compiled by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager
2021 has been extremely productive for all of us here at Westchester, as the number of publishers we work with and the variety of project requirements we support for them continues to grow. Below are several of the highlights from the past few months:
Another successful publishing industry webinar with Publishers Weekly
April began strongly, with our most highly attended webinar to date, hosted in partnership with Publishers Weekly. Jim Milliot, PW’s Editorial Director was the moderator for a wide-ranging discussion with four publishing industry thought leaders. The more than 500 attendees heard firsthand about how the panelists’ companies and their employees adapted to the multiple challenges 2020 created, including the supply chain issues we are all contending with in the industry, as well as what we might expect as we navigate through this year. We’ll be announcing details about our next event with PW soon, so stay tuned!
Westchester Education Services Webinars
In May and June, Westchester Education Services hosted two informative webinars that were each moderated by Kevin J. Gray, President and Chief Content Officer. “The State of K-12 Education in 2021”, focused on the impacts of the last year-plus on education at the school district level and what would be required to support successful outcomes for students as they prepare for the upcoming school year.
The “Emerging Trends in K-12 Education” webinar showcased three areas of learning that have experienced significant interest over the last year as there is increased understanding about how social-emotional learning, culturally responsive education, and career and technical education are all important facets of meeting students where they are in their education journey and supporting their learning goals.
Westchester Education Services expands into CTE
Speaking of Career and Technical Education, this past spring Westchester Education Services appointed Debbie Allen as Content Director for Career and Technical Education. Debbie leads a team of subject matter experts who draw upon their extensive experience in teaching CTE to create effective supplemental materials to serve students and teachers in several career pathways. To the right is one of the career exploration worksheets we developed to introduce students to the different types of jobs that are available in various career clusters.
It truly is an honor to be nominated
This May, we received the thrilling news that Westchester Education Services was shortlisted by The Stationers’ Company in the service development category for our Culturally Responsive Education Rubric Review process. We felt like winners to receive recognition from our industry peers in the UK’s livery company that has represented the needs and interests of publishing and media professionals for more than six centuries. Learn more about all the shortlisted entries and watch the awards ceremony.
Westchester Words’ first season springs forth
The Westchester Words podcast debuted in March and really hit its stride this spring, when yours truly had the pleasure of speaking with more than a dozen professionals in education, ed tech, and publishing about a variety of subjects that are impacting these industries. You can find all of the episodes on your favorite streaming platform or at our websites, where we have posted additional content that some of our guests have been kind enough to share.
The final episodes of the first season are being released in the coming weeks. We’re planning our second season of episodes, so if there’s a topic you want to hear more about, get in touch.
Ensuring Content Compliance on Digital Platforms
If your preferred reading mode is digital, you probably know that Amazon sunset the ability to load or update mobi files for new or previously published content on their platform last month. In early May, Scott Keeney, Westchester’s Senior Composition and Digital Production Manager, wrote this informative blog post explaining how this also impacted reflowable ePubs and outlined how Westchester is well-prepared to support publishers with ePub3 files that meet the updated platform requirements.
Summer Reading 2021
While some kids get chills up their spine when told they will have to read several books during the summer break and turn in book reports on the first day of school, I wasn’t one of them and I suspect many of you weren’t, either. Now that we’re all adults and can skip doing book reports, each May I ask my colleagues to tell me what books they plan to read during the quieter days of summer and they always impress me with their title selections. See what they picked for this summer’s reading pile, and let us know what’s on your list.
Looking Ahead
We are thinking about the time when we’ll be able to safely gather in an in-person setting. Until then, stay connected with us by following our LinkedIn pages, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and looking for our email messages in your inbox, filled with information about the services and knowledge-packed webinars we offer to help you understand and respond to the developments that are shaping the publishing industry.
Westchester proudly supports more than 300 publishers in all sectors of the publishing industry with their editorial, production, design, and content development requirements. Read and download our case studies about the efficient and cost-effective solutions we have provided your peer publishers, and talk with us about our customizable workflows that output printer and POD-ready content files in the formats you need for your customers.
Wishing you an enjoyable, relaxing second half of the summer.
The past year and a half has presented its fair share of challenges for publishers, including how to repurpose existing content into the formats that your readers want to access it in.
Submitted by: India Barnes, Project Coordinator, Westchester Education Services
Submitted by: Kenia Gonzalez, Customer Service Representative
Submitted by: Mona Tiwary, Director of Publishing Services, Westchester Publishing Services India
Submitted by: Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer
Submitted by: Kim Giambattisto, Senior Production Editor
Submitted by: Darryl Keck, Layout Specialist
Submitted by: Tim Yetzina, Senior Supervising Editor for Science and Social Studies, Westchester Education Services
Submitted by: Rosemary Dannin, Project Manager, Westchester Education Services
Submitted by: Megan Overman, Senior Supervising Editor for Literacy and SEL, Westchester Education Services
Submitted by: Kevin J. Gray, President and Chief Content Officer, Westchester Education Services
Submitted by: Deb Taylor, Director of Market Research
Amazon has announced that effective June 28, when uploading ePub content for new books or updates to previously published content on their platform, mobi files will no longer be supported.
In March, we launched the 
Our team of subject matter experts has increased to support the evolving needs of our clients. We have recently welcomed Amanda Robb, Senior Supervising Editor for Math, and Debbie Allen, Senior Supervising Editor for CTE. Additionally, Meg Overman was promoted to Senior Supervising Editor for SEL and Literacy, and Sam Tucker is our Senior Editor for Culturally Responsive Education. Visit our 
The Westchester Education Services team in the UK has also increased, to meet the expanding needs of education publishers and ed-tech companies serving the UK, EMEA and Asia Pacific markets. In January, Rebecca Durose-Croft was appointed Content Director and Curriculum Specialist, and in March, Marquita Celestine joined Westchester Education Services UK as Business Development Manager. Rebecca brings a wealth of experience from Editorial and Project Management roles at publishers including Oxford University Press, Pearson Education, Cambridge University Press, and Marshall Cavendish, while Marquita was most recently affiliated with Hodder Education and DK.
March was a very busy month for Westchester UK. In addition to the acquisition of River Editorial, we participated in the IPG (Independent Publishers Guild) inaugural International Publishing Forum, which in the absence of international fairs including London and Frankfurt, served to bring together publishers, retailers, industry experts and suppliers to participate in an international forum of meetings. We will also be exhibiting at IPG’s Virtual Spring Conference next month and look forward to connecting with you there.
There are many ways that Westchester Publishing Services supports our clients’ changing editorial and production requirements. You can 
On April 6, Westchester Publishing Services and Publishers Weekly hosted the very successful 