(London-April 15th, 2013)-Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher and multimedia content company, announced today from the London Book Fair that they have signed partnerships with five international publishers across Europe, including Grupo Planeta of Spain; RCS Libri of Italy; De Arbeiderspers|A.W. Bruna Publishers (AP/AWB) of the Netherlands; the Robert Laffont Group of France; and Univers Poche of France. Open Road will bring the English translations of a wide selection of their books to digital format, digitizing, distributing, and marketing all titles in North America, the world’s largest ebook market, and a majority of titles throughout the world.
These publishers join Open Road’s International Publishing Partners Program, which already includes Mondadori, Barcelona eBooks, Publishers Square (Place Des Éditeurs), and Rowohlt Verlag.
Jane Friedman, cofounder and CEO of Open Road said: “These five publishers are home to many of the most talented and original European writers. We all believe that a good book is a good book around the world, and we are excited to work with our partners to introduce their authors to new readers.”
The partnerships will kick off later this year:
- Grupo Planeta (Spain) has more than one hundred years of history and its fifty imprints are leaders in Spain and Latin America. The partnership begins with nearly twenty-five books of historical fiction, women’s fiction, and literary fiction including Angeles Caso’s Against the Wind; Mara Torres’s The Imaginary Life; Luz Gabás’s Palm Trees in the Snow, and Gonzalo Giner’s The Silent Rider.
- RCS Libri (Italy) comprises several publishing houses, and its premier adult publisher, Rizzoli, is constantly at the top of the Italian bestseller lists. The partnership begins with nearly twenty titles from the romance, historical fiction, and literary fiction categories, from bestselling authors including Franco Di Mare, Dacia Maraini, and Oriana Fallaci, and will continue with backlist titles from these authors. The first title to be published will be the bestselling Italian romance novel by Giulia Ottaviano, Love Will Tear You Apart.
- De Arebiderspers and A.W. Bruna Publishers (Netherlands) joined together in 2012 to form the largest general publishing house in the Netherlands. The partnership will launch with nearly twenty-five titles from authors with extensive backlists. Open Road will publish Arthur Japin and Christiaan Weijts from De Arbeiderspers, and its initial list from A.W. Bruna will have three books by the bestselling crime writer Suzanne Vermeer.
- The Robert Laffont Group (France) comprises four publishing houses and covers a variety of genres including novels, poetry, essays, and nonfiction, with two hundred new releases and four million copies sold annually. The partnership will begin with ten titles spanning the categories of historical fiction, thrillers, mysteries, and Jewish literature, including Philippe Besson’s An Accidental Man; Marek Halter’s Queen of Sheba and The Birobidzhan Affair; David Camus’s The Knights of the Kingdom; Jean-Claude Lattès’s The Last King of the Jews; Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian’s The Hidden Gateway; and two works by Frédéric Lenoir.
- Univers Poche (France) is one of the largest paperback publishers in France. The partnership will include thrillers and erotic short stories including Castle of Pleasure, Sexotherapy, Dream Holidays for a Stressed Out Mom, and A Cry of Love.
