CIC 2017

Insights from the Association of American Publishers Content in Context Conference – by Kevin J. Gray, Director, Westchester K-12 Publishing Services  

I’ve recently returned from another successful AAP Content in Context conference, where the warm reception we received debuting our Westchester K-12 group was richly rewarding. I appreciated the opportunities to talk with other conference attendees, learning about their needs and identifying ways that Westchester K-12 can make their business run more smoothly.

If you didn’t have a chance to be at the pre-conference forum this year, I’d highly recommend attending next year. The smaller setting allows for interesting explorations into how to stay relevant in today’s market, and how to straddle both digital and print offerings to meet the needs of your consumers. I found Ira Wolfman’s investigation of NY Times’ digital transition layered in nicely with conversations from companies like Capstone and Discovery, who are making similar changes in the K-12 space.

One thing that was clear to me from the conference forums, along with the many conversations which occurred during the back half of the conference, is that regardless of the medium, the educational market demands high quality content designed with an understanding of the needs of the target market. This is an area where Westchester K-12 excels. Our editorial team members, led by Marie Brown, have a proven track record of creating engaging and successful content across the educational marketplace, whether print or digital, student or teacher facing. Marie’s experience in the classroom and her understanding of the realities of the ed-pub development world help her to quickly identify our client’s needs in order to create content that will be rich and rewarding for the student.

Something I was already keenly aware of, and which was further reinforced at the CIC conference, is that high quality content is useless without a way to get it to the market. Westchester’s reputation for delivering flawlessly executed production work, while managing to your overall budget, adds polish to your content.  I welcome the opportunity to continue the discussions we began at AAP CIC, or to start a new dialogue with you about how the Westchester K-12 team can help you deliver better products faster and more effortlessly. Check out our newly redesigned website or contact me directly at: kevin.gray@westchesterk12pubsvcs.com with a convenient time to schedule a meeting.