Westchester Publishing Services

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Westchester Wrap-up 2019

Unfamiliar

by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

The calendar is winding down to the final days of the year, the decade, and Westchester’s 50th anniversary in business. It has been a really exciting year on many fronts, so join me to revisit some of the special moments during these past twelve months:

WESTCHESTER TURNED 50!

There was definitely a golden glow here at Westchester because, throughout the year, we were celebrating the significant achievement of being in business for half a century. The anniversary celebrations began with our appearance on the cover of Publishers Weekly’s February 18th issue, a profile article in the March 4th issue that helped us build a strong momentum heading into the London Book Fair, along with an article about our UK expansion in the Publishers Weekly Show Daily on March 12. We also hosted a stand party to toast our milestone anniversary with our friends and colleagues in the publishing community, where a wonderful time was had by all in attendance.

WESTCHESTER UK PROFILED IN THE BOOKSELLER

We have counted several UK-based publishers as loyal clients across the years, and realized we could do a better job of serving them and other UK and European-based publishers by having a more physical presence within the market. The Bookseller took note of our successful expansion efforts in this article (may require log-in to view) that was published in May, shortly before the British Book Awards.

NEW AGREEMENT SIGNED WITH MACMILLAN

In March, we signed a new agreement with Macmillan to continue the productive relationship our companies have enjoyed for more than a quarter-century. While Macmillan is no longer based in the iconic Flatiron building, we will always have fond memories of visiting the staff at their famous headquarters. Shortly before relocating to their new downtown digs this past summer, CEO John Sargent penned this article for Publishers Weekly about what it was like to work in this unique building.

 

UNFAMILIAR WINS AWARD

Great things were happening in our K-12 division as well in 2019. In the first quarter, the hi-lo graphic novel reader Unfamiliar, which was conceived, written, designed, and produced by our talented team received the Silver Hermes Creative Award from the Dayton, Ohio chapter of the American Advertising Federation. This video takes you behind the scenes to learn how the project went from concept to publication.

CLIENT PORTAL RECEIVES ACCOLADES

Unfamiliar was not the only award-winning initiative for Westchester this year. Our Client Portal, the secure, user-friendly, functional project management platform publishers want to incorporate into their pre-press production workflow was also receiving its fair share of positive attention. In May, The Stationers Company, the London-based guild for the media and publishing industry, shortlisted the Client Portal for their Innovation Excellence Awards, and in October, we presented about our Client Portal at the Rutgers Design Thinking program board meeting. In November, our partnership with  Dropbox – who worked with us to enhance the Client Portal’s capabilities – was recognized with a first-place win at the Bookbuilders of Boston NEPCo (New England Publishing Collaboration) Awards.

The video below, which was produced in partnership with Dropbox explains how we were able to incorporate the functionality our clients required into a beautifully designed platform that is easy for publishers to use.

CONFERENCES AND CLIENT MEETINGS

In addition to London Book Fair mentioned above, in 2019, members of the Westchester staff were busy criss-crossing North America and Europe meeting with clients and prospective partners at numerous trade shows and events, engaging in productive discussions with our think tank, university press, and legal clients. Westchester attended events as varied as SXSW EDU, ASU/GSV, the International Studies Association, British Book Awards, Association of University Presses, Frankfurt Book Fair, and FutureBook.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Last spring, the Westchester K-12 team started a program, where each month, one staff member funds a public school project that is trying to secure donations through the DonorsChoose website. Each selection is truly personal, and they have funded classrooms from New York, to California, and cities in between.

YEAR IN REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WESTCHESTER K-12 TEAM

Recently, I asked members of the Westchester K-12 team to share some insights with me about a project or event that they were involved with during this year that was particularly meaningful for them. You can read their thoughtful responses in this blog post.

TIME FOR 2020 VISION

As we get ready to welcome both a new year and decade, we’re looking forward to several exciting events. In January, Westchester K-12’s Walter Henderson, Jr., begins his two-year term on the ETIN (Education Technology Industry Network) Board of Directors, and he will also be representing Westchester K-12 at the BETT Show in London.

We also have plans to exhibit or sponsor at several conferences, including London Book Fair, and the ASUGSV Summit. Visit our Conferences and Events page to learn where we will be and if you’re planning to attend one or more of these shows, be sure to make an appointment to meet us to discuss how we can be your trusted partner in publishing.

We look forward to seeing you in 2020, and talking about the many effective solutions we have to help you with your content development, editorial, and production needs. From everyone here at Westchester Publishing Services, best wishes for a happy holiday season and a wonderful start to the 20s!

Always be up to date with everything that’s happening at Westchester by following us on our LinkedIn pages for Westchester Publishing and Westchester K-12, watching Westchester on YouTube, and subscribing to our blogs for the latest information about us. We would love to hear from you, too! Drop us an email at any time with your questions or to discuss your publication requirements.

 

by Nicole Tomassi, Marketing & Conference Manager

Westchester is proud to be celebrating 50 years of providing publishers with quality pre-press services. The ways that content can be delivered and accessed are more numerous now than at any other time since Gutenberg invented the printing press, but our primary mission continues to be ensuring that we consistently deliver excellent customer service and finished files to our clients on every project we handle. Read on to see some of the significant moments that began our golden anniversary year:

Publishers Weekly Westchester Publishing Services 50th Anniversary coverWestchester turns 50!

Westchester began operations in 1969, and during the past 50 years the company has grown and evolved into what is currently the only U.S. based firm whose exclusive business has always been as a provider of pre-press services for publishers. We shared the celebratory news in the February 18 edition of Publishers Weekly, which also included this letter from President and CEO, Paul J. Crecca.

 

Macmillan Publishers U.S. HeadquartersMacmillan U.S. extends contract with Westchester

In late March, after reviewing a number of options for handling their book composition requirements, Macmillan Publishers signed a new agreement with Westchester to continue providing U.S. managed book composition services for virtually all of their U.S. trade titles. We’re pleased that this long-term partnership which began nearly 30 years ago in 1992, will continue to grow stronger in the years to come.

 

Tim Davies, Tyler M. Carey and Dennis PistoneLondon Book Fair

Members of the Westchester management team from the United States and United Kingdom returned to the Olympia this past March for London Book Fair. It was a busy three days of appointments with clients, prospective customers, and publishing industry friends. London Book Fair also provided the ideal backdrop to raise a celebratory glass to 50 years of success. Take a minute to enjoy some of the highlights in this installment of Travels with Tyler.

 

Tyler M. Carey attends the International Studies Association 2019 Conference

International Studies Association Conference

The month of March had a double meaning for our international ambassador of publishing services, a/k/a Chief Revenue Officer, Tyler M. Carey. He received a few more stamps in his passport as he made his way from London Book Fair, to Toronto, Ontario, for the 60th Annual International Studies Association convention. Catch up on highlights of his Canadian trip in this bonus edition of Travels with Tyler.

 

Westchester UK website

The UK office in Stratford upon Avon is off to a very strong start. This past February, we launched the new Westchester Publishing Services UK website to help publishers based in the UK and Europe learn more about the various editorial and typesetting options we can provide for their publications. Take a look around and let us know what you think!

 

Tim Davies, Managing Director, Westchester Publishing Services UKMeet Tim Davies

If you’re a reader of our blog, you may be familiar with the profiles we publish periodically focusing on key personnel within the Westchester organization. In this recent post, we introduce you to Tim Davies, Managing Director of Westchester Publishing Services UK.

 

SXSW EDU 2019

In March, Westchester K-12’s Kevin J. Gray and Tim Cross attended the SXSW EDU conference in Austin, TX. Between appointments with clients and prospective customers, they had the opportunity to listen to sessions led by thought leaders and innovators in the education field. Read Kevin’s conference summary.to learn some of the conference highlights.

 

A positive ripple effect

A presenting sponsor of the SXSW EDU conference this year was Chevron, who is also a corporate partner of DonorsChoose.org, an online platform where public school teachers are able to submit funding requests for their classroom projects. Find out how receiving a gift card to DonorsChoose.org at the conference became the catalyst for a new initiative being led by our K-12 team.

 

Unfamiliar becomes familiar with award-winning

Westchester K-12 is now officially an award-winning team! The graphic novel Unfamiliar, an original work for middle grade readers that was conceptualized and created by our colleagues in Dayton, recently received an award from the Dayton area chapter of the American Advertising Federation. Take a look at this video, for a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the different steps involved in creating a graphic novel.

 

It’s easy to stay informed about the various conferences Westchester will be attending throughout the year, or learn more about our editorial and typesetting services by visiting our websites (westchesterpublishingservices.com, westchesterk12publishingservices.com, and westchesterpublishingservices.co.uk). You can also subscribe to our blog, or contact us to find out how we can become your trusted partner in publishing.

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!