Open Road Integrated Media hired children’s publishing veteran Barbara Marcus as a consultant for their endeavors to enter the children’s market. Marcus’ role also allows her to consult on international business development and general strategic issues for the company.
Marcus has been in publishing for more than 27 years. For 22 of them, she worked at Scholastic, eventually ascending to president and bringing the Harry Potter series to the United States. She currently acts as a consultant for a number of companies and organizations including the Penguin Young Readers Group, Knowledge Adventure, and Media Source.
Marcus commented: “I believe that Open Road will establish an important presence in children’s digital books and I am excited to be part of that effort. E-reading devices will become part of children’s backpacks and classrooms and as a result ebooks sales of children’s books will flourish.”
Open Road was given $3 million from a venture capitalist firm, Kohlberg Ventures. Less than a year later, , Open Road received an additional $4 million bringing the total to $7 million. Currently, the company supports eBook formats for Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, B&N nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo. With Marcus on board and the support of this investor, there should be more exciting news to come.
Editor’s Note: This post has been updated for clarification.