Westchester Publishing Services

Excellence Delivered

Autumn 2024 Publishing Industry Conferences and Events

Independent Publishers Guild

by Tyler M. Carey

The past several weeks have seen myself, Hugh Shiebler (Director, Client Solutions), and Julie Willis (Editorial Director, Westchester Publishing Services UK) visiting conferences and events that provided guidance and direction on the global book and journal industries.

Bearded man standing next to a conference table at IPG Autumn Conference with a roller banner to the side of the table.Julie and I represented Westchester Publishing Services at the Independent Publishers’ Guild (UK) IPG Autumn Conference in London on Tuesday the 17th of September. The Autumn Conference is an annual must-attend show for Westchester, allowing us to meet with our clients and business partners in the UK trade, academic, and educational publishing spaces, as well as see our partners from Ingram and other businesses for which we support mutual clients. (Learn more about our ePub conversion work on behalf of Ingram Publisher Services clients, and our work on behalf of IngramSpark authors) The topics of accessibility and AI were top of mind for many of the attendees at IPG, as was the topic of the EUDR (more about that in the BMI section below) and changes in the distribution space. Simon Mellins was one of the draws on the topic of accessibility, covering the impact of the EAA and navigating best practices on creating accessible epubs right from the start (‘born accessible’ as some call the practice), and managing the backlist. Westchester continues to collate industry best practices on navigating the EAA on our microsite about ePub accessibility.

Woman with shoulder length blonde hair and bearded, bespectacled man standing next to each other, wearing formal evening attire.Following this, Julie and I represented Westchester at the Stationers’ Company’s Autumn Livery Dinner, where we had the opportunity to meet with a number of our publishing clients and talk with members of the communications industries in software, journalism, and other overlapping industries. We’re an active participant in Stationers’ Company events, due to the way they bring together a number of these different threads of businesses supporting content, and their deep history, tying back to when the Company was the inventor of the concept of Copyright in the UK.

Shakespeare Folio opened to two handwritten pages.The archivist of the Company was gracious enough to show me and another American member some treasures from the Company’s archives the morning after the event, including this page from their copyright register (volume Liber D) — with this page showing the registration for Shakespeare’s First Folio on November 8, 1623.

Screen reading Book Manufacturing Mastered on a wall next to a man speaking from a podium to a seated audience. The Book Manufacturers Institute conference — Book Manufacturing Mastered — was held in Boston on October 1, and brought together a blend of printers, paper suppliers, manufacturers, publishers, and vendors. The focus of topics was less on the editorial and production matters of accessibility and AI that seemed to be the main threads at IPG and SSP (see below), but instead focused on the impact of an East Coast Longshoreman’s strike and the fragility of the supply chain, as well as the EUDR’s regulations about tracking the source of paper and pulp used in printing to prevent deforestation. Panels including MIDLAND’s Bill Rojack (a former panelist on a Westchester Publishing Services webinar), Jim Milliot (editor emeritus of Publishers Weekly), and BMI’s Matt Baehr (also formerly on a Westchester Publishing Services webinar) talked through these topics, as well as the overarching topics of expanding staffing and improving communications with clients within the segments of the industry most directly represented at the conference. Within days of the conference, the strike wrapped up and the impact of EUDR on business processes had been granted more time through a one year delay.

Title screen for SSP Regional Meeting in Washington, DC October 1, 2024While I was in Boston, Hugh Shiebler attended Society for Scholarly Publishing’s “New Directions in Scholarly Publishing” conference, held in Washington, DC, addressing the interests of the academic publishing and journal publishing industries. A number of the discussion threads, both in formal panels as well as in sidebar conversations with clients and at roundtables, directly overlapped with ways Westchester plays a role in helping our clients navigate their editorial and production needs. The impact of Wiley ceasing development on eXtyles opened up dialogue about alternative methods for handling citations in academic content – an editorial task that can be cumbersome for staff and freelancer editors if not handled systemically. Westchester’s capabilities in this area served as a basis for a lot of discussion with publishers about ways they can avoid the impact of this risk in the space. Other topics that seemed to resonate throughout the two day conference were the risks and opportunities with AI, and the shortage of peer reviewers – as well as alternate models for publication and peer review.

Westchester continues to expand our capabilities to support the changing needs of publishers across markets, including adding to our editorial and production capabilities, exploring alternative uses for publishing technology to help create efficiencies for both us and our clients, and improving our own efficiency in creating accessible ePub files to help solve the budgetary risk of converting large backlists to comply with the European Accessibility Act. Increasingly, we’re helping our 600+ publishing partners with content development, illustration, design, specific editorial and production tasks that are slowing down their staff in-house, as well as wider packaging needs like handling books from copyediting through to final files during peaks of the year. Contact us today to discuss any of the trends referenced in the above conference summaries, as well as your own particular challenges that are either driving up your costs or slowing down your workflow. Let’s talk soon about how Westchester can help you get your books to market on time and under budget.

compiled by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

During the past year, Westchester has been fortunate to support a growing number of publishers with a wide variety of project requirements, from manuscript editing to digital file conversion updates and everything in between.

Read on to learn about several of the ways we have stayed connected throughout 2021, keeping our publishing industry colleagues informed and able to respond effectively to ensure content continues to reach your readers wherever they are and in the formats that they desire.

Westchester UK acquires River Editorial
In March, we announced the acquisition of River Editorial by Westchester Publishing Services UK. This provided an additional array of customizable and cost-effective project management capabilities for our publisher clients based in the United Kingdom and Europe.

 

The Westchester Words podcast launches
Westchester Words podcast logoAlso happening in March was the debut of the Westchester Words podcast. To date, we have produced more than two dozen episodes covering topics of interest to the fields of education, ed tech, and publishing. All of our episodes are available to stream on your favorite platform or you can find them at our websites, where we have posted additional content that some of our guests have been kind enough to share.
Is there a topic you think we should cover in the year ahead? Get in touch and let us know!

 

Westchester’s Webinars Continue

Image of webinar panelistsWestchester hosted several webinars throughout the year to explore topics that were important to our colleagues in the publishing industry and offer helpful strategies for navigating around the challenges many businesses have been faced with during these interesting times. Presentations included our annual Publishing Now event in April 2021 in partnership with Publishers Weekly, The State of K-12 Education in May, the Publishing Industry Supply Chain Challenges webinar in October, and our webinar in partnership with Supadü about How to Make 2022 Your Best Year for Book Sales, at the end of November. Visit our YouTube channel to catch any of the webinars you may have missed, and be sure to subscribe while you’re there so you can be notified about the new webinars we will be conducting in 2022!

Stationers Shortlist 2021
It is an honor to be nominated
In May, we were delighted to receive news that Westchester Education Services had been shortlisted by The Stationers’ Company in the service development category for our Culturally Responsive Education Rubric Review process. While we didn’t ultimately win in the category, to receive this 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 was extremely meaningful.

 

Benetech GCA Vendor logo
Westchester Receives Benetech Accreditation

During the summer, Westchester Publishing Services completed the accreditation process to become a Benetech Certified Accessible Vendor. This certification provides assurance for publishers that we have demonstrated the level of proficiency required to produce ePub content with a full range of accessibility features to support the needs of all readers, including those with physical impairments and learning differences.

An Initial Return to In-Person Events
Over the course of the summer and fall, with vaccinations and safety measures in place, we had the opportunity to attend conferences in-person for the first time in more than eighteen months. Westchester Education Services was in California for the ASU-GSV Summit, and the Westchester UK team sponsored and attended the IPG International Publishers Association Awards, and the IPG Autumn Conference. We also conducted business meetings in person where all participants felt comfortable doing so. It was a welcome change to be in the same location with our current or prospective clients to share how we could work together.

 

A Star Watch Honoree in our Midst
We were delighted to learn this October that Westchester Education Services’ Samantha Tucker had received a nomination for Publishers Weekly‘s 2021 Star Watch Awards. Sam was recognized for the Culturally Responsive Education review service she leads with a diverse editorial review team who come from a wide array of backgrounds and lived experiences. Educational publishers can utilize the CRE review to ensure their current learning materials are inclusive and free of any bias, as well as incorporate recommendations into the development process for new education content they are creating.

 

Welcoming new members to the Westchester team

Throughout the year we have welcomed several new people to the Westchester teams, including Amanda Robb and Sandra Colmenares at Westchester Education Services, Rebecca Durose-Croft and Marquita Celestine for Westchester Education UK, and Deb Taylor and Hugh Shiebler at Westchester Publishing Services. We’re thrilled to have all of these talented professionals as part of the team to support our growing client base on their projects.

Our Intentions for 2022

In the coming year, we are making plans to remain connected with publishers in a variety of ways. We continue to monitor guidelines and regional data to ensure the in-person meetings we participate in will be handled appropriately, and we hope to have the opportunity to see you at an industry event when conditions safely allow for it. A few events that we are currently making plans to attend include BETT, PubWest, and the Association of University Presses annual meeting. We will also continue to conduct webinars in 2022 about topics that are top of mind for you. Follow our LinkedIn pages to stay up to date, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow our Westchester Words podcast to see and hear our content.

Westchester proudly supports nearly 400 publishers in all sectors of the publishing industry with their editorial, production, digital conversion, 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 how we can develop customized workflow options that can help you expand capacity, condense timelines, and minimize budget creep for your publications.

 

by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

In the summer months, the pace typically slows down, allowing an opportunity to relax and enjoy the longer, warmer days summertime offers up. While all of us at Westchester made sure to take some time to spend with friends and family, we were still working hard to make sure all of our publishers’ projects were moving along through the pre-press stages. Here’s a quick wrap-up of what we did this past summer:

Collaborative partnership

Dropbox is one of the members of Westchester’s Partner Network, and their Dropbox Business suite of products helps us to remain connected internally as well as with our freelance resources and client publishers to flow project assets to each other within a secure framework. Check out this video that Dropbox produced over the summer that shows how Dropbox applications help support Westchester’s development initiatives, including our Client Portal.

Westchester profiled in Publishers Weekly

In early August, Westchester Publishing Services was featured in the Publishers Weekly annual Digital Solutions in India issue. In the article, Chief Revenue Officer, Tyler M. Carey, explains how the company is prepared for continued growth during the next decade, and reflects on the significant milestone of 50 years of serving publishers’ pre-press requirements, along with reaching the fifth anniversary of being a 100% employee-owned company.

Meet Dilip Chacko

Shortly before the Digital Solutions in India article was published, I had the opportunity to speak at length with Dilip Chacko, Founder and Managing Director of our wholly-owned composition facility in Chennai, India. It was an extremely informative discussion encompassing Dilip’s career, his guiding principles, and how his focus on providing high quality applies to client projects as well as the employees who work on them.

Client Portal Update

In the spring edition of the Westchester Wrap-up, we shared how the Client Portal had been shortlisted for the Stationers’ Company Innovation in Excellence Award. Not content to rest on our laurels (or nominations), we are continually adding capabilities to the Client Portal to better serve the requirements our clients have. Last month, we conducted a webinar demonstrating several of the helpful features that make publisher workflows more efficient throughout the pre-press production process.

UK conferences

While July and August are quieter months from a working standpoint, the pace tends to move faster with September’s arrival. Tim Davies, Managing Director of Westchester Publishing Services UK, was particularly busy last month meeting with publishing industry professionals at the ALPSP (The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) Conference, and the IPG (Independent Publishers Guild) Autumn Conference. Prior to those conferences, Tim shared some helpful insights for independent publishers in this IPG podcast.

Next Generation Science Standards

If you haven’t been in the classroom for a decade or more, you might be surprised at how much more proficient students are required to be when it comes to understanding scientific concepts. Our STEM Content Director, Dave Bailis, explains how a more effective science curriculum is being implemented around the country to help prepare students for a world that is more reliant on science and technology than in previous generations.

In the Community

Earlier this year, our Westchester K-12 division implemented a program where each month one member of the team selects a project to fund from the thousands that are submitted to DonorsChoose.org by public school teachers. These projects are often for schools where the majority of students are from low-income communities that aren’t able to access much-needed classroom resources through traditional funding avenues. During the summer, STEM Content Director, Dave Bailis, and Director of Creative Services, Mark DaGrossa, each had the opportunity to fulfill a teacher request that was meaningful to them.

Meet with us this fall (and beyond)!

We’re attending and exhibiting at several conferences during the next few months, including Frankfurt Book Fair next week, FutureBook in London this November, and the SIIA Education Business Forum taking place this December in New York City. If you will be attending any of these events, let’s catch up! Make an appointment to connect with us, and be sure to visit our Conferences and Events page where we will be regularly adding information about the conferences Westchester will be attending or exhibiting at in 2020.

You don’t need to wait for a conference to speak with our knowledgeable staff about how our fifty years of experience in providing editorial, composition, and design services can help you produce quality publications while condensing schedules and trimming pre-press expenses. Contact us today to learn how Westchester’s consultative approach can benefit your projects.

 

by Tyler M. Carey, Chief Revenue Officer

Olympia, London

A week and a half following my return, and I have finally dug out from a very productive London Book Fair. Westchester once again exhibited at LBF, where last year as you may recall we had a prime location next to the scholarly publishing seminars at The Faculty. This year, instead of being in an independent stand, we relocated to The American Collective Stand which provides fantastic service to the publishers and vendors that use their collective area for meetings and exhibiting. We also were able to attend the IPG stand party (read their  LBF recap here) to network further with our clients and potential partners. This different approach was very effective, with Dennis, Tim, and I having about 40 meetings over the three days we were at the Fair. Those of you who caught the New York Times coverage of the Fair and the rights business may have even had the opportunity to play some Where’s Waldo (Where’s Wally to our British customers) – yes, that is me in my powder blue blazer in the lower left corner of the crowd shot.

It’s worth noting that while the London Book Fair is indeed a global event that allows us to meet with publishers from many countries, this year our emphasis was focused on the British publishing market. Over the past year, Westchester staff have returned many times to the United Kingdom, where we have continued to build out our presence, UK-based staff and freelance resources, and most importantly, our customer base. The level of interest in Westchester’s services from the British publishing market has been so substantial that earlier this Spring we brought on Tim Davies to helm our UK operation.

Tim Davies, at the London Book Fair Westchester stand

Tim’s engagement with publishers on behalf of Westchester at the London Book Fair was a big game changer for the company. Tim has an innate understanding of publishers’ needs having been a publisher himself, and is also quite attuned to the consultative nature of Westchester’s business (no two clients really have the same workflow). This both-sides-of-the-desk expertise, if you will, has allowed Tim to have meaningful dialogues with British publishers, to help them evaluate their publications programs, areas where they may need some assistance, and explore ways that Westchester can provide affordable, scalable solutions to help publishers with as few as 2-5 titles per year or as many as 500+ address their specific editorial and production needs. Publishers we spoke with found our consultative approach towards working with clients and their authors to be very compelling. Shortly after the Fair, our Director of Operations, Terry Colosimo, released a blog post that expands upon this, and echoes much of what was discussed with our partners at the Fair.

Receiving the Freedom of the City of London honor

Lastly, a trip to London for me is not complete without trying to attend an event with my colleagues from The Stationers’ Company, London’s publishing guild. While the Westchester team did indeed catch up with several of The Stationers’ at the Fair and at surrounding events, I was fortunate enough to be granted my Freedom of the City of London from the Company. For this second round of Where’s Waldo/Wally, eagle-eyed readers of the Westchester blog may recall seeing a similar photo from our friend Lorraine Shanley’s ceremony, last year. It was humbling to be one of the few Americans offered this tribute, and in joining the ranks of Morgan Freeman and Bill Gates, I’m quite confident that the wrong Tyler Carey was nominated. Nonetheless, I was happy and grateful to join my friends, family, and colleagues at Guildhall for this ceremony. I was also amazed to learn that I am now eligible, under the privileges bestowed by my Freedom of the City, to drive a flock of sheep across London Bridge.  (No joke, every Fall Freemen get to do this.)  Anybody based near London with an available flock of sheep that can be leased (option to buy, negotiable) is encouraged to contact me directly.

by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

Though it took a long time getting to the East Coast this year, I really enjoy the spring season because it’s a time of optimistic renewal that generates a positive attitude in almost everyone. As all of us at Westchester look ahead to the events that will be taking place over the next few months, I hope you’ll take a moment to catch up on a few of our highlights from the first quarter of 2018:

Westchester K-12 opens office in Dayton

The Westchester K-12 Publishing Services division began the year by completing their move into an office located in downtown Dayton, Ohio. As Kevin J. Gray, Managing Director, K-12 Publishing Services noted, “Dayton is a perfect location because of the deep well of educational publishing talent in this region and its proximity to the midwest offices of many of the publishing houses Westchester K-12 serves.”

Westchester and Learnosity form an alliance

In February, Westchester announced we’ve entered into an agreement with Learnosity, an assessment platform firm based in Ireland. Westchester K-12 Publishing Services is the first company to join Learnosity’s newly created Custom Content division, providing a beneficial resource for educational publishers who need content creation services along with a flexible assessment platform which can integrate with their current systems.

 

Hitting the road, Westchester style

The year got off to a busy start, as we headed out to sponsor and exhibit at conferences including ALPSP UP Redux, IPG Spring Conference, and PubTechConnect. If you’re wondering where Westchester will be this spring, keep reading…

 

Where in the world is Westchester going now?

Westchester recently attended the London Book Fair, and highlights from this trip can be found here. Other shows Westchester is sponsoring or attending in the coming weeks include NCTM (National Council for Teachers of Mathematics) at the end of April, in Washington, DC, the Council of Science Editors conference in New Orleans at the beginning of May, and the Society for Scholarly Publishing conference in Chicago later in May. Visit the Conferences and Trade Shows page on our website to see a complete listing, and subscribe to our blog so you can be up-to-date about all things Westchester!

 

Turning a new page

In March we bid a fond farewell to Lynn Taylor, who expertly led our Journals division over the last several years. Lynn decided to retire so she would have more time to enjoy with her family and friends. While Lynn will be missed at Westchester by colleagues and clients alike, the Journals division is now in the equally capable, and competent stewardship of Celeste Bilyard, Production Manager, Journals Services.

At Westchester, we welcome the opportunity to meet with clients and prospective partners throughout the United States, the UK, and beyond. If you’re interested in learning how we can help you more effectively manage editorial, design, and production requirements like we have done for your peers, please contact us to find out more.