Lakeside Book and Open Road strike distribution and marketing deal
Open Road will move its print distribution to Lakeside Book, with the cutover from current distributor IPG scheduled for Summer 2027.
Open Road Integrated Media and Lakeside Book Company announced a multi-faceted partnership, according to the outlet. Under the deal, Lakeside Book's distribution clients and its Dover Publications division will get access to Open Road's Ignition ebook backlist marketing program, while Open Road becomes a printing and distribution client of Lakeside Book for its print books.
The partnership follows Lakeside Book's November 2025 acquisition of Baker & Taylor Publishing Services and its hiring of Todd McGarity as Senior Vice President of Business Development earlier this year. Lakeside Book currently provides distribution services to more than 150 independent publishers, all of which will now have access to Open Road's marketing program, the outlet reported. Open Road markets more than 100,000 books and serves more than 100 publishers, according to the outlet.
Dover Publications has signed on to have ebook backlist titles marketed through Ignition. The cutover from Open Road's current distributor, IPG, to Lakeside Book is scheduled for Summer 2027, the outlet reported.
If you're one of the 150-plus independent publishers Lakeside Book already distributes for, this is worth a closer look, not a shrug. You're getting access to Open Road's Ignition backlist marketing program as part of the deal, and backlist sales are exactly where most authors leave money on the table. Open Road says Ignition "consistently doubles" backlist ebook sales — that's their claim about their own program, so treat it as a pitch to watch, not a guarantee to plan around. What matters for you this week is simpler: if your publisher distributes through Lakeside Book, ask them directly whether and when your titles go into Ignition, and what that means for your contract and royalty reporting.
From the Coral Wire edition of Sat, Nov 14 2026 · Coral Index 69/100 (Tailwinds building)