Electric Book Works
@electricbook
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Get the scale of web publishing, the convenience of ebooks, and the gravitas of print, all from one friendly team. Tweets by @arthurattwell.
Cape Town, South Africa
Joined December 2008
Ever wondered what goes into a successful crowdfunding campaign? In our latest episode, @arthurattwell speaks with @aaronareed, who’s crowdfunded several books and games, including *50 Years of Text Games* and *Downcrawl 2E*. https://t.co/gle3S8xiR8
howbooksaremade.com
The allure of crowdfunding is that you can sell your book before it costs you any money. But that's harder than it looks!
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New episode! Children’s publisher @bookdash makes beautiful books in a single day, then gives them away. And their method is catching on around the world.
howbooksaremade.com
Children's publisher Book Dash makes beautiful books in a single day, then gives them away. And their method is catching on around the world.
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New episode! Arthur speaks with Graham Moss, master printer, history teacher, and founder of Incline Press, which works with poets and artists to make limited-edition books with hand-set, metal type on vintage machines. https://t.co/O4mISfQlWR
howbooksaremade.com
At the heart of everything book-like is a printer, standing at a hand-powered press, turning paper into pages.
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New episode! Today we’re talking fonts with type designer @ThomasJockin. We find out how typefaces can make it easier for people to understand what they read, and what variable fonts mean for type design, for reading, and for society. https://t.co/UDv0CyUW9t
howbooksaremade.com
Everything we read is coloured by its typeface. And humans read a lot, so font choices probably affect more people than any other field of design.
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New episode, with Griffin Shea, about running one of Joburg’s most beloved bookshops, Bridge Books. We cover sourcing books, setting prices, connecting booksellers, the highs and lows of the inner city, and judging SA’s most prestigious non-fiction award. https://t.co/B79TmRLSb4
howbooksaremade.com
There is no place more universally loved than a good bookstore. For its owner, achieving that is not as simple as it seems.
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New episode! Behind every great author is a host of unsung editors – often ghostwriters, too. By convention, they don’t get their names on books. What are they doing behind the scenes? https://t.co/Yw7egCxaQD
howbooksaremade.com
Behind every great author is a host of unsung editors. By convention, they don’t get their names on books. What are they doing behind the scenes?
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New episode! ‘Building tools for creative communities’—Librivox and Pressbooks are book-making platforms with vibrant communities, created by @hughmcguire. What does it take to build a tool that creative people gather round? https://t.co/Ejmwz0Z2al
howbooksaremade.com
Creative communities can be a powerful force for good. Online, they grow around tools that let people be creative together. What comes first, the tools or the community?
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In today’s new episode, Arthur speaks to Emma Barnes about managing metadata and technical literacy, and we catch up about Snow Books and children’s publishing service Make Our Book. https://t.co/AeZNmEDSmj
howbooksaremade.com
We take for granted that books contain no mistakes, but the absence of mistakes is no small achievement. It takes care, commitment, and very, very good processes.
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New episode! We talk to book-tech leader Dave Cramer about creating standards, making ebooks, using CSS for print layout, and the dilemmas of digital-first vs InDesign-based publishing.
howbooksaremade.com
Would you believe that the entire ebook marketplace – including Kindle, iBooks, and thousands of ebook stores – depends on the volunteer work of about a dozen people?
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New episode! Why are book clubs so transformative? My guest @BleedingInkAndy works with book clubs and writers who are in or have been in prison, and has seen the positive effect of reading circles on people who are rebuilding their lives. https://t.co/T0S2gj9xLp
howbooksaremade.com
Why are book clubs so transformative, and can they change the world?
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In today's new episode, Arthur talks to literary agent Aoife Lennon-Ritchie about what agents do; do's and don'ts for getting an agent; evaluating contracts; and crossovers between writing for page and screen.
howbooksaremade.com
Good agents are the fairy grandparents of page and screen. They get writers; and they get writers paid.
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"Commercial publishing is funded by customers who have money and believe what you believe, so effecting change is a happy side-effect. Strategic publishing is very different." I honestly can't tell: is this blindingly obvious or a provocative opinion? https://t.co/EYvN9PSJbU
electricbookworks.com
Commercial publishing is funded by customers who have money and believe what you believe, so genuine change is a happy side-effect. Strategic publishing is very different.
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Accessible publishing is hard, important, tricky, rewarding work. Despite years working on accessibility, we're still learning so much. Here are some key takeaways from the journey so far. https://t.co/zu4NHgyjeM
electricbookworks.com
Accessibility is a force that drives the creative process. It can’t be ‘on or off’, and it is not a separate to-do. Making your work more accessible is an integral part of being a better creator.
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When helping people publish on tight budgets, the question we grapple with is, 'What's truly indispensable?' What are your must-have publishing fundamentals? Here's my list. Have I missed something, or over-emphasised something you think is not crucial? https://t.co/94NBI2KRer
electricbookworks.com
These are the fundamental building-blocks of a successful publishing project. If they’re in place, you are on solid ground. And if not, your project is likely to falter.
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We LOVED producing the epub edition of Aaron's Reed's fabulous book *50 Years of Text Games*. The most complex print-to-ebook conversion we've done, with a big focus on accessibility. Here's Aaron writing about it on Kickstarter.
kickstarter.com
I'm happy to announce that the digital edition of 50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to AI Dungeon is now available! The digital edition(s), actually: read on for more details, but first, how...
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Our interns help us do great work, and we teach them everything we can about modern book production. If you know a book-maker in the making, we'd love to hear from them. (EBW internships are paid, full- or half-time, and based in Cape Town, South Africa.) https://t.co/Wqt9SA4cVo
electricbookworks.com
Electric Book Works is offering an internship in book production on our team. Interns at EBW get to be an integral part of our work, and learn an enormous amount about making books and websites.
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Coko asked us to create bold, beautiful design templates for their textbook-writing platform, so that authors can see their book laid out in its final form, while they are writing. Here's what we created, and links to our open-source code library. https://t.co/JdaMnib1Eb
electricbookworks.com
Coko asked us to create bold, beautiful design templates for their textbook-writing platform, so that authors can instantly see their book laid out in its final form, while they are writing.
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An eye-opening project for us! We worked with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime to turn their Risk Bulletins into searchable, shareable web pages. https://t.co/baaNYt2gNm
electricbookworks.com
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime produces eye-opening stories for law enforcement, government, researchers, and journalists. To get more people reading them, they brought...
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We managed the design and production of this free online textbook, and it's been one of our favourite projects. If you teach life sciences, check it out. https://t.co/eZij0lVK93
ithinkbiology.in
A case study-based resource within the Indian context that emphasizes capacities over content.
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"a small step on the long path to transforming educational resources in India to make them relevant, accessible, and encouraging of a learner’s curiosities and capabilities." Great overview of *iThink Biology* by one of its authors. https://t.co/gIPz4krzg5
indiabioscience.org
In December 2021, Azim Premji University inaugurated a free online textbook, called iThink Biology. In this article, a faculty at the University and an author of the textbook shares the thoughts that...
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