Company profile

Electric Book Works is an award‑winning publishing studio. Organisations around the world hire us to deliver web, print, and ebook publications that create change.

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Our services

Our special skill is high-quality, multi‑format publishing. We produce books that are simultaneously websites, print books, and ebooks, all from the same content source.

Crucially, we provide deep strategic insight, right from the planning stages, to make sure you invest in exactly the design and technology you need to achieve your aims.

Our clients develop their own raw content, and we develop, edit, and design it. Most are organisations that publish for strategic reasons, and need to outsource their publishing work to experts they trust.

Example projects

We have produced publications of every kind for nearly twenty years. Here are some of our best-known projects.

The Economy

The Economy, published by CORE Econ, is an open-access economics textbook adopted at over four hundred universities worldwide, translated into multiple languages, and available in website, print, ebook, and app formats.

Our production system sets high standards for textbook production, especially for a book this large and complex: each language contains over 500 000 words in over 1200 printed pages, over 1300 images (including over 500 interactive slides), and 230 interactive questions. Our version-controlled, single-master workflow also means we can regularly release updates to web, print, ebook and app editions without redoing layouts.

Survive the Century

Survive the Century is a book and a game: on every page, your choices determine how the story unfolds, and whether humanity survives till 2100.

For this innovative publication, award-winning author Sam Beckbessinger worked with an international team of scientists and writers to tackle a pressing problem: a feeling among young people that the battle against climate change is lost. They wanted to show, in a fun and engaging way, that it’s possible to shift the zeitgeist, and to make a difference before it’s too late.

We designed and produced the book as an interactive web app and a collectible print edition.

GITOC Risk Bulletins and Organized Crime Index

Risk Bulletins are regular publications from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime for journalists, researchers and policy makers. We helped GITOC transform this critically important research from static PDFs into searchable, shareable web stories, greatly increasing their reach and accessibility.

We also produced the web edition of GITOC’s flagship publication, the Organized Crime Index Report in 2023.

By publishing to the web, in addition to PDF, GITOC can reach exponentially more people, because web publications rank highly in search results, and can be easily shared online. And web analytics let GITOC show their stakeholders the extent of that reach.

Our team

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, we live and work at the intersection of developed and developing economies, and draw on decades of publishing experience in both contexts. We’re known for being innovative, thoughtful, and good for the world. EBW was the birthplace of the acclaimed non-profits Book Dash and Bettercare.

Our in-house team is a tight-knit group of publishing strategists, developers, and project leads. We draw on a circle of trusted freelancers for editing, design, and software development.

Arthur Attwell

Managing Director

Arthur works closely with our clients on publishing strategy and oversees software development. He co-founded EBW in 2006 and is widely regarded as a publishing innovator. Find out more.

Sasha Broom

Project Lead

Sasha manages publishing projects for clients around the world. She has a postgraduate degree in English literature, and a background as an illustrator and designer. Find out more.

Christina Tromp

Project Lead

Christina manages publishing projects for clients around the world. She has a postgraduate degree in social sciences and a background managing large publishing and software projects internationally. Find out more.

Alex Maughan

Lead Software Developer

Alex creates and improves the code behind our books and systems. He has done design and software-development work for retail, finance, and non-profit organisations for nearly twenty years. Find out more.

What our clients say

EBW has been crucial to CORE’s success. They are not just our ebooks developer, they are our partner – they understand our mission, goals and audience, and incorporate that knowledge into each piece of work they do. This not only makes our ebooks better but, ultimately, contributes to better learning outcomes for over 115,000 students a year who learn with CORE’s textbooks. Luka Crnjakovic COO/CFO CORE Economics Education

EBW has made the enormous task of developing an educational resource a smooth and pleasant experience. We particularly appreciate their flexibility, honesty, and effective communication. It felt as though the team adopted the project as their own, and helped us make several production and design decisions. EBW’s effective workflow was adaptive to our needs and the project has been a collaborative effort in every sense. The iThink Biology team Azim Premji University

There’s no other team like EBW in the publishing industry right now. Once you’ve experienced their workflow, any other way of working will seem ridiculous! They are innovative, strategic, creative, and there’s no technical challenge you can’t throw at them. Their team are reliable, experts in their fields, and excellent communicators. They are an absolute pleasure to work with. Sam Beckbessinger Writer and entrepreneur

For Boundary Bay, we chose Electric Book Works to develop and implement our multi-format publishing workflow based on their innovative, open-source technology and great reputation in the industry. Their skills, professionalism, and knowledge of publishing are all exceptional – and they’re a lot of fun to work with! I strongly recommend EBW’s services to anyone working with books. Simon Collinson Publisher Business Development Manager TextbookHub

Throughout our work on Measuring the Economy, Electric Book Works has been a constant source of specialist expertise, insight and experience … fantastic to work with on a professional and personal basis – and no technical challenge has been too much trouble! EBW has helped us develop the online book into a high-quality product that we are really proud of and we look forward to continuing to work together. I would happily recommend EBW to others. Georgia Tasker-Davies Project Manager – Measuring the Economy Office for National Statistics

Worldreader has had the pleasure of working with Arthur and his team for several years and the level of professionalism is always exceptional, as is the quality of the work. It’s a joy to work together and we look forward to future collaborations! Nancy Brown Associate Director, Content Worldreader

I have been extremely pleased working with Electric Book Works. In all areas of our work together, they have been reliable, produced high-quality work, are great thought-partners, and friendly. I would recommend them to anyone considering their services. Florence Middleton Associate Manager Room to Read

Saide is so impressed with the Electric Book workflow software and approach that we are exploring how to make this system support our development of commissioned open courseware for all. Alan Amory Senior Programme Specialist (Learning Technologies) Saide

Getting started

To start a conversation, write to team@electricbookworks.com to set up a no-obligations call with Arthur, our founder and managing director.

Administrative detail

Website: electricbookworks.com
Owner: Arthur Attwell
Company registration number: 2010/016046/07
DUNS number: 539000758
VAT number: 4210235687
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