Project archive: E-commerce websites
Our most recent projects are shown first
Siop y Pethe
Siop y Pethe has been part of Wales’ literary community since 1967, and they continue to support and promote Welsh literature through our new website – which is fully bi-lingual in Welsh and English.
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
Crécy Publishing
Since 1997, Crécy has been a leader of transport and military history publishing across Europe. With a rich back catalogue and a constant list of new and upcoming titles, they offer one of the strongest and most varied selections of aviation, railway and military history titles on the market.
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
The History Press
The History Press is an independent non-fiction publisher based in the heart of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire – also home to one of the most prestigious literary festivals in the country.
We created a new website populated using an ONIX feed from their Consonance title management system, with the option to sell selected titles directly (special editions, signed copies, etc.). All ebooks are available to buy via Glassboxx.
“Having worked with Simon in the past, Bookswarm instantly sprang to mind when I needed to deliver a new company website in time for the 2024 London Book Fair. Simon and his team easily outclassed the competition with their thoughtful proposal, which showed the most care and attention to our brief.
With a very tight window for delivery, the Bookswarm team remained responsive throughout while providing excellent customer care. Each of our challenges was met with creative problem-solving and industry-specific advice allowing us play to our strengths. The entire project was also clearly costed and came in well under budget with no nasty surprises. The end result was a beautifully designed, functional website that we are all proud of (live as of March 8, 2024).
It’s worth noting that support since launch has remained exemplary with swift responses as issues arise. On one occasion we had mere days to launch a complex, time-limited offer. Simon was still on hand to help, despite being on holiday and separated by a 12-hour time zone. The successful campaign brought us thousands in revenue.
If you’re dithering over whether to include Bookswarm for tender, I’d urge you stop reading this and get on with contacting them for a chat and a quote!”
Cynthia Hamilton, Head of PR & Marketing at The History Press
AFE
AFE is Europe’s principle publisher and distributor of pilot supplies and flying training products, and every product they sell is backed by their reputation as Europe’s longest established company in the field. Publications and products that carry the AFE logo are widely acknowledged for their quality and accuracy.
An unusual project for Bookswarm, as AFE sell a wide range of products beyond publications – but the explanation is that AFE is the sister company of transport and military publisher Crecy Publishing, whose new website Bookswarm will launch soon.
The Whitefriars Club
The Whitefriars Club is one of the oldest literary dining clubs in London, dating back to 1868. They meet eight times a year for dinner at the Savile Club, where they invite prominent cultural or political figures as their guests to speak about their careers or the important topics of the day. The club prides itself on the warm, inclusive and convivial atmosphere it offers to all its members and guests.
The website allows interested users to discover more about the club, while members can log in to book tickets for events, purchase items from the club shop and view the ever-expanding club archive.
“Working with Simon and Alex at Bookswarm has been a tremendously positive experience. Together we were able to go from inception to implementation in a matter of weeks. The process was smooth and pleasurable, and the result exactly what we had set out to achieve. I never felt that any of my awkward requests would go unanswered: there was always a solution. and it was delivered with good cheer. What a lovely company to work with!”
Alessandro Gallenzi, Honorary Secretary, The Whitefriars Club
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
Seren
Seren is Wales’ leading independent literary publisher, specialising in English-language writing from Wales for over forty years. With a list spanning poetry, fiction and non-fiction, their aim is to bring Welsh literature, art and politics before a wider audience.
The new Seren site uses WooCommerce to provide a full retail experience, including the ability to purchase book subscriptions for yourself or as a gift.
“Working with Bookswarm made developing our new website an exciting and enjoyable project. We were involved in every step of the process and worked safe in the knowledge that Simon and his team had our vision and interests at heart. The new site feels refreshed whilst keeping everything we loved about the old design. I can highly recommend working with them.”
Sarah Johnson, Deputy Publisher, Seren
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.
Dorothy Koomson (2023 relaunch)
A major redesign of our previous website for Dorothy, now incorporating an online shop as well as a fresh new look-and-feel.
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
House of Books & Friends
House of Books and Friends is a purpose-led independent bookshop, cafe and events space with an important mission – to combat loneliness in the community. Its first branch opens in Manchester in Autumn 2022. The new website will ultimately facilitate direct sales, but at time of launch is focused on indirect sales via Bookshop.org, as well as showcasing the venture’s news, events and social purpose.
Scion Publishing
Scion Publishing Ltd was established in 2003 to publish high quality and innovative medical and life science books for students. It is still run day-to-day by its founders. Their new e-commerce website was created alongside that for their sister company, Lantern Publishing.
Lantern Publishing
Lantern was formed in June 2011 with the aim of publishing innovative and readable books for nursing, health and social care. Their new e-commerce website was created alongside that for their sister company, Scion Publishing.
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
Maldon Books
Maldon Books is an award-winning independent bookshop located in the heart of the historical town of Maldon, Essex. We replaced their previous Wix-based site with a new, WordPress- and WooCommerce-based website to better showcase their selection of titles, allow easy staff curation and reflect the welcoming, comfortable environment of the shop.
“We had a fantastic experience working with Simon and the Bookswarm team. Simon was able to create a new website for our bookshop that now runs efficiently – and looks fantastic too! All our queries were answered, and Simon was incredibly helpful with launching our new site. We cannot recommend them enough!”
Olivia Rosenthal, Owner, Maldon Books
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.
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
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.
Chelsea Green UK
Founded in 1984, Chelsea Green Publishing is a 100% employee-owned leading publisher of books on the politics and practice of sustainable living. The UK arm, Chelsea Green Publishing UK Ltd, was created in 2018, with an aim of developing a new publishing programme in the UK, as well as partnering with like-minded, progressive organisations in the area of sustainable living. Chelsea Green now has the ability to sell directly to UK consumers via this WordPress and WooCommerce website, with bibliographic data feeding in from the US website, and orders sent automatically to Grantham Book Services.
“Bookswarm are an excellent agency resource for the book industry. They have a deep knowledge of the trade but crucially they also bring new learnings and tech ideas from other sectors to publisher projects, which allows the scoping to be collaborative and progressive.
They are extremely accurate with their costings and timings and this makes the work easy to budget, and the account management is as good as I’ve experienced at any agency of any size. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Bookswarm to anyone.”
Matt Haslum, Managing Director, Chelsea Green Publishing UK
Academie du Vin Library
The Académie du Vin Library was founded by Steven Spurrier and friends, dedicated to publishing the finest wine writing of the past, the present and the future. We have created a new e-commerce site with a streamlined stucture that puts the beautiful books at the heart of the user experience.
“Bookswarm, and particularly Simon, have been a brilliant partner for our website rebuild. He completely understood what we needed to do to improve the site, and built us a new version with a far better user experience as well as a much better backend that we can manage most of ourselves and which can be easily updated (unlike our last version). He is super responsive and has been great through the launch and snagging process. I feel very confident about the health and safety of the site from a maintenance perspective too.”
Hermione Ireland, MD, Académie du Vin Library
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.
Illuminate Publishing
Illuminate are an award-winning independent publisher of high-quality, inspirational teaching and learning resources. They publish across a wide range of secondary subjects – academic and vocational.
We created a new, WooCommerce-based web shop for Illuminate to replace their old Zencart-based web presence.
“We are absolutely over the moon with our new website! It really is fantastic. A huge thanks to for all the time, effort and creativity that has gone into making this happen for us. It’s a fabulous showcase for our publishing, and just what we hoped for.”
Rick Jackman, Director and Co-owner at Illuminate Publishing
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.
The Classic Books Company
Retail site where readers can choose from thousands of classic books in the English language, with free UK delivery.
New Welsh Review
Founded in 1988 as the successor to The Welsh Review (1939-1948), Dock Leaves and The Anglo-Welsh Review (1949-1987), New Welsh Review is Wales’s foremost literary magazine in English.
After undertaking an initial consultancy exercise funded by the Welsh Books Council into the options for digital publishing that would work best for NWR, we designed and built a new website for New Welsh Review, which uses WordPress and WooCommerce to allow them to sell books, magazines and subscriptions – with subscribers also receiving access to an extensive archive of online articles, and a library of digital back issues delivered via our partner Circular Software’s Masterplan system.
The site also acts as the home for the New Welsh Writing Awards, and as a submissions portal for non-fiction, short fiction and poetry.
One Two Another
Design of a Shopify site through which Little, Brown will sell individually numbered and signed copies of One Two Another by Tim Burgess, a chronicle of Tim’s creativity and a veritable treasure trove of music wisdom.
Tim Burgess is lead singer of one of the defining bands of the ’90s, The Charlatans. In One Two Another, the singer presents and annotates his lyrics – from The Charlatans to The Chemical Brothers – allowing an insight into a very idiosyncratic and creative song-writing process.
Handspring Publishing
Handspring publish professional-level books for bodyworkers, movement teachers and all professionals who use movement or touch to help patients achieve wellness.
We designed and built a new theme for Handspring using Divi, using the underlying structure created by the original developers.
Quiller Publishing
Quiller Publishing Ltd is an independent publisher which was founded in 2001 by Andrew Johnston. Quiller Publishing has two imprints: Quiller is their general list and Kenilworth Press for equestrian titles. Over the years, Quiller Publishing has been built into an extremely well-respected publishing company, focusing originally on country sporting subjects and in recent years, diversifying into lifestyle titles along with a number of noted and highly regarded biographies and autobiographies.
This new website for Quiller features ‘live’ updates from their title management system, BooksoniX.
“It has been a great pleasure to work with Simon to develop the new Quiller Publishing website. He has been highly knowledgeable and supportive throughout the process. No question was too daft and no request was ever too hard, complex or unachievable. Simon works through problems methodically, providing easy and effective solutions. We are delighted with our finished product and think it’s fair to say Simon and his team absolutely nailed it!”
Becky Bowyer, Production Manager, Quiller Publishing
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
Practical Inspiration Publishing
Practical Inspiration Publishing is the home of books that mean business. From management to marketing, parenting to leadership, HR to health, internationally recognized authorities share their expertise in brilliantly readable books with accompanying online resources.
We created a new WooCommerce-based site so PIP could easily sell their titles online – with title and author data automatically imported from an ONIX feed.
“Working with Bookswarm has been a great experience. They totally get what authors and publishers need, for example they work intelligently with bibliographic data imports and warehouse orders. They’re proactive, responsive and incredibly fast – I can’t recommend them highly enough!”
Alison Jones, Director, Practical Inspiration Publishing
Scarfe – Sixty Years of Being Rude
Design of a Shopify site through which Little, Brown will sell beautifully-presented special editions of Scarfe: Sixty Years of Being Rude. These fully illustrated volumes reveal the truth of sixty years of politics and culture and are packed with pictures that have not only defined one artist’s career, but also twentieth and twenty-first century British life.
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
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!
Leuven University Press (Shopify)
Shopify-based e-commerce catalogue for Belgian-based Leuven University Press. Since replaced with a WordPress- and WooCommerce-powered version.
Hayes Press
Hayes Press is as a non-profit publishing house known for its faithful, biblical publishing. Some of the topics includes bible characters, general themes, general surveys of Bible, Canon, guides to various translations, and inclusive language debates.
We implemented the website using the WooCommerce shop plugin for WordPress.
Wasafiri Magazine
We designed and built a new e-commerce website for Wasafiri, the magazine which encourages readers and writers to travel the world via the word. For over three decades, Wasafiri have created a dynamic platform for mapping new landscapes in contemporary international writing featuring a diverse range of voices from across the UK and beyond. Committed to profiling the ‘best of tomorrow’s writers today’ they simultaneously celebrate those who have become established literary voices, offering a creative space for dialogue and debate.
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
Belgravia Books Collective
A new web presences for two linked brands, under the banner of the Belgravia Books Collective:
- Gallic Books (publisher)
- Belgravia Books (bookshop)
This e-commerce website replaces two older websites, and allows the the client’s team to manage everything within one WordPress website.
InterVarsity Press
E-commerce website for imprint of SPCK.
Christopherus Homeschool Resources
WooCommerce-based site for Christopher, specialist educational publisher of Waldorf-inspired parenting and education materials and resources.
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.
Grub Street
Grub Street is an award-winning small, niche independent publisher, publishing only books on cookery and military aviation history. We created a responsive e-commerce site using for Grub Street using WordPress and WooCommerce.
Robert Hale
Responsive site for Robert Hale, independent publishers since 1936. The site has four themed sections for Robert Hale’s four imprints – Robert Hale, J.A. Allen, NAG Press and Buried River Press.
Robert Hale is now part of The Crowood Press.
