Project archive: Academic
Our most recent projects are shown first
DCU Press
New website for Ireland’s first fully Open Access university press. DCU Press is a non-profit open access publisher of peer-reviewed books. It supports the University’s mission to advance DCU’s research impact and transform lives and societies, and reflects its commitment to Open Research.
UCL Press
Established as the UK’s first fully open access university press in 2015, UCL Press has fast become one of the leading open access scholarly publishers in the UK. They publish a wide range of open access scholarly monographs and edited collections, student textbooks and academic journals that are available to read and download free of charge.
We created a new ONIX-powered website to replace the previous Shopify-based site, providing greater flexibility over management of content and a much more tailored way of displaying book information, with a single page for each book that contains information and purchasing options for all editions.
“Simon and his team are fantastic to work with – adaptable, responsive and they really understand the requirements of a small publisher. They immediately understood our unique challenges and came up with cost-effective solutions to meet our needs, WHILST ALSO BEING A JOY TO WORK WITH. Highly recommend!”
Alison Fox, Marketing and Distribution Manager, UCL Press
Leuven University Press
Leuven University Press is a mission-driven academic press of international repute. We created a new ONIX-powered website to replace the previous Shopify-based site, providing greater flexibility over management of content and a much more tailored way of displaying book information, with a single page for each book that contains information and purchasing options for all editions.
“It has been a pleasure to work with Simon and the Bookswarm team for the second time to renew our website. Simon and Alex are very experienced in book metadata, ONIX, and WordPress, and they always strive to find the best solutions for our wishes and needs within budget. The ONIX-powered website they developed is an indispensable tool for us to efficiently and flexibly present our books online.”
Annemie Vandezande, Leuven University Press
Zaid Al-Ali 2024
A new home page for academic and author Zaid Al-Ali, designed to focus on his more recent publishing, and sit alongside an earlier site created in support of his first book.
Kieron O’Hara
A new website for Kieron O’Hara, a writer and philosopher. For 30 years Kieron has been an academic in the UK, first at the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, and then in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, where he is now an emeritus fellow.
“It’s been great working with Simon and Bookswarm to get my personal author’s website up and running. He’s got the technical expertise to get everything working, the administrative knowledge to ensure that the site meets all the important legal criteria, the aesthetic skills to get it looking attractive, and the patience needed to train me how to upload and edit content. He’s also quick to respond to cries for help.”
Kieron O’Hara, author, computer scientist and philosopher
Raising the Nation
Raising the Nation is a manifesto for a brighter future where all children can thrive. The site includes a number of additional essays not included in the print publication, linked to from the book using a QR code.
University of London Press
The University of London Press are passionate advocates for the humanities – a collaborative, non-profit and predominantly open access publishing partner to researchers and institutions. Users of their new website can buy books, browse series, learn more about their team and their publishing model, or submit a proposal.
“It has been an absolute pleasure working with Simon and Bookswarm on our new website for the University of London Press. As a small university press team publishing both open access and non-open access books, Simon worked closely and patiently with us to make the experience easy, enjoyable and on budget. We’re delighted with our new website which really enhances the visibility and discoverability of our books and have already recommended Bookswarm to other publishers!”
Paula Kennedy, Head Of Publishing at University of London Press
Reaktion Books
An independent publisher of adventurous and innovative non-fiction since 1985, Reaktion Books publishes around 90 new titles each year, and has nearly 1,000 titles in print. Their list ranges widely across art and visual culture, biography, food history, general history, music, natural history, philosophy, politics and popular science.
The new Reaktion site offers e-commerce, including an innovative monthly Book Club where members receive a free ebook of their choice each month, as well as a 40% discount on all other purchases.
“It’s been a pleasure working with Simon and Bookswarm on the development of our new website. From initial design meeting, through development and final rollout, Simon and his team have been unfailingly responsive, diligent and professional. We are very pleased with our new site and have noticed an increase in sales and traffic immediately. I have no hesitation in recommending Bookswarm to any potential customer.”
David Hoek, Sales Manager, Reaktion Books
The Great Exhibition of 1851
Private microsite that acts as a self-contained book proposal, to be shared securely with prospective agents and publishers.
Oneworld
Oneworld was founded in 1986 by husband and wife team Juliet Mabey and Novin Doostdar as an independent publishing house focusing on stimulating non-fiction. Now publishing over 100 books a year, Oneworld has retained its founding commitment to the old-fashioned principles of great writing, editorial excellence, high production values, and marketing flair, to produce books that are read by the intellectually curious all over the world.
We have created a new, modern web presence which is automatically updated via an ONIX feed from Stison.
Geoffrey Roberts
Geoffrey Roberts is an historian, biographer, and political commentator. A renowned specialist in Russian and Soviet foreign and military policy and an expert on Stalin and the Second World War, his books have been translated into Chinese, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Swedish and Turkish.
Mac Keith Press
Mac Keith Press was founded by Ronnie Mac Keith in 1959 to improve the lives of disabled children, their families and carers by extending the knowledge and understanding of the fields of developmental medicine and paediatric neurology. They are an independent, registered charity and funded by the sale of their publications.
Mac Keith Press were already using WordPress and WooCommerce but we created a new website design and a new architecture to streamline the organisation of their core book information. We also integrated WooCommerce with Moodle, allowing users to purchase online learning enrolments from the shop, alongside books and ebooks.
“Simon’s approach at Bookswarm is wonderfully supportive, friendly, and helpful. He guided us through the initial design, development and implementation stages of our website, and is now working brilliantly with us on its continued use and expansion: helping us build a great online presence and explore innovative new projects. He is always responsive and understanding of our publishing needs, and is highly recommended.”
Ann-Marie Halligan, Managing Director, Mac Keith Press
Keith Kahn-Harris
Keith Kahn-Harris is a writer and sociologist. He’s published both academic and non-academic works, and is the author of seven books. His new website is designed to be an archive of his writing going back to the 1990s, so we created a simple-to-use database covering both his articles and papers, and his many talks and lectures.
“I’ve had a complicated career that’s involved multiple projects and many publications on a wide variety of themes. In the past, I’ve commissioned personal websites but never been satisfied with the results. Until now, no one has ever managed to build something that strikes the right balance between breadth and depth. I’m delighted to say that Simon and Bookswarm have managed to build me a website that allows me to publicise my books while also housing my personal archive. I was hugely impressed with the patience with which Simon discussed my needs with me and then developed a website that reflected my idiosyncrasies. He responded quickly to enquiries and was happy to go through several rounds of changes until we got to a result I was happy with. I would recommend him to any author who wants to have a website they can be proud of.”
Keith Kahn-Harris, sociologist and writer
Lawrence Wishart
Lawrence Wishart have been publishing critical left ideas on politics and culture since 1936. Through books, journals and events, they foster a space where people can think together, challenge political ‘common sense’ and explore new possibilities. Their current work is particularly focused on the areas of race, gender, LGBTQ issues, intersectionality, climate justice, and colonialism.
Séverine Autesserre
Bi-lingual website for New-York based academic Séverine Autesserre, who is an award-winning author, peacebuilder, and researcher.
The site is fully available in both English and French, with multiple languages handled by the WPML family of plugins. English > French translation was undertaken by Nathalie Reis Translations and project managed by Bookswarm.
“I am thrilled with the results of my collaboration with Bookswarm!
My redesigned website is much more appealing and user-friendly than it used to be, and I now have a French translation of this site.
The redesign process was a lot of work, but it was certainly worth it.”
Séverine Autesserre, award-winning author, peacebuilder, and researcher
The University Press Group (UPG)
The University Press Group (UPG) is jointly owned by the University Presses of California, Columbia and Princeton and is responsible for the sales of their print books in the UK and Ireland, Europe, The Middle East and Africa.
We created a simple website to showcase recent titles published by UPG presses, and highlight positive review coverage, as well as making it easy for anyone to download catalogues.
Erich Segal
Erich Segal (June 16, 1937 – January 17, 2010) was an American author, screenwriter, and Classics Professor. He was best known for writing the phenomenally successful novel Love Story (1970), and the hit major motion picture of the same name.
We worked with his literary estate to launch a new website in time for the 50th anniversary of the first publication of Love Story – designed to showcase Erich’s achievements in the fields of writing, academic and sport. We wish we could have met Erich while he was alive, but working on this website alongisde those who did know him was the next best thing.
“I can’t thank you enough for Erich’s website. It is absolutely perfect! You really listened to what I wanted, and captured both Erich and his work. You managed to incorporate all the different elements and still keep it fresh and accessible. The publishers in the US love it. Thank you for making the whole process such a pleasure, and I would highly recommend Bookswarm.”
Karen Segal, Erich Segal literary estate
Sophie Botros
Sophie Botros is a philosopher and author. Dr Botros’s newest book Truth, Time and History: a Philosophical Inquiry was published by Bloomsbury Academic in September 2017.
We have created a new website for Sophie. The home page is focused on her most recent book, including a video summary and a slideshow summarising key ideas explored in the book.
“My recent experience of working with Simon Appleby and his team at Bookswarm was entirely positive. I could not have wished for a more professional collaboration, Simon, with whom I had two face-to-face meetings, was always charming, understanding, good-humoured, and patient, as I sought to grasp the relationship between the ‘Dashboard’ and editing screen, on the one hand, and the website, on the other. He always responded immediately to any query of mine, while his instructions and explanations as to how the ‘Dashboard’ works were so simple and illuminating that I soon mastered how to update text and images for myself. The design of my website seems to me brilliant, eye-catching and yet, as befits an academic, tasteful. Its uncluttered simplicity makes even abstract ideas easy to take in. Simon seemed to know what I wanted almost from the start. I am absolutely delighted with the result.”
Sophie Botros, philosopher and author of Truth, Time and History
Yale Representation
Yale Representation provides a managed sales representation service in the UK for a number of prestigious publishers. We created a new website for them, to replace their old Drupal-based site. It includes a bookshops section with dynamic map, and different ways to explore Yale Representation’s clients and their wonderful books.
“I’d wholeheartedly recommend Bookswarm. Simon is efficient, patient and communicative. He did everything he said he would and more and I’ve got nothing but good things to say about him and his colleagues. Perhaps most importantly, I didn’t get any sense that he was bored with the project and wanting to move on once the site was delivered but there was lots of tweaking to do. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that sort of start to finish service with an IT-type project before – or any other sort of project, for that matter.”
Lisa Kemmer, Sales and Operations Manager, Yale Representation
Leuven University Press (Shopify)
Shopify-based e-commerce catalogue for Belgian-based Leuven University Press. Since replaced with a WordPress- and WooCommerce-powered version.
Zaid Al-Ali
Author website for writer and academic Zaid Al-Ali. Zaid is quoted regularly in the international press on Iraqi developments and on constitutional reform issues in the Arab region, including in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the BBC, National Public Radio, the Guardian, and the Daily Telegraph, amongst many others.
“Bookswarm’s experience in creating author-related websites is really invaluable. Not only did they design the website for me, they actually helped me understand what it was that I wanted for my own website, which was not an easy thing to do considering that I had not thought this through myself. Bookswarm made the entire process intelligent, swift, and professional and it was a pleasure to have worked with them.”
Zaid Al-Ali, author, The Struggle for Iraq’s Future (Yale University Press)
Rory Muir’s Wellington
Interaction of Color
The Interaction of Color mobile app for iPad is packed with elegant and innovative features that help you understand the book’s ideas, view the plates, experiment, and create and share your own designs. This interactive edition of one of the most influential books on color ever written offers users an entirely new way to experience Josef Albers’s original masterwork.
Bookswarm built this responsive microsite to promote and support the app.
