[2] In 1890 Pertsov published his first poems in Saint Petersburg newspapers Nedelya (Week) and Novosti (News) to some favourable reviews, including the one by Afanasy Fet.

In 1892 he became friends with Nikolai Mikhaylovsky and joined the staff of Russkoye Bogatstvo, then a liberal narodnik's magazine, as a head of the bibliography department.

In 1894, engaged by his new friends, Valery Bryusov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Fyodor Sologub, he started to contribute to Severny Vestnik, the Russian Symbolist movement's early tribune.

[3] In 1898 Severny Vestnik closed and in 1902 Gippius and Merezkovsky invited Pertsov, now a popular literary entrepreneur, to join their newly founded magazine Novy Put as an editor/publisher.

In 1906 Pertsov (whose works were published regularly by Mir Iskusstva, among other magazines) became the editor of newspaper Slovo’s literary supplement.