Riverside Publishing Solutions and the COVID-19 Crisis

Riverside Publishing Solutions and the COVID-19 Crisis

We would like to take this opportunity to explain how Riverside Publishing Solutions has adapted and managed during the COVID-19 Pandemic and how we continue to provide our services to publishers and self-publishing authors.

The first disruption this year we encountered was the anticipated cancellation of The London Book Fair. At the time, we had suspected the virus was going to make a big impact within the UK and were hastily preparing how we would cope in such a situation. The London Book Fair is a great opportunity to meet with existing and potential new clients and we had a busy schedule if the show was to go ahead, but as expected, although a late call, the show was cancelled. There were a few clients we met with during this time, but these would be our last meetings for several months.

By not attending the Book Fair, Paul and myself were given the time to plan what would happen should we have to continue the business during a lockdown, as was being imposed on Italy and Spain at the time. Fortunately, our business model had been largely built on being able to work remotely for times when we may be travelling or located elsewhere in the world, plans were also being put in place by our partners in India. Our project management tool of choice, is Monday.com, this highly versatile and adaptable software allows us to manage and control all our project management data via their website, meaning we can work from home or any other location should the need arise. Staff also possess good performance laptop computers which allow us to work as we would in the office, even to the extent of the design work we produce with Adobe Creative Suite. Our office computers also have Google Remote Desktop installed, which means we can access and control our office computers remotely should we need to, just as we would if present in the office. Our accounting software, Xero, allows us to continue to monitor all of our accounts and all files are synced via the cloud using Google Drive.

Chrome Remote Desktop
Monday Project Management Software
Xero Accounting Software

When lockdown was introduced, we were able to switch our work seamlessly and despite the slow-up due to other businesses and individuals adapting, were able to continue providing our services to our customers. It was shortly after the UK lockdown that India followed suit, our two main partners would keep in touch on a daily basis with progress in transferring staff to be able to work at home, and this was largely very successful, despite the much larger amount of processes involved. We were also in regular contact with our UK freelance staff who were already working from home and proved to be a great asset to our team.

Since the 23rd March, Riverside Publishing Solutions have continued to produce many books, and despite a limited market to sell these, many of them were still printed as the printers we work with have operated throughout the pandemic.

With the easing of lockdown in June, following Government guidelines, our office in Lower Woodford was adapted to allow for social distancing and reducing the spread of the virus. At this point, we able to return to the office. To be away from the distractions of home life was in fact a relief and at this time, the workload was really starting to pick up again.

To date, Wiltshire and the surrounding area have been fortunate to have encountered relatively few COVID-19 cases, something that will continue to be monitored and should things change, we may have to revert back to our original plans which were successful during the first lockdown.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients, staff and partners during these tough times and wish everybody a safe and healthy future.

For further reading on reviews for Project Management software including Monday.com which was ranked number one, take a look here: https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/best-project-timeline-management-software/

UPDATE (03/11/20): In light of the announcement of a national lockdown to commence on 5th November, we would like to add that we will be continuing to operate throughout but unable to facilitate visits during this time, we are available via telephone and can arrange video calls on most platforms. Stay safe and well everyone.

UPDATE (11/06/21): We are now operating at a normal capacity, any visitors are advised to pre-arrange their visit and practice self-distancing measures and wear a mask as per government guidelines.

UPDATE (13/03/22): As all legal measures have now been relaxed in the UK, we are oprating as pre-pandemic and looking forwar to getting back to some kind of normal.

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