Project archive: Children's and YA
Our most recent projects are shown first
Gloria Barnett
Gloria is a science presenter who conduct talks and school visits. She also writes exciting ocean-themed fiction for children, as well as informative non-fiction books.
“Simon is a superb person to work with. He is excellent – full of knowledge and useful comments. His advice was always spot on. He has lots of patience too, which helps when working with non-tech individual like me! My new website has had many great comments already. Thank you Simon – it’s been a pleasure to work with you.”
Gloria Barnett, award-winning author, educator, science presenter
The Plughole Boy
Microsite for a series of children’s books by Aubrey Waddy, illustrated by Emily Taylor.
“Bookswarm delivered a site that works for ME, not something designed to attract applause from other site developers. I learned all sorts of valuable stuff from Simon Appleby during the development of the site, and his responsiveness was terrific. I’d genuinely recommend Bookswarm, over DIY unless you’re very adept, and over alternatives unless you’re very confident of what they’ll do for you.”
Aubrey Waddy, author of the Plughole Boy books for children
Clare Furniss Mk2
New microsite for bestselling YA author Clare Furniss, replacing her previous Bookswarm-designed website. The new look-and-feel is designed to appeal to both adult and Young Adult readerships.
Emma Yarrow – Therapeutic Stories for Children
Emma Yarrow is the author of two therapeutic stories for young children, and provides school visits and workshops in the North East of England.
Nosy Crow Christmas Advent Calendar 2024
This content-managed advent calendar, delivering a series of festive competitions and giveaways during December 2024, was the first major addition made by Bookswarm to the Nosy Crow website since taking over responsibility for hosting and evolving it in Spring 2024. It’s designed to allow the client to easily set the visual theme, so it can be re-used year after year.
Post Wave Children’s Books
A new website for Post Wave Publishing UK, a newly formed independent publishing house, focusing on the children’s imprint, Post Wave Children’s Books.
Post Wave Publishing UK are the UK subsidiary of Post Wave Publishing China, a leading privately owned publishing house, and this is their first step towards becoming a truly global publishing brand.
“Working with Simon and Bookswarm to make our website has been really easy and efficient. Simon listened to our ideas, made updates quickly and kept the whole process clear and straightforward. He is responsive, very experienced and great to collaborate with. We’re really pleased with how our website turned out!”
Joanna McInerney, Editorial Director, Post Wave Publishing
The Antony Harwood Literary Agency
An Oxford based literary agency with an international reputation. From brilliant first-time writers to those with long-established careers, from bestsellers to prize-winners in all genres, the Antony Harwood Literary Agency are proud to represent a wide range of wonderful authors, managing their business around the world in publishing, film, television and on the stage.
“Getting a website up and running was, frankly, a very daunting prospect but, from the first conversation with Simon, I knew I was in a safe pair of expert hands and the whole experience turned out to be quick, smooth and clear. And I’m absolutely delighted with how the website looks and functions, and how easy it is to keep it up to date.”
Antony Harwood, literary agent
Paul Adam
Paul Adam is the author of thirteen critically-acclaimed novels for adults and the award-winning Max Cassidy Trilogy of thrillers for children, featuring a dare-devil teenage escapologist.
“I’m delighted with the site. I think it’s terrific. Really clean, clear, attractive, modern and easy to use. Perfect for authors.”
Paul Adam, author
The Hampshire United Trilogy
A website for a triology of books about football, with a spiritual dimension – by US-based independent author Alex Phakos.
“Working with Simon Appleby and Bookswarm was a positive experience, start to finish. He captured my vision perfectly and created an author website that is beautiful, professional, and truly me. Creative, responsive, and a joy to work with—Simon exceeded every expectation.
I don’t recommend people lightly. Simon is exactly the type of person you will never want to stop working with. Hire him today.”
Alex Phakos, author of The Hampshire United Trilogy
Hachette Schools
Hachette Schools brings pupils, teachers and librarians closer to brilliant Hachette Children’s Group books and authors.
Their extensive list of titles ranges from fantastic non-fiction that supports the curriculum, to well-loved authors including Cressida Cowell, Kes Gray, David Almond, Patrice Lawrence, Dermot O’Leary, Francesca Simon, Matthew Syed.
The site allows visitors to discover a wealth of free resources for new and well-loved books, specially written to support the curriculum and encourage discussion in the classroom or library, and hear about all the latest news and competitions.
David Almond
David Almond is the highly acclaimed author of Skellig, The Savage, Clay, My Name Is Mina, My Dad’s a Birdman, Slog’s Dad and many other novels.
Anna Kemp
Anna writes picture books and fantasy stories for anyone who likes adventure, magic and some laughs along the way. We created this new site to replace her old Wix site, and allow a separately branded section for her new middle-grade series, The Goblyn Wood Adventures.
“I am absolutely thrilled with the website that Simon designed for me. I didn’t really know what I wanted or needed from a website but Simon’s expertise in creating sites for authors lit the way. The process was smooth and speedy and Simon was always available to answer any questions. I now have a site that is bursting with content, easy to navigate and looks beautiful. Most importantly for me it is wonderfully easy to maintain and update. I feel confident using it but it is also great to know that Simon can help me out if I get stuck. I’m already seeing the benefits of a more polished website in increasing numbers of requests for school visits and events. I can’t recommend Bookswarm highly enough. Thank you Simon!”
Anna Kemp, children’s author
Reading Riddle
Reading Riddle is the home of Kate Cunningham, author of books for children and Young Adults, including the A Flea In History series, featuring Vlad Flea. Kate also specialises in school visits, encouraging children to learn about history through Vlad’s adventures.
The books are illustrated by Kate’s son, Sam Cunningham, and we make liberal use of his drawings in the site design.
“When I reached out to Simon about creating my new website I had two sites that had evolved in random and confusing ways, and I had absolutely no idea how to make sense of it all. Luckily Simon and his team did! I now have an amazing new site that I’m proud to shout about, and direct people to. I am still amazed every time I look at it, that a tangled mess could become such a thing of beauty. More than that, it made me consider what, and how, I communicate with my audiences and has really boosted the content and how I interconnect all the elements.”
Kate Cunningham, children’s author
Rocket Bird Books
An e-commerce website for newly launched picture book publisher Rocket Bird Books.
The Rocket Bird Crew has one mission: to turn children into booklovers before they’re able to read a single word. We work with the most amazing authors and illustrators (both well-known names and soon to be so) to create picture books that live beyond the page. Retold and remembered on bus journeys and woodland walks, these are stories to returned to time and time again. They will challenge, entertain and comfort.
Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency (HS-LA)
HS-LA is a boutique agency run by Hannah Sheppard. Hannah puts authors at the heart of everything she does; from helping authors to develop their ideas for commercial success with expert, collaborative editorial work, to being their number one fan and shouting about their stories as loudly as she can – she is here to build careers that flourish.
We developed a new visual identify for HS-LA, which we then applied to a new website showcasing their clients and enabling online submissions.
“Working with Bookswarm has been an absolute pleasure. Simon and Susie have been brilliant, fully understanding the brief both on what I needed from the website, and on branding and design. They’ve been able to make really helpful suggestions and their experience working with publishing sites mean they already fully understood what was required. They made the whole process really easy and I feel confident keeping my website updated.”
Hannah Sheppard, founder, HS-LA
Jamie Costello
Jamie Costello is the YA pen name of author and journalist Laura Wilson, and Monochrome is her first YA novel – necessitating a separate web presence from Laura’s existing website.
“Great ideas, excellent designs, and prompt, efficient service. Simon is great to work with – very patient, good at explaining things, and extremely helpful in dealing with follow-up questions.”
Laura Wilson, crime novelist and YA author
Tiger Tales
Tiger Tales publishes imaginative picture, board, novelty, chapter, and nonfiction books for children of all ages. Whether the story is funny, whimsical, informative, or teaches a gentle lesson, Tiger Tales books are designed to entertain, educate, and engage young readers.
Rock the Boat
Rock the Boat was launched in 2015 with the goal of publishing bold, diverse and thought-provoking books for children and Young Adults. We created an imprint site for Rock the Boat at the same time as we were redesigning the website of parent publisher Oneworld.
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.
Alice Oseman
Alice Oseman is an award-winning author, illustrator, and screenwriter, and was born in 1994 in Kent, England. She has written four YA contemporary novels about teenage disasters: SOLITAIRE, RADIO SILENCE, I WAS BORN FOR THIS, and LOVELESS. She is the creator of LGBTQ+ YA romance webcomic HEARTSTOPPER, which is now published in physical form by Hachette Children’s Books, and she is the writer, creator, and executive producer for the smash-hit television adaptation of HEARTSTOPPER.
“Working with Simon and the team at Bookswarm was an absolute dream. The whole process was smooth and professional. Simon is so experienced with author websites it meant we could skip past the basic needs and focus on the unique aspects we needed to appeal to our international audience, fan base and new readers alike. They had a real problem-solving attitude and were quick to respond to edits during a tight turnaround. We were also delighted with the look and design which perfectly matched our brand vision.”
Krissi Hill, Marketing Manager at Hachette Children’s Group
b small publishing
b small are on a mission to empower all readers with critical literacy skills. Whether that’s examining engineering through fun activities or digging for the truth behind real-life mysteries – or even learning to speak French or Spanish – the books they publish help children make sense of themselves, others, and the world around them.
“From the very start of our working relationship together, Simon and the team have been efficient, understanding and incredibly patient with all our little tweaks and queries – no question or adjustment was too tedious, finickity or small! Such a joy to have a bespoke website that so perfectly meets our needs, and a real weight off our shoulders to know that the Bookswarm team are on hand to handle any issues that crop up. Simon has been a real pleasure to work with and we’re thrilled with the final result.”
Naomi Weeks, Marketing and Publicity Manager, b small publishing
The E.A.R.T.H. Gang
Website for author Ellie Linden promoting her debut, The E.A.R.T.H. Gang, “an out-of-this-world adventure, where four children and a dog must risk everything to help the Earth.”
“I love the website Bookswarm has created. A very professional service with quick responses to any changes needed. I would highly recommend Simon and his team.”
Ellie Linden, author, The Earth Gang
SmartLab Toys
Since 2004, SmartLab Toys’ STEAM products have earned more than 50 of the toy industry’s most prestigious awards, including multiple Oppenheim Platinum awards and the Good Housekeeping Best Toy awards. Now part of the Quarto Group, their passion is creating toys and games that inspire creative thinking while providing opportunities for children and adults to learn and play together.
Bounce Sales & Marketing (2021 relaunch)
A new design for a site we originally built back in 2016-17.
Bounce Sales & Marketing represent 40 independent children’s publishers to the trade both in the UK and overseas. From beautiful, award-winning picture books to bestselling YA fiction, colourful early learning board books to fun and insightful reference and non-fiction titles, Bounce has a children’s book for every age and every taste, while helping booksellers discover hidden gems and give their customers a bespoke range of titles perfect for their communities.
The website we created for Bounce is designed to make it as easy as possible for their customers – booksellers, libraries, schools – to place orders and request materials from their client publishers. The emphasis is on making these transactions as quick and painless as possible.
The bibliographic information in the website is drawn from the Supafolio system.
Quarto
The Quarto Group creates a wide variety of books and intellectual property products, with a mission to inspire life’s experiences. Produced in many formats for adults, children, and the whole family, their products are visually appealing, information rich, and stimulating. The Group encompasses a diverse portfolio of imprints and businesses that are creatively independent and expert in developing long-lasting content across specific niches of interest.
Bookswarm undertook the creation of a new information architecture and design for the Quarto website, before handing our designs over to their in-house development team for implementation. The new structure consolidates two previously separate websites, one of which was more trade-focused and one of which was more consumer-focused, bringing the content together into a new entity that’s much easier to explore and allows users to gain a full understanding of the range of imprints and titles that the Quarto Group has.
David G Bailey
Author website for David G Bailey, author of YA fantasy novel Seventeen:
Sir Tristram will take seventeen to the match – how many will he bring back? He must reunite his Blood City teammates – Knights, Pirates and Westerners – to win the prestigious Seskie tournament against their oldest rivals. Penalty shoot-outs often end in tears. In Cibola they may end in a fight to the death. Behind the football match is a bigger power play, a king’s mission to bring down his greatest rival by persuasion, trickery or force. Needing a squad of soldiers as well as footballers, Sir Tristram must also find a place on tour and in his heart for the teenage child he has not addressed by name since infancy…
“I went to Simon at Bookswarm because of his track record and specialism in authors, finding him able and willing to incorporate special features into my website that would not have been available under other standardised packages. I was delighted with the look, feel and dynamism of the site he produced, as well as the training to operate it largely myself. For aspects beyond my capabilities his Ninja Support plugin does exactly what its name suggests, responding swiftly and efficiently to sort things out. I would wholeheartedly recommend Bookswarm to other authors.”
David G Bailey, author
Gaelic Books Council
Bi-lingual site in English and Scottish Gaelic for Tha Comhairle nan Leabhraichean / The Gaelic Books Council. Their main missions are:
- To support the development of Gaelic writing.
- To stimulate interest in Gaelic books and other related materials.
- To support Gaelic authors by awarding grants and commissions.
- To support the Gaelic publishing industry.
- To increase the range, quality and impact of Gaelic literature
The new site uses WooCommerce to allow the sale of books and other products, and is integrated with the in-shop POS system Merlio, allowing streamlined inventory and stock management. It’s fully bilingual in English and Scottish Gaelic through the use of the WordPress Multiingual Plugin (WPML).
“We are delighted with our new website made by Bookswarm. From making the site accessible in both English and Gaelic to the integration with our EPOS system, Simon had a solution for all our requirements. The end result is a beautiful site which provides a seamless user experience. Post launch, Bookswarm’s excellent customer service has ensured that any issues are fixed within a few hours. I would highly recommend Bookswarm’s services to any individual or company seeking to improve their online presence.”
Joe Sanders, Comhairle nan Leabhraichean / The Gaelic Books Council
The Clover Crate
The Clover Crate was founded by a team of book enthusiasts spread around the world, readers who love their shelves filled with books and goodies! Their purpose is to introduce their customers to new reads as well as help them rediscover their favorite series in unique ways, while creating bookish merchandise related to beloved novels and characters.
Abi Elphinstone
Abi Elphinstone writes adventure books filled with magic. From glow-in-the-dark rainforests to castles built on the backs of sleeping cloud giants, there’s a lot to discover. We created a new website for Abi to replace a site that was not mobile-friendly or easy to update.
“I was bowled over by Simon and his team at Bookswarm. They were efficient, creative and incredibly helpful. I couldn’t recommend them more.”
Abi Elphinstone, children’s author
Barrington Stoke Young Editors
The Young Editors scheme allows young readers to be involved in the publishing process – teachers, parents and librarations can download manuscripts before they are published, send in feedback, and help shape Barrington Stoke’s books.
Pequeño&Grande
Spanish language version of Little People, Big Dreams, created for the Spanish publishers Alba Editorial. The site includes design and technical variations from the original US / UK site.
Fran Grant
Fran Grant is an author of Children’s, Middle Grade and Young Adult books, as well as a copywriting professional – an all-round word lover. She asked us to create one site which could encompass both of these aspects of her work.
“From the first conversation with Simon I knew I was in safe hands, and working with an industry expert. I had a very specific requirement – to have a website where I could showcase both parts of my business – Author arm and Copywriting arm – rather than host two separate sites. Simon listened to my specific needs and presented a number of choices/solutions. The process was fast, efficient, and stress free, and Simon was a pleasure to work with, providing updates and advice along the way, and support at go-live. I am over the moon with my website and I’ve received a great deal of feedback and compliments on it! Thanks, Simon.”
Fran Grant, author and copywriting professional
Lion Hudson
Lion Hudson publish books and other media for children and adults to help them grow in their Christian faith. We created a new e-commerce website for Lion Husdson to replace the previous incarnation, focusing on ease of use and integration with multiple distributors and internal systems.
Little Tiger
The Little Tiger Group was founded in 1987, and today they publish a huge range of formats and genres, striving to create a diverse range of high-quality books, with something that will appeal to every reading taste, helping children develop a passion for books and a life-long love of reading.
We designed and built a new e-commerce website for Little Tiger, using WordPress and WooCommerce. Product data is kept up to date automatically by Booksonix via the WooCommerce API.
Horrid Henry
Welcome to Horrid Henry’s special place, his wonderful and most Horrid website, which is all about Horrid Henry himself – with loads to watch, loads to listen to and loads to do.
“Working with Simon and his team on our redesign was a joy from start to finish, and the experience isn’t over yet; knowing that they are there for additional support and advice is giving us the confidence to keep creating and improving on what was already an excellent showcase for our brands, and we look forward to many more happy and creative associations.”
Lucinda Whiteley, Creative Director at Novel Entertainment
William Hussey
This is the second website we’ve created for William – reflecting the changing nature of his writing since we first worked with him. He’s an award-winning author of books for children and Young Adults, enjoying great reviews for gay love story/thriller Hideous Beauty.
Visitors can order signed / dedicated copies directly from William via the website using a simple order form linked to PayPal.
“Masters of the digital art, Bookswarm exceeded all my expectations and delivered an author website that everyone from readers and fans to industry insiders has raved about. I can’t recommend them highly enough.”
William Hussey, author of YA novels and dark thrillers
Little People, Big Dreams
Bookswarm has created a new digital home for Little People, BIG DREAMS, the best-selling biography series by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara.
Users can discover the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. Told as a story, with a facts and photos section at the back, this sweet series for kids celebrates triumph over adversity through some of history’s favorite characters.
The Prime Trilogy
Set in an alternate universe, The Prime Trilogy is a gritty, albeit comedic coming of age tale that poses a serious question, “Could the greatest heroes from inspired texts and world mythology, even begin to fill the shoes of a modern teen?”
Holly Bourne
Holly Bourne is a bestselling and critically acclaimed author. Inspired by her work with young people, and her own experiences of everyday sexism, Holly is a passionate mental health advocate and proud feminist.
We created this site jointly for Holly’s publishers Usborne and Hodder & Stoughton.
Moonlight Publishing
Moonlight Publishing is a small company specialising in information books for children aged 4 to 12. Their books nurture children’s curiosity about the world around them. Each book explores one particular aspect of human experience with children: the human body, animals, plants, science, geography, transport, music, art and history.
This new WooCommerce-based website allows visitors to explore titles by series, theme and target age-range, and explains how Moonlight’s Talking Books work.
“Simon was highly organized and responsive throughout the process of building our new website. I felt he understood our needs very well and was helpful and encouraging in guiding us through the different stages of the process, making it all very easy. He was also flexible in responding changing timelines. We are delighted with the results!”
James Clement, Managing Director, Moonlight Publishing
Eileen Conway
Website for US-based debut author of middle-grade fiction.
Neem Tree Press
New website for Neem Tree Press, a vibrant, young publishing house producing books that change and broaden perspectives. Neem Tree Press are global in scope with books under contract from Germany, the Middle East, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom to date. The common theme for their books is to provoke both thoughtful discussion on sensitive issues and a thirst in the reader to explore further the ideas or cultures they encounter.
Orchard Series Books
Hachette Children’s asked us to create a framework within which it was possible to set up microsites for a number of different middle-grade children’s series, including Beast Quest, Rainbow Magic and Unicorn Magic – with many of these series running to hundreds of titles.
The brief was to allow the client to create each new site and control the look and feel without requiring any design or technical input from us, which we achieved by setting the site to use a range of design parameters, including masthead images, pre-defined typography styles and numerous colour options. The result is a scaleable solution where a new website can be set up very quickly, using only a handful of design assets that are produced by the in-house team, and including a full book listing, organised by series and sub-series.
Orchard Series Books has launched with four series, with a number of additional series sites due to launch soon.
Bonnier Rights
Bonnier Rights sells foreign rights to fiction, illustrated and narrative non-fiction, and children’s books from the Swedish Bonnier Publishing Group, Sweden’s largest publisher.
We designed and built their new website using WordPress, and set it up so that books and authors are automatically added and updated, using a feed from Bonnier’s Opus rights management system.
Barrington Stoke
We redesigned the Barrington Stoke website to reflect their evolving brand identity, and signpost information for key audiences: parents / carers, teachers and librarians, and members of the book trade.
“Bookswarm have been excellent to work with on the redesign of our website. They always give careful consideration to our proposals, advising us how to achieve and improve what we have suggested. They are great to work with, going above and beyond what’s been agreed, full of initiative, reliable on deadlines, problem solvers rather than problem creators. We would not hesitate to recommend their expertise.”
Lucy Juckes, Chair, Barrington Stoke
Awesome Reads
Awesome Reads believe reading should be a fun, entertaining, and life-long pursuit. In short, it should be awesome.
We enjoyed making this simple website for Awesome Reads. And it meant we got to say ‘awesome’ a lot. Which was… awesome.
Princess Ponies
The Princess Ponies books are written to give adventure-loving little girls an alternative to Barbie and Disney Princesses. The heroine of the series, Philippa (Pippa) MacDonald, is a head-strong action heroine who makes friends and strives to save the day.
We created a new microsite for Princess Ponies using WordPress and the Divi Builder plugin.
Annabel Pitcher
Annabel Pitcher is a multi award-winning author of books for children and young people, whose work is published in 25 territories … and also a knackered mother of three young sons. We designed and built a new site for Annabel to replace her previous web presence.
Hachette Kids’ Gifts
A book for every child this Christmas, with this book recommendations microsite, helping gift givers identify suitable titles based on age and genre.
Illumicrate
Illumicrate is the subscription box for book lovers everywhere, dedicated to bringing its customers the best new releases and other fun things that book lovers are sure to enjoy.
5 Get Bookish
This Woocommerce based POS hub by Hachette Children’s Group allows booksellers to order posters, bookmarks, dumpbins and more!
Jack Heckel
A website for the whimsical worlds of Jack Heckel. Jack Heckel is the pen name for the writing duo of John Peck and Harry Heckel, who write novels which poke fun at common fanstasy and SF tropes.
“Simon and team have been fantastic throughout the process. It has been a pleasure working with them and building a great new website.”
John Peck, one half of writing duo Jack Heckel
Summer Reading for Kids
Seasonal reading promotion microsite for Hachette Children’s.
Grishaverse UK
Data capture landing page for UK fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse.
Oxford Edit Write
Oxford Edit Write offers a range of editorial services to authors and publishers, specialising in the educational sector and trade books for children.
Whether you’re an author or a publishing company, they can support you at any stage or all the way – from concept proposals and commissioning right through to proofreading. With expert project management and a friendly, efficient approach, their goal is to see your projects come to life.
“Simon and his colleagues at Bookswarm were fantastic when building a website for my freelance editorial business. They were knowledgeable, expert and professional in a real, human, warm and patient kind of way. Bookswarm know exactly what they are doing, they do it brilliantly and so I was able to get on with doing my ‘thing’. Use them… you’ll live happily ever after!”
Lynne Humphreys, Publisher, Oxford Edit Write
Felicity Bryan Associates
Felicity Bryan Associates is an independent literary agency based in Oxford, with a client list includes prize-winning and bestselling authors in adult and children’s fiction, and non-fiction. We designed and built a new website for them designed to showcase their clients in an easy-to-maintain site, while also attracting plenty of submissions through an easy-to-use online process.
“We opted to completely overhaul our previous website and Bookswarm made the process very straightforward – particularly impressive considering we transferred a lot of content from the old site. They were happy to invest lots of time working with us on the design until we had things exactly right. We’re delighted with our new website and have had glowing feedback from our authors. The ongoing support has been great, too.”
Megan Palmer, Digital Manager and Administrator, Felicity Bryan Associates
Michael O’Mara Books
Creation of a new website for specialists in creative and inspired adult non-fiction, Michael O’Mara Books, encompassing their LOM ART and Buster Books imprints too. The website take a feed from the client’s Biblio system to keep the catalogue up to date.
Piers Torday
Author website for award-winning children’s writer Piers Torday.
“Designing a new site and keeping continuity with my old one was a seamless process with Bookswarm from start to finish. Simon and his team were incredibly clear, responsive and inventive as they kept pace with my many questions and challenges. They immediately understood my brief and fulfilled it to the letter, and the result is I now have a website completely fit for purpose, with a lovely welcoming design, that is also very simple for me to manage and update. The support has been great too. I would recommend without reservation.”
Piers Torday, winner of Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize
BKMRK
Young Adult portal website for Hachette Children’s. We took over the construction of this project part-way through and brought it to a successful conclusion, using a brand identity and outline designs provided by another agency.
Pavilion Books Group
Pavilion Books is a thriving independent London-based publisher specialising in illustrated books for the UK and all international markets. Their new website is populated with bibliographic data feeds from their Stison title management system, and also features a blog, news & events section and many different ways of exploring their books – by category, by imprint and by author.
Bounce Sales & Marketing
Bounce Sales & Marketing represent 40 independent children’s publishers to the trade both in the UK and overseas. From beautiful, award-winning picture books to bestselling YA fiction, colourful early learning board books to fun and insightful reference and non-fiction titles, Bounce has a children’s book for every age and every taste, while helping booksellers discover hidden gems and give their customers a bespoke range of titles perfect for their communities.
The website we created for Bounce is designed to make it as easy as possible for their customers – booksellers, libraries, schools – to place orders and request materials from their client publishers. The emphasis is on making these transactions as quick and painless as possible.
The bibliographic information in the website is drawn from the Supafolio system.
“Bookswarm were consummate professionals. Patient to explain the more advanced levels [of technology] and jargon regarding what they were doing, they were able to take my plan, shape it into reality and deliver a website that keeps making me smile, pat myself on the back and tell myself what a genius I am for coming up with the idea. But really I owe it all to them.”
Graeme Williams, Trade Marketing Manager at Bounce Sales and Marketing Ltd.
Folio Society Blogs
We created a new WordPress-based news and blogging site for The Folio Society, which integrates with their main e-commerce site. We replaced two separate WordPress sites which were not mobile-friendly.
Alma Books
Established in 2002, Alma Books now has five imprints, and we have created a single new e-commerce website which encompasses all of the imprints.
“We’re a small independent publishing company which prides itself on being able to do everything in house, so we were initially reluctant to get any old company in to rebrand our online presence. However, Bookswarm aren’t any old company, and they’ve made the whole process unbelievably easy – we were looked after by two people who seem to answer questions immediately (however tedious or obvious), and we’re thrilled with the finished website. They’re also the only tech company I’ve come across which just “gets” books – they took this knowledge and tailored everything to our needs perfectly. On top of the sleek design, transparent way of working and hands-on help, the team have also proved to have an astonishing level of after-care, and are happy to help you acquire the skills to maintain and enrich the site for yourself. Would – and have – whole-heartedly recommend.”
William Dady, Editorial and Marketing Executive, Alma Books
Sam Angus
Website for Sam Angus, author of children’s stories including Soldier Dog and Hero.
“I wanted to transform my website into something more playful and eye-catching. I had a fairly clear picture in my mind and sent Simon a fairly detailed brief. He was attentive and thorough and keen to interpret what I wanted. I love what he and his team have produced. The new website is fun, yet clean and professional and everything I imagined it to be.
Bookswarm was always efficient, prompt with delivery and patient in dealing with my queries. I will definitely use Simon and his team again.”
Sam Angus, author of historical adventure children’s novels including Solider Dog
Paul Bright
Paul Bright is a children’s writer and poet, who has published many picture books for children as well as poetry for kids. Paul has also written for school reading programmes, CBeebies radio and BBC web sites, and had stories broadcast on CBeebies TV and CITV’s Bookaboo. We designed and built a website to showcase Paul’s work, including his contribution to the official Winnie-the-Pooh sequel The Best Bear in all the World.
Moonlight Dreamers
Responsive competition microsite for Walker Books, to promote Moonlight Dreamers by Siobhan Curham.
Girl Out of Water
Competition microsite for Walker Books to celebrate and promote the launch of Girl Out of Water by Nat Luurtsema.
Rebel of the Sands
Parallax-based microsite for Alwyn Hamilton’s debut YA novel The Rebel of the Sands, published by Faber. The site is designed to evolve and be updated as future books in the trilogy are published. Features include a video gallery and a social media aggregator which gathers all Twitter content using the hashtag #rebelsands.
Post-launch, we updated the site for the second book in the series, Hero at the Fall.
Kelpies
Kelpies are Scottish books for children everywhere. The Kelpies imprint is published by independent publishing company Floris Books, which is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. We created this responsive, e-commerce site for them using WordPress and WooCommerce, integrating with their distributor, Booksource, to seamlessly send out orders.
Katy Birchall
Website for Katy Birchall, author of the It Girl series, published by Egmont.
“I feel so lucky to have been able to put my website in the hands of Bookswarm. Their vision for The It Girl brand was spot on and I could not be happier with how the website has turned out, it’s exactly what I wanted. Simon and the Bookswarm team are incredibly knowledgeable and made the process ridiculously easy for me. I would highly recommend them.”
Katy Birchall, author of The It Girl (Egmont)
Predator Cities
Microsite for Philip Reeve’s genre-busting Predator Cities series, which begins with Mortal Engines.
Books from Scotland
BooksfromScotland showcases the best books of Scottish interest around, including the latest children’s, fiction and selected non-fiction titles, as well as titles from publishers based in Scotland.
Bookswarm developed a new Books from Scotland brand identity and a new website to showcase the Scottish titles, as well as developing a technical strategy to help easily identify which titles should include, based on processing of bibliographic data from Nielsen.
Patrick Ness
Website for bestselling author and twice winner of the Carnegie Medal, which includes the ability to create and apply different visual themes to different pages.
Kim Slater
Author website for Kim Slater, whose YA debut Smart was described by the Guardian as “a remarkable first novel.”
“I commissioned Bookswarm after seeing the other fabulous author websites they had designed and I also had a personal recommendation from another Macmillan author. Bookswarm made the whole process so easy, their prices are very competitive and the ongoing support is second to none. I recommend their services unreservedly.”
Kim Slater, author of Smart (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Fun With Humphrey
Website for the long-running and hugely successful series of Humphrey the Hamster books written by Betty G. Birney and published by Faber. Includes user generated content functionality allowing users to upload jokes and pet pictures. As Humphrey would say, fun-fun-fun!
Five Children on the Western Front
Competition microsite for Faber in conjunction with Red Letter Days. promoting the Kate Saunders’ follow-up to E. Nesbit’s iconic Five Children and It.
Jennifer Gray
Website for award-winning author of children’s books Jennifer Gray, creator of Atticus Claw and Chicken Mission (Faber) and Guinea Pigs Online and Puppies Online (Quercus).
“Bookswarm made everything straightforward. My author site is great to look at, well-designed and easy to find your way around. Excellent WordPress training and support guaranteed to give even the most reluctant operator like me the confidence to add content and manage the site by themselves.”
Jennifer Gray, author of the Atticus Claw series for children (Faber)
Michelle Harrison
Responsive author website for Michelle Harrison, award-winning author of the Thirteen Treasures Trilogy.
“Bookswarm were quick to understand the kind of look and the level of functionality I wanted for my website, and delivered it quickly and professionally. I’d highly recommend them.”
Michelle Harrison, author of the Thirteen Secrets trilogy (Simon & Schuster)
D.D. Everest
Author website for D.D. Everest, author of Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret, the first in a new series.
“Bookswarm did a brilliant job with my website – from initial design though to final implementation. After one conversation with Simon I had total confidence in them and they didn’t disappoint. Their genuine love of books shines through in every thing they do.”
D.D. Everest, author of Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret (Faber)
The Hunger Games
Creation of a new responsive website for The Hunger Games books, for Scholastic Children’s Books UK. Scholastic can set the site to use either the Classic or Rebel theme.
“The team at Bookswarm were brilliant and totally understood what we needed out of The Hunger Games website. Simon was quick to point out things that could work better even from the first chat and was tweaking and fixing things even after the job was complete. The whole process couldn’t have been smoother and that’s all down to Bookswarm’s attention to detail, great ideas and endless patience.”
Fi Evans, Marketing Manager, Scholastic UK
Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie
Website for Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie, by Jeff Norton, published by Faber.
Memoirs of a Neurotic Zombie is narrated by the hilarious Adam Meltzer – pre-teen, worrywart, and now zombie. Adam’s family gets the fright of their lives when he turns up at their door … three months after his funeral.
Soon Adam’s back at school trying to fit in and not draw extra attention to himself, but when he sees his neighbour Ernesto transform into a chupacubra, and the beautiful Corina (Adam’s number one mega-crush) turns out to be a (vegan) vampire, undead life is never going to be the same again.
Twitter takeover for Virginia Bergin
We thought these were too good not to share – PhotoShopped Twitter banners for Virginia Bergin’s takeover of Max Pop’s Twitter account.
“This has to be the BEST way to start the working week! I keep chuckling”, said Hazel. “Who the hell are Neon Jungle?” said Simon.
Virginia Bergin
Author website for YA novelist Virginia Bergin. Redesigned in 2017 to provide a more flexible design that could accomodate standalone novels as well as Virginia’s first series.
“Bookswarm … know how an author’s site needs to work. They know about books. They know about design. They know about websites. (And a whole load of other stuff). I am a very happy customer!”
Virginia Bergin, author of The Rain (Macmillan Children’s)
Clare Furniss, Mk1
Author website for Clare Furniss, author of The Year of The Rat, described as “a truly amazing read” by Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman.
“I couldn’t be happier with the website Bookswarm created for me. The fact that Bookswarm are experts in creating author websites means they really know how to ensure that your site does exactly what you need it to. Simon was incredibly helpful and patient, and created a website that exceeded all my expectations. It’s clear and easy to navigate and it looks fantastic.”
Clare Furniss, author of The Year of the Rat (Simon & Schuster)
Cornerstones
Cornerstones is one of the founding UK literary consultancies, set up in 1998, with a reputation spread by word-of-mouth with agents, publishers and writers.
We wanted the website to emphasise this depth of experience and know-how.
Squishy McFluff
An imaginary friend
is a wonderful thing.
What giggles! What games!
What adventures they bring!
Well, Ava’s a girl
who knows all about that . . .
Meet Squishy McFluff,
Her invisible cat!
We had great fun making this site for Pip Jones’ new series of children’s books about an imaginary moggy (or is he imaginary?).
Tania Unsworth
Author website for children’s writer Tania Unsworth, author of The One Safe Place and The Secret Life of Daisy Fitzjohn.
This website was updated at the start of 2017 to reflect Tania’s increased emphasis on school visits and her changing social media profile.
“I can’t recommend Bookswarm highly enough for writers looking to create a website. They were understanding, patient, incredibly creative and best of all knew exactly what I needed.”
Tania Unsworth, author of The One Safe Place (Orion Children’s Books)
Jo Simmons / Pip Street
Author website for Jo Simmons, creator of 7+ children’s series Pip Street.
“Bookswarm have a strong understanding of the role websites play within the publishing industry and, specifically in my case, within the world of children’s fiction. They created a site that perfectly captured the playfulness of my stories, was easy to navigate, colourful and intelligently designed.”
Jo Simmons, author of the Pip Street books for children (Scholastic)
Little Histories
WordPress-based site for Yale University Press that includes integration with both the Little Histories Twitter feed and with relevant articles from the YUP blog, as well as a database of some of the remarkable people featured in this expanding series of books.
Patrician Press
Branding and website design for startup independent publisher
William Hussey
Website for spooky young adult and horror writer William Hussey.
Subsequently replaced with a new version.
“Masters of the digital art, Bookswarm exceeded all my expectations and delivered an author website that everyone from readers and fans to industry insiders has raved about. I can’t recommend them highly enough.”
William Hussey, author of YA novels and dark thrillers
