Building an Imprint from Scratch: Schoolmate Press
Project Start DateJuly 2021
Project End DateApril 2022
Client NameWithheld (a leading supplier of educational goods and services)
BeneficiaryUpper-primary students and teachers preparing for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP)
Service Location(s)Kingston, Jamaica
Project TypePublishing — imprint development and content creation
FundingPrivate Sector
Tags
The Challenge
Our client, a key player in Jamaica's book trade, saw an opportunity in the upper-primary market: schools needed high-quality, curriculum-aligned performance tasks workbooks to prepare students for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP). But the client was a distributor, not a publisher. It had no imprint, no editorial capability, and no content — and the school year would not wait.
The Solution
Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2021, HCA served as consulting publisher and delivered a turnkey publishing operation. HCA
- Established the Schoolmate Press imprint — brand name, colophon, and brand story — along with website copy to support its launch;
- Designed an upper-primary performance tasks workbook series aligned to the National Standards Curriculum for Grades 4 and 5;
- Developed six workbooks spanning Grades 4 and 5 — Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and two composite titles;
- Assembled and managed an 11-member international development team across Jamaica, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Romania comprised of instructional designers, writers, illustrators, editors, reviewers, and a designer;
- Grounded the content in authentic Jamaican experience, visiting 17 landmarks and historical sites across 12 parishes — from Cockpit Country to Treasure Beach — and interviewing custodians of Jamaican heritage, including Chief Rudolph Pink of the Scott's Hall Maroons and a conservator of the Cockpit Country;
- Researched and licensed more than 50 images, including premium cover imagery; and
- Delivered pre-flighted, print-ready files (text and cover) for handover to the client's printers.
The first titles were delivered six weeks ahead of schedule, giving the client time to print and place books in schools for field-testing within the same academic year.
The Outcome
In under ten months, the client went from no publishing capability to a branded imprint with a six-title workbook series in the market. Schoolmate Press titles moved from concept to classrooms, researched, written, illustrated, and pressed, under a single engagement.
