How has Pegasus grown over these two decades?
Our partnership with Simon & Schuster, which started in March 2020, has been crucial. S&S publisher services VP Keith Parent knows how to be aggressive but realistic, positioning titles at the right level—which is a huge help, given that the retail space for indies is so competitive.
What do you think are the main factors behind Pegasus’s longevity?
We’ve been able to find editorial niches that work for us: history and biography and, on the fiction side, crime. But it’s also been fun to take calculated risks with edgier creative nonfiction projects—for instance, we recently published a book on the history of women artists in the spiritualism movement.
What makes a Pegasus book?
Something that has literary merit and is rigorously researched or put together, depending on what kind of book it is. As an indie, we have essentially no marketing budget. It’s all earned media–driven. So our books need to be up to that task.
Publishing today is wracked with challenges. What’s ahead for Pegasus?
We’ve seen the industry adapt to e-books, social media, and now the closure of borders. Our instinct for finding high-quality books will continue to guide us. One thing that’s actually been good for us is the merging and pressure among the Big Five. It’s a huge opportunity to jump on books that have been overlooked or that they can’t make work.
