the service—from the iBookstore only, to the full roster of relationships. Those partners include Amazon Kindle, BN.com and nook, Kobo, Sony, Overdrive, Ingram Digital, and Google Book Search, along with other digital discovery, digital printing, digital asset management and emarketing services. CEO David Steinberger says that they had already received “a tremendous amount of interest from other independent publishers looking to take part in Constellation,” and “that interest has spiked with the introduction of iBookstore.”
For publishers still wrestling with yesterday’s story on the hybrid agency/wholesale model that many companies are experimenting with or contemplating, we’ll remind you that the iBookstore aggregator contracts appear to place less of a contractual burden on publishers to maintain price parity than Apple’s direct contracts.
In other e-news of note, in two separate reports Engadget finds internal store data that they say confirms that Amazon will start selling Kindle readers at Target stores on April 25 (at the same list price of $259) and Best Buy will start selling BN’s nook readers on April 18.
New York Times, March 23, 2010
Apple Adds 2 Publishers to Its Store for E-Books
New York Times, March 22, 2010
Perseus Signs an EBooks Deal for the iPad
Publishers Weekly, April 30, 2009
Perseus Adds Partners to Constellation Program
Book Business, September 12, 2008
Perseus Announces New “One-Stop” Digital Publishing Service
Publishers Weekly, September 8, 2008
The Summer of POD
Quill & Quire, September 5, 2008
Big deal for small (U.S.) publishers
U.S. firm Perseus Books Group is offering small publishers a chance to access digital book technology with the launch of a new service.… The move solidifies Perseus’ status as one of the foremost distributors of indie publishers in the U.S. More
Publishers Lunch, September 4, 2008
One-Stop eServices for Perseus Clients
Perseus has officially announced their program to help physical distribution clients and their own publishing units streamline participation in a variety of digital and ebook sales and promotion/visibility programs. More
WashingtonPost.com, September 4, 2008
Digital Publishing May Get Easier For Indies
Business Week, September 4, 2008
Big Technology for Small Book Publishers
The gap between small, independent book publishers and the big houses is narrowing. At least in terms of technology. More
New York Times, September 3, 2008
Small Book Publishers Offered New Technology
Hundreds of small, independent publishers will have easier access to digital book technology under a new service offered by Perseus Books Group. More