Newgen’s launch of its English language learning (ELL) division in September was a direct response to the rising demand from publishers, learners, teachers, and parents for resources in this segment, says Jo Bottrill, managing director of the U.K. and U.S. operations. “Add the dramatic shift to digital learning to the equation, and our considerable expertise in digital development, academic publishing, and the wider education business gives us the unique skill set to support ELL publishers,” Bottrill says. “By partnering with e-learning platforms such as Avallain, we are able to deliver engaging content built by our in-house ELL editors and learning designers and supported by a network of trusted contributors.”
Several recent projects have called for the adaptation of existing ELL materials for use in Latin America and the Middle East. “The content is often tied to significant commercial deals, which require immediate attention and short turnaround,” says Bottrill, whose team writes and develops new materials, adapts digital assets for new platforms, and brings diversity, equity, and inclusion expertise to the content review process. “The involvement of multiple stakeholders, often including international ministries and corporations, underlines the importance of expert project management.”
On the production side, the Newgen team is busy rolling out its online proofing tool, Impact, which enables book and article authors to correct their content in the browser in real time. “Impact, which requires zero software downloads and comes with innovative collaboration and validation features, helps publishers differentiate their author services by putting content creators and editors more in control of the production and correction cycles,” Bottrill says.
Meanwhile, Newgen’s publishing platform, Nova, has been instrumental in helping to launch several new publishing ventures that provide reading platforms for books and journals. “Publishers are learning the benefits of partnering with us for their content delivery,” Bottrill says. “By changing the business model and focusing on well informed and structured content through a simple user interface, we are able to deploy Nova quickly to put the publisher in direct contact with their customers, thus allowing them to keep more of the revenue and sell content in new and innovative ways.”
As for Newgen’s project management work, much is channeled through its next-generation workflow management tool, Pubkit. “With dynamic auto-scheduling, email management, and file and asset storage all under one roof, Pubkit’s task-based system gives project managers complete control over their projects,” Bottrill says. “It improves handoffs between teams and provides real-time data to everyone involved in the publishing process. Integration and interoperability are the watchwords for systems these days, and Pubkit intelligently links up with publisher and other third-party systems to ingest and disseminate data, including publishable assets as well as metadata.”
