And he’s someone who understands the value of our books and authors. "His experience in developing successful digital media companies, his business acumen, and his deep appreciation for media position him well to capitalize on the incredible growth that we’ve seen. “I know that Open Road’s authors, partners, and staff will work incredibly well with Paul," Friedman said in a statement. Friedman said Open Road plans to add two more online communities, one in late 2016 and another in early 2017.įinding ways to profitably grow Open Road’s revenue will be the top priority for Slavin, who Open Road said “will lead the company's next phase beyond content-spearheading Open Road's expanding focus on engaging and connecting with consumers while creating multiple new revenue streams through media and e-commerce.” Specific efforts included Early Bird Books, a daily newsletter with discounted e-book offers (with 375,000 subscribers), and the Lineup, a true-crime community site (with books from all publishers) that attracts 2.5 million page views and 1.3 million unique visitors per month. In an interview with PW this spring, Friedman said first quarter e-book sales were “fine.” In that same interview Slavin pointed to Open Road’s growing use of social media, and its online promotions, as things that have boosted e-book sales. That funding helped the company acquire a number of e-book publishers over the years, including E-reads and the e-book line of Premier Digital Publishing, both acquired in 2014. According to the Wall Street Journal, Open Road has received about $30 million in venture capital. Challenges publishers face in generating discovery for their titles helped Open Road Integrated Media attract a growing number of companies to its various services in 2022. The transformation from a commercial business to a nonprofit was a positive outcome compared to other alternatives including corporate ownership that could have been more focused on making making cuts to maximize profits, executives told Portland Press Herald employees at a meeting and celebration in South Portland.Open Road, which was founded in 2009, has amassed an e-book catalogue of over 10,000 titles, but has yet to turn a profit. Commercial news organizations are struggling from loss of advertising revenue,” said Tim Franklin, senior associate dean and leader of the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. “I wouldn’t say it’s sweeping the country but we’re seeing this trend. With frontlist sales for many publishers stalled, Open Road Integrated Media is adapting its Ignition programdesigned to give backlist e-books a boostto help promote new releases. The deal, which covers all of the state’s daily newspapers except the Bangor Daily News, represents a trend toward a nonprofit business model as newspapers continue to struggle. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The newspapers will now fall under the umbrella of the Maine Trust for Local News with the closing of the deal, announced Tuesday. Former Masthead owner Reade Brower retained ownership of several weeklies that weren’t part of the deal. ![]() ![]() The National Trust for Local News, which already owns two dozen newspapers in Colorado, is expanding its portfolio through the purchase of five daily newspapers and 17 weekly newspapers that were part of Masthead Maine. PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - With advertising shrinking and newspapers vanishing, Maine’s largest newspaper group became the latest to try a nonprofit model with the completion of the sale of more than 20 daily and weekly newspapers, including the Portland Press Herald.
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