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May 24, 2024

Summer 2024 Edition

Working with as many publishers as we have the privilege to do, the employees here at Westchester often have long lists of books we want to read, with each week bringing new titles to add to the growing TBR pile. Below are some of the books we plan to take off the shelf or the bedside table in the coming months as we enjoy the longer days that summer brings.

For more information about the titles or to order a copy, click on the cover images to be redirected to the IndieBound powered by Bookshop.org site. And whatever book(s) you ultimately decide to crack open this summer, happy reading!

Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir (Revised and Expanded Edition)
Author: Eddie Muller
Publisher: Running Press (Hachette Book Group)

Why I want to read this book: This edition is a few years old now, but last summer I upped my noir game, running through several noir classics I had missed earlier, as well as some more obscure gems. I always enjoy Eddie Muller’s commentaries on TCM, and so I fully expect to enjoy reading this visually stunning book.

Submitted by: Scott Keeney, Director, Production and Customer Service

The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City
Author: Kevin Baker
Publisher: Knopf (Penguin Random House)

Why I want to read this book: I always look forward to a new book by Kevin Baker, and in this case, it’s about New York and baseball. I recently ordered it and it’s already sitting on my bookshelf just waiting for me to crack it open! As The New York Times Book Review shared: “A hugely entertaining history of baseball and New York City, bursting with larger-than-life figures and fascinating stories from the game’s beginnings to the end of World War II.” Sounds like a perfect summer read to me!

Submitted by: Deb Taylor, Chief Operating Officer

A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent
Author: Marie Brennan
Publisher: Tor

Why I want to read this book: During the initial quarantine of Covid-19 in March 2020, I listened to an amazing virtual creative writing class hosted by Marie Brennan about world building through Clarion West. A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent is the first in a series that utilizes a lot of the world building techniques she discussed. If you’re a fan of dragons and an alternative Victorian time-period, this is the book series for you!

Submitted by: Christina Jones, Resource Manager, Westchester Education

Q. Fulvius I Called You Brother
Author: M.G. Haynes
Publisher: Independent

Why I want to read this book: This is the third book of the Fulvius Chronicles series. I have read the previous books and found them to be a very intriguing storyline woven through ancient Roman times. They follow the path of Fulvius, a street urchin who saved from execution, makes his way into the military, and moves into piracy in the second book of the series. This third installment in the series picks up the storyline for a friend who he has betrayed who seeks vengeance for his betrayal. In addition to being a great series the author is my cousin M. G. Haynes, who is a West Point graduate, historian, and is still serving in the military.

Submitted by: Kevin Schroeder, Director, Client Solutions, Westchester Education

Yellowface
Author: Rebecca F. Kuang
Publisher: Borough Press

Why I want to read this book: I saw that this won fiction book of the year 2024 at The British Book Awards and was intrigued. I’m even more so now that I know it is about a stolen manuscript and the publishing industry as well!

Submitted by: Julie Willis, Editorial Director & Systems Lead, Westchester Publishing Services UK

The Ministry of Time
Author: Kaliane Bradley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Why I want to read this book: Why? While attending the US Book Show this May, Simon & Schuster CEO, Jonathan Karp, shared this as his current read, promoting it as a blend of a spy story, a time travel story, and a rom-com. Sounds like it ticks all the boxes for a great summer read and I’m going to check it out.

Submitted by: Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

Long Island
Author: Colm Tóibín
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Why I want to read this book: I read Brooklyn which can now be considered the prequel, when it was released 15 years ago and was thrilled when news came out last year that the author had written an unexpected follow-up. Long Island brings back many of the original cast of characters and is set sometime in the 1970s, about 20 years after the events of Brooklyn. Similarly, the story takes place between New York and Enniscorthy, Ireland, where protagonist Eilis Fiorello (nee Lacey) was born and raised before emigrating to America. I’m looking forward to finding out what Eilis and her connections have been up to after all these years. Judging by all the pre-publication buzz around this novel, I’m apparently not the only one! Bonus: You can watch Saoirse Ronan bring Eilis to the screen in the 2015 adaptation of Brooklyn, available to stream on several services.

Submitted by: Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

Looking for a few more titles to consider? These lists may offer up some worthy reading selections:

Summer Reads 2024 – Publishers Weekly

25 Books to Read this Summer – The Atlantic (subscription may be required)

What to Read Summer 2024 – National Public Radio

Best New Books to Read this Summer – Time Magazine

March 5, 2024

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

The team at US employee-owned Westchester Publishing Services are enormously fortunate to work with the hundreds of publishers and content providers around the globe that we support. While we’re always eager to help problem solve our clients’ content, editorial, production, and digital project challenges, we realize that we don’t exist in a bubble. Our portion of the publication life cycle is a crucial piece to ensuring quality in publications and digital content – but plenty of other organizations play key roles beyond us and the publishers we serve. Westchester’s meetings during January and February reinforced this, as our paths crossed with a number of our key partners and organizations that provide further support to our clients.

January saw me meeting with the head of the City of London’s Stationers’ Company during his visit out to meet with North American members in New York City. Tony Mash is a rarity in the world of British livery companies, as he is a dual US/UK citizen, providing leadership to what is essentially an extension of London’s guild system. The Stationers’ Company plays a key role as a leading organization for the content and media industries, hosting frequent in-person and virtual events to let thought leaders in areas of our industries as varied as journalists, pen manufacturers, publishers, and intellectual property attorneys explore topics that affect our industries through an interdisciplinary lens. The North American members will be hosting an upcoming webinar about the transatlantic IP implications of the use of AI within the publishing industry. Additional details and registration information can be found using this link.

To Tony’s credit, by leveraging his US and UK perspectives, he has helped grow the North American contingent of the Company to a few dozen active participants from all areas of publishing and media. More about the Stationers’ Company and how to join can be found on their site.

Six people seated around a circular table topped with menus, plates, silverware, and drinks. — Stationers and colleagues: Roger Rosen, Brian O’Leary, Tyler M. Carey, Michael Healy, Lorraine Shanley, and Tony Mash.

During the above get together, I also had a chance to visit with the Book Industry Study Group’s Executive Director, Brian O’Leary. Brian was excited to discuss this year’s BISG Annual Meeting, being held on April 12th in New York. This event routinely presents excellent panels and discussions around the industry’s pressing issues. Perhaps even more rewarding is the opportunity to meet and network with a wide array of publishing professionals who work in many areas of our industry, allowing us to meet vendors, publishers, and partners with which we might not typically interact on a regular basis. I highly recommend checking out the day’s agenda and signing up.

The late Winter also saw visits Deb Taylor (Westchester’s COO) and I made to our partners at Ingram and Dropbox. Ingram graciously hosted us for a meeting about our ongoing work together to support their publishers and authors with ePub conversion services and other capabilities. As part of our trip out to LaVergne, TN, we had an opportunity to tour Ingram’s Print on Demand facility, seeing the continually improving capabilities available to help publishers and self-published authors take a book from digital files – like the ones we create for our clients – at one end of their facility to shipping printed books off to consumers at the other end of the facility in lightning fast time. LightningSource has earned its moniker, for sure.

Our colleagues at Dropbox hosted me and Deb for an afternoon to talk about Westchester’s use of Dropbox’s API as part of our Client Portal, which makes publishers’ lives super easy by allowing them to transmit files to Westchester, and then track their projects at each stage. Westchester further uses Dropbox Paper for documenting our clients’ style guides and requirements, DocSend for marketing, Dropbox Sign for client contracts, and many more pieces of the Dropbox ecosystem. During our visit, we got to sit in for interviews and discussions that were filmed for an upcoming project. Stay tuned for this short digital film, this Spring.

bearded man wearing glasses, burgundy floral shirt and blue blazer with handkerchief in the breast pocket. Behind him are a film crew preparing to do a video shoot.

Other partners and organizations with shared interests in the publishing industry came up in many more discussions with our clients during the late winter.

One legal publisher was seeking out a partner to help with content development on an anniversary publication, so we were able to connect them with the talented Linda Secondari at Studiolo Secondari to explore her team’s writing and photo capabilities, to help them realize their vision for a 4-color tribute book that differs from their typical legal publications.
In discussions with another publisher about BISAC codes and THEMA codes, we were able to point them to our friends at the Book Industry Study Group, which provides guidance and tools to support this kind of mapping.
Another partner of ours was looking for a speaker on accessibility to help educate their clients about the European Accessibility Act, so we were able to connect them with the leadership at Benetech to arrange a webinar on this topic.
And another publisher was looking to repurpose books from their backlist, seeking to scan them, extract text, and chunk that text into a content management system for digital research. Through our own capabilities and those of our scanning partner, we were able to help them scope and execute on this plan.

Westchester is one individual provider within the overall publishing ecosystem, but due to the hundreds of publishers we work with and our shared industry networks, we’re able to help connect our clients with other trusted partners that can help solve problems that overlap or are adjacent to the work that we do.

Contact Us to talk about your publishing challenges, vision, and plans. Westchester is happy to explore our core competencies in content development, editorial, production, and digital. But, if your needs require something outside of our capabilities, we will be quick to say so and recommend a partner who could help. Solving problems and building relationships within the publishing community is what we do best. Reach out today and let us know what problems we can solve for you.

June 27, 2023

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

It’s been a busy few weeks for me, meeting with some of our clients about expanding our support for their lists, this year. During these meetings, two topics have been coming up again and again. Accessibility — and AI.

For the former – accessibility – Westchester has a lot of resources that we can bring to bear to help. If you’re at all looking for further support in making your content — whether upcoming titles or backlist — accessible, please do reach out. Westchester became a GCA-certified vendor in 2021 to help publishers with their accessibility needs for ePubs. We also joined DAISY to further our knowledge and support for accessible content. In an ongoing basis, we’re keeping track of emerging trends in ePubs, Accessible PDF’s and more, including these recent changes for ePub files from the W3C. Personally, I’m on the Workflow Committee of the Book Industry Study Group, where my talented colleagues on the committee recently released this update regarding fixed layout ePubs. We’re helping with tasks from WCAG compliance to creating alt-text entries to large-scale backlist scanning and conversion projects. This recent IBPA webinar I participated in with Michael Johnson from Benetech covers some highlights to consider.

For the latter topic – AI – well, I’m not sure any of us have a clear vantage into how GPTs and emerging tools will impact our business in the long term. The team at Westchester have been using scripts and natural language processing for years to help automate repetitive tasks and run some of our comparisons and checks. Much as indexing software became a tool for trained indexers to use to organize keywords and condense the time it takes to index a book, AI will likely be used to help improve accuracy and create even more efficiencies in various parts of the publishing workflow. The talented publishing professionals at Westchester Publishing Services establish the gold standard in our industry, and using a variety of technologies to provide high quality solutions for our clients is simply part of our DNA. I know we’re already harnessing AI in specifics areas of our toolsets. I’m looking forward to seeing how our team will continue to evolve and develop more solutions that benefit our clients and the industry as a whole.

In case you missed it, this article by Thad McIlroy in the June 6 issue of Publishers Weekly, provides a bit more of a stimulating viewpoint on the subject. And this article exposes perhaps the extreme case of trying to automate as much as possible with AI – and the negative impact it can have on content and the people who collaborate with you on your content.

While these strategic discussions are happening in all of our shops, I still remain grateful that the majority of my time is being spent exploring the editorial and production services the industry has come to expect Westchester to handle with care since the launch of our company in the 1960s. Much like the rest of the publishing industry, we continue to pivot and evolve, but remain steadfast to striking the right balance between technology and human expertise to allow our clients to trust their publications with Westchester.

How can Westchester help you for the balance of the year on your projects? Whether it’s helping with manuscript prep, typesetting, copyediting, or other tasks for your titles and assets, just reach out, we’ll be here for you.

June 9, 2023

compiled by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

In a summer season likely to be filled with “revenge travel” as people catch up on trips that were postponed the last few years, it seems fitting that several of the reading selections made by the Westchester staff explore the travel theme in varying ways. Whether your summer plans take you to far-flung destinations on the other side of the world, as close as the Adirondack chair in your yard or somewhere in between, these books will help you pass the time and transport you to another location. Click on the cover images to visit the Indiebound website, for additional details and purchasing information.

Book Title: Hotel World
Author: Ali Smith
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton (A PRH imprint)

Why I want to read this book: My daughter brought this home from college—she was researching Muriel Spark and Smith quotes (and clearly is inspired by) Spark in the outset of the book, so she bought it, read it, and, as our children do, left it lying around the house. Curious, I picked it up and started reading. I’m only a chapter and a half in, but the first chapter was jaw-droppingly good. Smith experiments with form and language and bends reality in an unsettling but “gotta read more” way. The narrative is told by multiple perspectives, so I’m looking forward to seeing how some of the events unfurl through other characters eyes. If you like post-modernist literature, don’t sleep on this one.

Submitted by: Kevin J. Gray, President and Chief Content Officer, Westchester Education Services

Book Title: The Lincoln Highway
Author: Amor Towles
Publisher: Viking/Penguin

Why I want to read this book: This was recommended to me by my wife, and it looks like the perfect summer road trip read. It is the tale of four boys making their way from their family farm in Nebraska out west to San Francisco in search of a better life and their estranged mother. This sounds like a coming-of-age story with all of the detours and wrong turns as well as interesting folks they will encounter along the way. Perfect for passing the time while I am not behind the wheel as we head out on our own summer adventures.

Submitted by: Kevin Schroeder, Director, Client Solutions, Westchester Education Services

Book Title: The Histories – A Norton Critical Edition
Author: Herodotus
Publisher: W.W. Norton – a Westchester client and fellow ESOP company

Why I want to read this book: When I was young, this book had fueled my interest in history and mythology (Herodotus was a little gullible and believed many of the tall tales he heard during his travels). Recently, I found my old copy of this under a seat in my pickup truck, probably packed for a road trip many years ago and forgotten. I feel the need to reunite with it, and have a nostalgia trip as to why I got so excited about the classics when I was younger. Hopefully the well-worn older printing of the Norton Critical Edition I found in the truck can stand up to a trip or two to the beach this Summer.

Submitted by: Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

Book Title: The Book That Wouldn’t Burn
Author: Mark Lawrence
Publisher: ACE

Why I want to read this book: A lot of times the premise of a book alone can really draw me in. This fantasy includes a huge sequestered underground library, and it follows a character who grew up in the library. As a former librarian, some of my favorite moments were opening the library before any patrons came in. It was very peaceful to be surrounded by the hushed quiet and comforting presence of books. Also, it sounds like this book includes time travel elements and I love time travel!

Submitted by: Christina Jones, Resource Manager, Westchester Education Services

Book Title: Daisy Jones & the Six
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Ballantine Books

Why I want to read this book: Although I enjoyed the ten-episode fictional series on Amazon, I feel there could have been more to the brief interview segments. Since the book is written exclusively in an interview style between each character, the book is likely to add some texture omitted from the episodes. Taylor is a great writer and really captured what was happening in the ’70s music scene in the series. I’m excited to see how she develops the characters in the novel.

Submitted by: Darryl Keck, Pagination Specialist

Book Title: The Book of Form and Emptiness
Author: Ruth Ozeki
Publisher: Penguin Books

Why I want to read this book: “The Book of Form and Emptiness” is a novel by Ruth Ozeki, who is a Professor of Humanities at Smith College. In addition to being a novelist, Ozeki is also a filmmaker and Zen Priest. Her exploration of contemporary topics and themes in the context of the ancient tradition of Zen intrigued me greatly. This book was recommended to me by a bookseller at Broadside Bookshop in Northampton, MA

Submitted by: Hugh Shiebler, Director, Client Solutions

Book Title: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders
Authors: Lorus and Margery Milne
Publisher: Knopf

Why I want to read this book: I’m a gardener, growing fruits, and vegetables. I need a go-to guide to help me in identifying which insects are beneficial and which are pests. The agricultural extension service used to be a great source of information regarding the latest gardening issues in our area, however, this is no longer the case and I’ve found this guide appears to be the best suited for my purposes.

Submitted by: Stephanie Nelson, Proofreader

Book Title: Little Monsters
Author: Adrienne Brodeur
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Why I want to read this book: I read Adrienne Brodeur’s memoir, Wild Game, shortly after it was released in paperback in the summer of 2020. I found it to be a compelling story about the deceits family members can entrap each other in and the terrible consequences that often result. This summer, the author is returning to fiction nearly 20 years after the release of her first novel, and I’m hoping the story she tells this time around is as fascinating a page-turner as her memoir.

Submitted by: Nicole Tomassi, Marketing and Conference Manager

Looking for some other interesting books to add to your TBR list this summer? Check out the selections offered up in these lists:

Publishers Weekly Summer Reads 2023

New York Public Library Staff Picks

Kirkus Reviews

Real Simple Best Books Summer 2023

Elle Best Summer Books 2023

These blog posts feature the titles we selected in previous summers.

March 20, 2023

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

headshot of Tyler Carey Westchester Publishing Services has decades of history helping different types of publishers and content providers, including trade publishers, children’s publishers, K-12 EdTech platforms, think tanks, legal publishers, industry trade publishers, and many other types of organizations that create and distribute content.

Whether the project is a manuscript for an illustrated board book for children, assessment items for an online learning platform, or a policy paper intended for presentation on Capitol Hill, Westchester has specialists who can help edit, design, and layout the content for the right audience.

Specialized Publication Programs

Trade Associations – and related organizations like professional societies – often have rather different kinds of publications programs from typical publishers. While some industry-driven organizations have book or journal publishing programs focused on topics relevant to their domain area, many have varied publications from professional development content to white papers to conference proceedings to blog posts, each requiring different levels of support, expertise, and workflow customizations.

Here are examples of recent projects trade associations partnered with Westchester Publishing Services on:

• Helping a trade association modify content from their conferences and annual meetings into WebPDFs and ePubs. This content was then made available on their website for free download by members and for purchase by non-members. Conference proceedings in particular can be an area where professional societies and trade associations have content, but it’s laborious to produce rapidly – and in all the needed formats – once a conference wraps.
• Working with a trade association that provides content to medical professionals in a very specific field to create children’s publications to be used by their industry when working with young patients to help them understand and navigate a specific medical condition.
• Partnering with a bar association to better package updates to state statutes into book publications that allow attorneys to quickly understand changes to the laws in their area of practice, as well as access direct links to Fastcase citations in their digital editions.
• Supporting a medical association with editorial and production resources to help them present the best quality professional development and continuing ed materials to be shared with doctors in their specific discipline.
• Helping an educational industry organization edit and typeset new editions of their backlist titles, updating industry standards and information without writing wholly new manuscripts.
• Ongoing editing for industry journals in topic areas including medicine, mathematics, and social sciences.
• Editing and typesetting titles on subjects including management, business technology, and corporate finance for a prominent organization that tracks trends in these areas.
• Creating abstracts, executive summaries, and even tweets that an organization can share as abbreviated versions of their larger studies and white papers, letting industry executives skim the highlights before diving into 200+ page analytical studies.

Different Content, Different Distribution Channels

If you work for a trade association or professional organization, chances are good that you have historically handled your publications and content in ways that differ from your peer associations. Oftentimes, a trade association’s content grows organically as new distribution channels or newer media for online ingestion of content become available. Westchester’s expertise supporting different types of content and distribution methods for academic, trade, and policy groups, is easily applied to the needs of trade association partners to identify cost-effective solutions that will allow your association to efficiently and affordably build new content and expand your publication program.

The team at US employee-owned Westchester Publishing Services would be happy to explore how we can help you edit, design, and present your content, as well as share our expertise about how other organizations have navigated similar challenges using industry partners, new channels for distribution, and more. Contact us to talk about the content you currently manage, how you’re looking to engage with your association or industry, and solutions we can provide to help you achieve your goals.

What Westchester Wants to Read

Featured

Summer 2024 Edition

Specialized Publication Programs

Different Content, Different Distribution Channels

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