As always, the Independent Publishers Guild (IPG) put on a stellar Autumn Conference at the Shaw Theatre in London, on Tuesday, September 16. Westchester staff Dan Verdick (Director, Client Solutions) and Tyler M. Carey (Chief Revenue Officer) represented us at the conference. Tyler also moderated a panel on accessibility – “Publishers’ Journeys in Accessibility” which featured speakers Achim Bosse Chitty, Divisional Head of Production at Bloomsbury Publishing, Megan Taylor, Partnerships Manager from Boydell & Brewer, James Woollam, Managing Director of David & Charles Publishing, and digital publishing consultant, Simon Mellins.
At the end of this post, we provide links to articles with soup to nuts coverage of the event. Here are several important observations from Dan and Tyler’s feet-on-the-ground vantage point:
Tyler shared, “Publishers seemed to be carrying more stress and concern at this event than we saw at London Book Fair and some of the intervening summer get togethers across the markets we serve. There was an emphasis on managing costs in many of our discussions with prospective partners and clients. A potential pathway to achieve this is through the use of AI, where the client’s IP is protected in walled gardens and the use cases are repeatable and consistent. One publisher, for instance, was very curious to discuss use cases Westchester has for AI on alt text and other compliance requirements for accessibility – but they volunteered they were less comfortable with the idea of using AI for copyediting, proofreading, and anything where language and style may need to be more rigorous across a larger piece of content than how a brief alt text entry is crafted. Dan and I also chatted with several publishers who were exceptionally bullish on using AI throughout their operation – with content as well as routinized tasks that they see as having high potential to be automated through AI. The hope for some publishers in the latter group is that they can leverage AI as a tool to help manage the headwinds of increased manufacturing costs while also maintaining current staffing levels and growing their current list sizes.”
Dan’s conversations with our clients and prospects opened up a lot of dialogue about EPUB accessibility. “Westchester’s hosting the panel on accessibility drove booth traffic and dialogue about our processes for remediating and converting ePubs. As a Benetech GCA-certified vendor, we are externally audited each year to ensure we’re providing as high a level of quality and service in creating accessible EPUB files as possible. Discussions about alt text, language shift tagging, and speed of conversion and remediation were plentiful, as well as our ability to scale up for larger batches of titles to be made accessible. I give a lot of credit to our panelists for being transparent about their successes and struggles on this front, and for the ongoing discussions about making sure there’s a plan for key backlist and more.”
The “Make GEO Work for You” session offered a fascinating discussion of Generative Engine Optimisation, the latest buzz-worthy acronym for discoverability and content management in the AI-driven “next Internet,” where bots crawl the Web looking for vulnerable content they can scrape, and where Web visitors and clicks may be bots, too. Lead by George Walkley, the session’s panel debated the balance between gatekeeping content vs. having enough content for AI and search engines to find and learn more for a human searcher’s needs, and other aspects of content in a GEO online space. “Auditing your content’s digital footprint and further steps were discussed,” Dan added. “And for journals publishers, there was also extensive discussion of the risks for content that is available for AI-driven engines and what subscribers may be accessing as well.” To learn more about AI and GEO, George is a panelist for BISG’s September 30 webinar, “AI and Ethics in the Book Industry” which will discuss frameworks, strategies, and real-world lessons on navigating AI’s promise and its pitfalls.
In addition to the trade and academic publishing discussions which took place at IPG, Westchester’s UK-based education team, Managing Director Rebecca Durose-Croft and Content Director Emma Hudson, joined Dan and Tyler to visit key edtech and education publishing customers in the UK to discuss the latest trends in these spaces. “Helping publishers deal with any and all changes in today’s world, from CEID reviews of content for today’s learners, to changing format needs for online content, were part of our customer discussions,” Dan added. “Our team discussed a range of needs UK publishers have in markets they serve around the world, and how adapting to the almost daily changes in educational publishing are vital to success and growth during what is an uncertain time in some education markets.”
For more coverage about the IPG Autumn Conference and session content, you can read this article in The Bookseller and several posts from Bookbrunch, including this article (login or subscription may be required to both sites). The IPG did a phenomenal job bringing the British publishing industry together to talk about the pressures on small and mid-sized publishers, opportunities for addressing those challenges, and providing excellent professional development for everyone attending. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends and colleagues at the next IPG event.
As your plans take shape with your 2026 lists, talk with us about solutions we provide to make your workflow more effective and increase speed to market for your titles.
