Open Road Integrated Media is a company that is bringing new life to forgotten books with the help of machine learning technology. While most books get a brief moment of attention when they are first published, Open Road is using machine learning to make older titles more visible online. They have a program that scans the internet for every mention of a title and generate marketing suggestions for that title. They also use an army of 3 million heavy readers who receive their newsletters to stimulate algorithms that give the titles better placement on retail websites. Open Road has successfully promoted many backlist titles, doubling sales on average. Their success has led to a partnership with independent publisher Grove Atlantic, where they promote about 1500 of their backlist titles, including famous books Black Hawk Down and 1942: The Year That Tried Men’s Souls.
David Steinberger, the CEO of Open Road Integrated Media, states that their company has the potential to breathe new life into forgotten books in a way that challenges the conventional wisdom of the industry. Books that have been out for a long time are generally ignored by publishers, but Open Road has found a way to promote these older books through the use of machine learning technology. Steinberger says the company can double the sales of backlist titles. Open Road’s success has made the company an investor for independent publisher Grove Atlantic.
