Peeking under the hood of Jane Friedman's secret e-book start-up

There is life after Rupert Murdoch. Jane Friedman, the former HarperCollins CEO who left abruptly last year amid rumors she'd been forced out, has returned to the book-publishing world in a well-funded new venture. Friedman has raised $3 million for a start-up called OpenRoad Integrated Media, a company whose purpose is intriguingly vague.

PaidContent says OpenRoad plans to be a publisher of e-books that will also function as "multi-platform plays." I've heard a bit more detail. The buzzword Friedman's been throwing around for the past few months is "legacy titles." Rather than sign up a bunch of new authors, she's apparently looking to secure the digital rights to books that already exist -- but, say, might no longer be in print.