About Shabash

Martin Clutterbuck founded Shabash Ltd in 2003 to develop tools to automate publishing production tasks, particularly focussing on the application of detailed editorial rules and XML standards.

Shabash’s growing team of developers have created Merops, the world’s most powerful automatic text editing and XML mark-up tool. Merops is used by leading publishers, publishing service providers, and intergovernmental organizations.

Martin spent 14 years at Blackwell Publishing (now Wiley-Blackwell), initially as a hands-on editor, then as Technical Development Manager responsible for production strategy, workflow automation and editorial and data standards. Blackwell were the first major publishing house to roll out an XML DTD (which Martin co-wrote) across their workflow. We have unmatched experience in specifying, developing, implementing and supporting production tools created from the perspective of hands-on users. This direct experience of production processes, and our enterprise-level systems architecture and programming skills, is matched by a vision of publishers’ strategic needs. This combination can deliver huge cost-saving potential through business re-engineering, while ensuring that qualitative improvements are given high priority.

The name Shabash comes from the Urdu word, which literally means 'be joyful'. The word is often shouted in celebration by South Asian cricketers following a wicket, reflecting Clutterbuck's interest in cricket.

We are also the company behind Transform My Document and Thrix.