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Westchester 2018 Year in Review

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by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

Many year in review pieces come out in December, which means anything that happens the last few weeks of the year runs the risk of getting overlooked. That’s why I decided it might be better to wait a bit before sharing some of Westchester’s 2018 highlights with you:

Client Portal Enhancements

We continue to add capabilities to the Client Portal, our project management system that helps put more productivity and time back in the hands of our clients. Take a brief tour of the different ways the Client Portal gives you visibility to your projects while they’re with Westchester.

 

Prepress services whitepaper

Published and distributed by Publishers Weekly, Westchester sponsored this comprehensive report that provides in-depth analysis on why using the right third-party vendor to take care of editorial and composition services for your publication projects not only makes fiscal sense, but also frees up valuable resources within your company to focus on growing your business.

 

Westchester K-12 opens an office

2018 began with the opening of our K-12 division’s office in Dayton, Ohio. It’s an ideal central base for our team, given its proximity to several of our K-12 publisher clients who have offices in the Midwest region, combined with the large pool of educational publishing talent that calls the area home.

Westchester UK opens an office

After careful analysis and the strong reception we received in the market, we officially opened the doors to our Westchester UK office in Stratford upon Avon in September  – an apropos location given that it’s the birthplace of the Bard himself. Tim Davies, who was appointed as our UK Managing Director, has signed on a number of new clients who have been very pleased with the quality and the cost savings they can achieve when we provide editorial and typesetting services on their projects.

Expanded partnership with Dropbox

Our partnership with Dropbox continued to grow stronger throughout 2018. We collaborated on a case study about how we use Dropbox within our workflow processes with clients, and have integrated the Dropbox API into our Client Portal to further improve the UX, and deliver efficiencies for clients using this project management tool. We also had a discussion with George Baier to better understand how Dropbox envisions the ways media and technology will continue to intersect.

K-12 Familiarity

In the October newsletter I shared with you that our Dayton-based K-12 Publishing Services division was working on some special projects in front of the camera. One of the video projects the team focused on is about a graphic novel titled Unfamiliar. Take a look behind the scenes to see how our content and art teams created this graphic novel that addresses the themes of diversity and inclusivity in a format that students can engage with and see themselves in.

We built a new website!

The Dayton team was very busy this fall with a number of projects, including the updated and expanded Westchester K-12 website. Providing a complete overview of all the capabilities our K-12 team can execute on for educational publishers, it’s a great way to learn more about Westchester K-12. Click the image on the right to take a tour, and let us know what you think about it,

Our following grows

The number of people following us on LinkedIn nearly doubled in 2018. It’s a great way to stay in the know about what’s happening at Westchester, along with our website, blog, and other social media channels. If you’re not already connecting with us through at least one of these outlets, you should check them out so you can always be up to date!

On the road again…

The Westchester team was very busy in 2018, attending conferences on both sides of the Atlantic, including London Book Fair, Book Expo, ILA (International Literacy Association) NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Math), AUP (Association of University Publishers), IPG (Independent Publishers Guild), Frankfurt Book Fair, and many more. Be sure to visit our Conferences & Events page to see where we will be this year, and make an appointment to meet with us.

This is a very special year for Westchester Publishing Services, as 2019 marks 50 years since the company was founded. While some of the faces and much of the technology has changed over the past half-century, the one constant is the pride every employee has in delivering excellence on every job they work on for every client. We thank everyone who has been a part of this amazing journey, and are looking forward to celebrating this special milestone throughout the year!

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

As announced last summer, Westchester Publishing Services partnered with Dropbox to use its Dropbox API as part of the architecture of our Client Portal. Since then, we’ve been hard at work to bring you even more enhancements, resulting in the release of Version 2018.C.03, late last year.

To start off the new year, I thought I’d take a few minutes to give you a relatively concise tour of all the great features the Client Portal has to help you streamline management on your Westchester projects.  Want to learn more about how you can use the Client Portal to easily submit editorial and production projects to Westchester, track the assets and status of your project at each pass, customize dashboards and reports, email your rep at Westchester, and more?

If you’ve got about 9 minutes, you can learn more about the core editorial and production features as well as our newest enhancements to the Client Portal.

After you’ve toured the Client Portal, contact Westchester to learn how you can use it to help you trim costs and condense schedules on your publications projects.

compiled by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing and Conference Manager

I’m not quite sure how a year has elapsed since I put together the 2017 compilation of books that employees of Westchester Publishing Services read and wanted to recommend to others, but lo and behold, here we are. My colleagues have chosen a selection of titles as interesting and unique as each of them are, and you’ll likely find at least one book you should gift to yourself or to a fellow bibliophile who is special to you. Following these recommendations, are links to some other Best of Lists from this past year with book selections perfect for every age group and book category.

Make your gift go even further by purchasing any of these titles from your local independent bookseller. Simply click on the cover to locate a bookstore near you (or where the person you’re gifting it to is located). Happy holidays, and seasons readings!

These Truths: A History of the United States – by Jill Lepore

Publisher: W.W. Norton (a Westchester client publisher)

Why I recommend this book:  My wife is kind enough to give me a book every year for my birthday, from the local bookstore on Small Business Saturday. At a recent dinner party, we were discussing books we’d liked with two history professors – one teaches with my wife at Lewis University, her husband teaches at Loyola University in Chicago. My wife and her colleague both mentioned Lepore’s recent book on the history of Wonder Woman and this new book. I look forward to devouring this and challenging my beliefs on American history, and my wife is looking forward to reading it as well.

Selected by: Curt Alliaume, Project Manager, Westchester K-12 Publishing Services

The Witch Elm – by Tana French

Publisher: Viking

Why I recommend this book: Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series has been so enjoyable for me that when this standalone novel was released, I knew I would like it too. The book is about a young man recovering from injuries sustained when burglars broke into his apartment and beat him up badly, who then goes to live with and care for his dying uncle at his family’s ancestral home—and then a human skull is discovered hidden in a tree in the back garden. The writing is incredible, and it’s fascinating to see French’s knowledge of interrogation techniques from the point of view of the person being interviewed.

Selected by: Kimberly Giambattisto, Senior Production Editor

Never Use Futura – by Douglas Thomas

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Why I recommend this book: A book about a typeface is probably not for everyone, but if you enjoyed the documentary Helvetica, you’ll appreciate this ironically titled look at arguably the twentieth century’s most influential sans serif. Baked into the story of Futura are implications for the potential value of artistic compromise and the politics of appropriation. This is a quick read, a bit more engaging in its historical research than some of its later interpretations and case studies, but filled with interesting nuggets throughout.

Selected by: Scott Keeney, Production Manager – Composition and Digital Production

Inventing Edward Lear – by Sara Lodge

Publisher: Harvard University Press (a Westchester client publisher)

Why I recommend this book: I have always been a fan of Edward Lear and his nonsense rhymes, but he is even more interesting than I knew. A wonderful bio explores his writing, milieu, music, psychology, and influence. His drawings often incorporated his face (sometimes more of him, his rotund form worked well for many creatures) in his image of a bug, a snail, etcetera. I read here that Lear’s body of work may be viewed as an emotional autobiography, something of himself in every character. I am now going to read everything by Lear that I can get my hands on.

Selected by: Amelia Thurston, Production

The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living – by Meik Wiking

Publisher: William Morrow

Why I recommend this book: Meik Wiking is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. (Yes, that’s really a thing.) Being based in Copenhagen, he may be biased about why Denmark is the happiest place on earth, but over the course of this entertaining and at times thought-provoking look at the benefits of chilling out, wearing fluffy socks, drinking cocoa, and spending time with your friends and family, Wiking hits upon a number of meditative maxims about living in the moment that may benefit all of us. Especially as cocoa and fluffy socks season arrives here in the States.

Selected by: Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

The 17th Suspect – by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Why I recommend this book: This book is about a string of shootings taking place in San Francisco, with the killer randomly choosing his victim. The main character, Sergeant Lindsey must hunt down the killer while also trying to balance motherhood, wifehood, and a disease that could kill her. I chose this book because it has a strong female lead who asks help from other strong lead women to help with the case. Also with each turn of the page, the suspense grows to where you reach the end and are surprised to found out the killer’s identity. I highly recommend it.

Selected by: Kenia Gonzalez, Customer Service Representative

The Secret Lives of Color – by Kassia St. Clair

Publisher: Penguin Books

Why I recommend this book: This book caught my eye when I was browsing in my local Waterstones shop in Stratford upon Avon. It’s beautifully designed, printed and bound, with colour edging to the pages and restrained and elegant use of colour icons inside. It was a definite ‘impulse buy’ which transpired to be not only a beautiful object in itself, but also a fascinating and entertaining read, describing the history of colour, its use and meaning through the ages. It also reinforced the value of local bookshops and how high-quality production values and cleverly-curated merchandising can sell more books.

Selected by: Tim Davies, Managing Director, Westchester Publishing Services UK

The Fifth Season (Book 1 of the Broken Earth Trilogy) – by N.K. Jemisin

Publisher: Orbit

Why I recommend this book: There is a reason Jemisin won the Hugo Award three years in a row with this series (and broke a record by doing so)! In this gripping first installment, she builds a mysterious world in which Earth is a single continent that has been repeatedly ripped apart by seismic catastrophes over the past several centuries, and the telekinetics known as orogenes are the only thing keeping the human race from dying out completely. I won’t say any more because Jemisin keeps her world’s secrets close to her chest, but this is a mesmerizing book that should not be missed.

Selected by: Ashley Moore, Copyeditor

White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism – by Robin DiAngelo

Publisher: Beacon Press

Why I recommend this book: In White Fragility, DiAngelo, an expert on racial and social justice issues, explores systemic racism in American society, delving into the often subconscious ways in which the dominant culture remains dominant. Her book challenges the notion of “good old days,” forces the reader to explore what it means to be white, and offers concrete ways for whites to challenge assumptions and to act as allies for equality. This book is a fascinating read recommended to me by Nilofer Ali, our K-12 Resources Manager.

Selected by: Kevin J. Gray, Managing Director, Westchester K-12 Publishing Services

Educated – by Tara Westover

Publisher: Random House

Why I recommend this book: This compelling memoir is about the author’s upbringing as the youngest of seven children raised by her paranoid, survivalist father and his wife, an herbalist and unlicensed midwife, in rural southeastern Idaho. Due to her father’s distrust of the government, his four youngest children weren’t even known to exist (no birth certificates were filed) and they never attended school. Education came from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and a children’s science book, along with physical labor in their father’s scrapyard. Tara’s journey from this unfathomable existence to graduating from Brigham Young University and Cambridge University is a testament to the strength of the human spirit when someone believes in –and helps you to recognize– your full potential.

Selected by: Nicole Tomassi, Marketing and Conference Manager

For even more selections and reviews, check out these compilations:

New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2018 – Top titles for young children, teenagers, and adults.

National Public Radio’s Book Concierge – Practically a mini-library of more than 300 books that can be sorted by a multitude of categories.

The Scholarly Kitchen Chef’s Selection Part 1 and Part 2 – Contributors to the Society of Scholarly Publishing’s Scholarly Kitchen blog share the titles that they enjoyed reading in 2018.

5 Books I loved in 2018 – by Bill Gates

San Francisco Chronicle’s Holiday Gift Guide: Novels, Memoirs, Cookbooks, and more. Lots more.

 

Westchester has been a client of Dropbox for some time, and after conducting an in-depth analysis of the extent of their capabilities, we made the decision to partner with them at the beginning of 2018. It is important to us as a company to ensure our clients are able to use a best-in-class solution product that allows them easier ability to transmit files and track versions than they could with FTP sites, WeTransfer, or other alternatives. While Westchester has had enterprise FTP solutions via FTP and web-based FTP transfer for many years – constantly expanding those capabilities, we realized that many of our newer and legacy clients were adapting to newer transfer options.
 
In our latest version release of the Client Portal, Westchester has integrated features of the Dropbox API to save our clients valuable time when sending and receiving files, as well as tracking versions and interacting with Westchester on their projects. By adapting Dropbox features into the Client Portal, clients benefit from both the Dropbox DBX platform as well as our own project management software, to gain a clearer understanding of where each project is in the editorial or production workflow, and engage with their assets throughout the project. 
 
Learn more about our use of Dropbox in this video, and contact us to find out how using Westchester’s Client Portal can streamline your production workflow.

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer 

Late last month, I headed back across the Atlantic to visit with our growing customer base in the United Kingdom, as well as spend some time with Tim Davies, the Managing Director of our UK subsidiary. After spending another week visiting customers and attending conferences with him, I continue to be amazed at the depth of understanding of the strategic challenges facing publishers that Tim brings to even the most basic of engagements regarding editorial and composition services. Westchester, along with our clients are exceptionally fortunate to have Tim on board.

Lionel Bender speaking at The Bookseller Children's ConferenceOur first event of the week together was The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference, held at County Hall in South London in the shadow of the London Eye. We had meetings scheduled with a number of customers and prospective partners, and were elated with the amount of booth traffic from publishers who had never spoken with us before, wanting to learn more about how Westchester helps their peers. The opening session providing an overview of the industry stats (the state of juvenile publishing remains strong!) was reassuring and encouraging. Of particular interest to us in the sessions that followed were the comparisons between the US and UK markets provided by Hanna Otero (Lonely Planet Kids) and educational publishing luminary Lionel Bender. The Lonely Planet perspective largely dealt with how to package content for different markets, whereas the educational session dealt more with the trends in US supplemental educational publishing that could be considered within the British market. The former is of keen interest to Westchester as we do handle global editions for publishers, and the outcomes shared in the educational session bore some attention at our stand during the conference. Educational publishers came to take meetings and discuss the work being done by our stateside “K-12” division, which provides content development, editorial, and design services to US and UK publishers. The Bookseller continues to put together phenomenal conferences for the industry, and we look forward to seeing their staff again at FutureBook in November.

Tyler Carey and Tim Davies at the Westchester Publishing Services UK launch partyIn addition to being in town for the Children’s Conference and the monthly BookMachine meeting, Tim and I also had the opportunity to formally celebrate the opening of our UK office in Stratford-upon-Avon. Gathering with some customers, partners, and a few bottles of prosecco, we toasted this milestone in expanding our presence in the UK, and got to continue the week’s trend of meeting with publishers to better understand their particular take on the publishing landscape.

While I was in England, I also attended two events with the Stationers’ Company, the UK-based publishing guild that I joined last year. The Stationers’ Company plays an active role in the UK publishing industry, The plane tree at Stationer's Hall, Londondrawing members from all portions of publishing and media, from the paper industry to printers, writers, editors, publishers, typesetters, newspaper journalists, and more. The Sunday after I arrived, the historic Stationers’ Hall was opened to the public for tours as part of  Open House London. I volunteered to help, providing background about the hall to visitors who wanted to see the architecture or learn more about the Stationers’ as a livery company. The hall itself, built after the great fire, sits upon the prior hall used by the guild, where Shakespeare’s folio had been registered for copyright. While I knew enough of the history and trivia to welcome people into the hall for the Open House, my fellow publishing colleagues gave me even more interesting background about the building, including the fact that the King James Bible had initially been debated in committee in the original hall on that location.  The plane tree in the courtyard is also noted for having been planted on the ashes of burnt, pirated books, accounting for how it is one of the oldest and largest plane trees in London.

Tyler Carey at the 2018 London Bridge Sheep DriveI tacked on a few vacation days to this tripTyler Carey marching the flock of sheep across London Bridge to take in a West Ham soccer game, and for the last Stationers’ event of my trip. As shared in a blog post earlier this year, a privilege under guild membership is the annual marching of the sheep across London Bridge. A centuries-old tradition, guild members marching a flock of sheep into London is symbolic of the privilege of doing business within the city. I joined my fellow Stationers’ – and the members of other livery companies – to gather together and walk across the bridge with our sheep, documented by Guildhall in their records for eternity. Not a baaaaa-d way to end a trip to London. (Sheep-ish apologies)

Are you based in the UK and interested in learning more about how Westchester can help you with your editorial and production needs?  Contact us to arrange a discussion at the Frankfurt Book Fair, FutureBook, or at a meeting in between these next two conferences for the Westchester UK team.