William Styron Archives - Book Business

February 10, 2014Open Road Integrated Media Acquires E-Reads

Open Road Integrated Media, the largest independent ebook publisher, announced today that it has acquired E-Reads, the oldest independent ebook publisher in the field.

August 20, 2013NewSpring Begins $11 Million Funding for OpenRoad Digital Publisher

In May 2010, Open Road published its first ebook from its first author, William Styron. Today, we publish and copublish just over four thousand ebooks from more than five hundred authors.

In just three short years, we have launched our marketing platform and grown our catalog. We began as an epublisher of literary fiction from authors such as Pat Conroy, Alice Walker, Iris Murdoch, Michael Chabon, and James Jones. From that strong foundation, we have expanded to verticals and genres and are now the digital home of a number of titles from a wide variety of writers.

May 23, 2013Six book publishing lessons from Open Road Media’s first three years

When the former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman cofounded Open Road Media in 2009, the publisher was one of the first of its kind: The idea was that it would mine the backlist for books that had never been available as ebooks, snap up the digital rights and publish the ebooks for the first time, thus introducing authors like William Styron and Alice Walker to new audiences.

Nearly four years and 3,000 titles later (with an additional 1,000 titles under contract), the company is still focused around acquiring and marketing backlist titles.

November 18, 2010Caught! Catch-22 Now an E-Book

The clauses have been cleared, the contract signed. "Catch-22" is an e-book. "Catch-22" first came out in 1961 and Simon & Schuster plans a special 50th anniversary edition in hardcover and paperback next year, featuring an introduction by Christopher Buckley and reprints of essays by Norman Mailer, Anthony Burgess and others.

October 16, 2009Jane Friedman Focuses on E-books With Open Road Venture

Former HarperCollins President and CEO Jane Friedman has launched Open Road Integrated Media (ORIM) in partnership with film producer Jeffrey Sharp. Financed by Kohlberg Ventures, Open Road is a content marketing company that "places the e-book in the center of a multiplatform universe which includes film, video and other forms of digital entertainment." Friedman will serve as CEO, and Sharp as president.