This week at the Frankfurt Book Fair, former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman and film producer Jeffrey Sharp unveiled plans for Open Road Integrated Media–the brand new eBook outfit with a multimedia edge.
According to the NY Times, Friedman’s company procured $3 million in start-up finances from venture capitalist James A. Kohlberg. Between “backlist titles, new works and joint marketing agreements, which will include some self-published works,” the company aims to work on 750 to 1,000 titles in the first year.
Here’s more from the company’s introduction: “New titles will be born digital in ORIM’s Studio division as well as through a premium self-publishing division called Discovery. Both Studio and Discovery will have a print-on-demand capability and will be run by Publisher Brendan Cahill, formerly a founding editor of Gotham Books. In addition, ORIM will create co-marketing partnerships with legacy publishing houses for their digital titles. Open Road’s Digital Entertainment division (ORIM DigiEnt) will provide the rich video content for the company’s marketing program and will also develop available media rights from Open Road content.”