E-publisher CEO heads back to the future, but her roadmap is blurry

Jane Friedman sounded bullish at a lunchtime lecture on Tuesday. Speaking about the state of her field, the CEO of Open Road Integrated Media said to members of New York University 's Master of Science Publishing Program: "This is the most exciting time for publishing. There are more books, more diverse formats, and more opportunities to serve customers in a whole new way."

Friedman has reason to be excited. She made waves this year by launching an e-book publishing venture after departing mysteriously from HarperCollins, where she was CEO from 1997 to 2008. But the opening of her short keynote speech and the lengthy Q&A that followed underscored the nagging sense that, at least publicly, Open Road is more about buzz and less about specifics.