MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
March 9-16, 2006 Edition
Veteran Publishing
Exec Roger Cooper
Named VP, CDS Books
NEW YORK, NY/3/6/06Roger Cooper today began his new role at Perseus Books Group as vice president, publisher of CDS Books, a division of Client Distribution Services and Perseus Books Group. The announcement was made last week by Perseus Books Group President and CEO David Steinberger and CDS President Steve Black.
Since Perseus acquired CDS, Ive been impressed by its book divisions innovative new publishing model, said Steinberger. Now that CDS Books has the shared resources of Perseus sales, production and marketing team, we felt that the time was ripe to enlist the talented and multi-experienced Roger Cooper to take this rich commercial imprint to the next level.
CDS Books, which has published such New York Times bestsellers as Secrets of the Code by Dan Burstein and Creepers by David Morrell has pioneered a new publishing model in which the publisher and authors are partners. Authors do not receive an advance, but receive a significantly higher percentage of royalties, guaranteed promotion and publicity plans, monthly royalty payments, and are an integral part of the decision making process with regard to a books packaging and focus of the marketing campaign.
I look forward to forging a unique and creative publishing partnership between authors, agents and CDS Books, said Cooper. Im excited to build upon the success already achieved by CDS Books, and will make sure that every author is treated as a true partnerpublished in the most innovative and successful way possible.
Roger Cooper comes to us with a long and distinguished career spanning more than 30 years and is known for bringing his innovative vision and energy to the publishing industry, added Black.
For the last four years, Cooper has worked as Executive Vice President of iBooks, Inc. and Byron Preiss Visual Publications, recently adding the title of Publisher for both companies. Previously Cooper worked for five years (1995-2000) as Vice-President, Editorial Director, Doubleday Direct, Inc., a division of Bertelsmann, Inc. (now Bookspan), where he was responsible for acquiring titles for the largest book club entity in North America.
Before that, he was Senior Vice President and Publisher of St. Martin’s Press, mass-market division, where he oversaw the growth of title acquisition, New York Times bestsellers, sales volume, and profile within the industry. At the Berkley Publishing Group, as Senior V.P and Publisher, Cooper played a major role in establishing Berkley as one of the top mass market publishing houses in the industry, and worked with such authors as Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, Robin Cook, W.E.B. Griffin, Nora Roberts, John Sandford and many more.
News of Coopers appointment at CDS Books has been met with ringing endorsements from authors and agents.
I worked with Roger Cooper when he was at Berkley Books. He impressed me with his energy and innovative thinking, always looking for new ways to communicate with readers. Hes a perfect match for CDS Books, an already creative organization that prides itself on fresh approaches, said author David Morrell, whose New York Times bestseller Creepers (CDS Books, 2005) will be a CDS paperback in August, 2006.
Agent Jane Dystel added, Ive had a wonderful relationship with CDS Books working with Steve Black and his colleagues over the publication of David Morrells Creepers. Ive known Roger Cooper for many years, and hope we will have a long and ongoing relationship once hes on board.
Dan Burstein, author of one of the CDS Books flagship titles, Secrets of the Code: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind the Da Vinci Code, which has sold nearly half a million copies in hardcover since its 2004 publication, spent more than 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and is being published in new, updated trade and mass market paperback editions this spring, observed: CDS has demonstrated a unique ability to bring entrepreneurial energy and big picture vision to the publishing business. The CDS publishing team has consistently supported the Secrets books in creative and dynamic ways, while delivering truly amazing time-to-market production and sales cycles. When Perseus acquired CDS, David Steinberger assured me that the whole would be more than the sum of the parts. The extent of the resources the combined companies have been able to deliver in support of the four titles I have published with CDS that are in the marketplace todayas well as the several additional titles in developmenthave certainly validated Davids forecast.
About CDS Books, New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore commented: I went with CDS because there I found people who were not thinking inside the box, and were finding a better way to publish books. From a sales and promotional standpoint, CDS doubled my expectations for The Highwayman based on the sales history of this series.
Founded in 1997, the Perseus Books Group is an independent company committed to enabling the success of independent publishing programs, whether they are joint venture partners, stand-alone businesses, or wholly-owned Perseus imprints. Perseus publishing programs include Basic Books, Basic Civitas, Counterpoint, CDS Books, Da Capo Press, PublicAffairs, Running Press, and Westview Press. Perseus distribution clients served through CDS (Client Distribution Services) include more than 50 independent publishers such as Abbeville, Assouline, BowTie Press, D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.), Harvard Business School Press, Planeta Publishing Corporation, The University of Michigan Press, Taschen and TOKYOPOP.
