Project archive: Publisher websites
Our most recent projects are shown first
The Crowood Press
We rebuilt the Crowood website from its previous incarnation as a Shopify site, migrating most of the existing design and pairing it with a completely new WordPress back-end and ONIX importer.
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.
New River
A top-quality non-fiction publisher, with a focus on mental and physical health, self-development and social science.
“Simon and his team were a pleasure to work with. Responsive and efficient, they made the whole process smooth from start to finish. Simon understood the brief and gave his expertise when needed. I’d highly recommend.”
Ella Chapman, Marketing Director, New River Books
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.
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.
Viper Books
Viper was established in 2019 as the specialist crime and thriller imprint of Profile Books. Its mission is to publish Books with Bite: the best and brightest in the genre, celebrating new voices and unique approaches to murder and mystery.
After starting life as part of the Serpent’s Tail website, we created a new sister site for the Profile and Serpent’s Tail sites, using the same architecture.
Heartwood Publishing
Website for travel specialists Heartwood, founded early in 2020 to publish and distribute a strong portfolio of complementary travel brands in the UK and across markets worldwide, and winners of the Specialist Publisher of the Year award at the 2024 Independent Publishing Awards.
“Heartwood Publishing worked closely with Bookswarm throughout 2024, having appointed them to build a new website that addressed a number of challenges:
- To create a single web presence for our portfolio of brands
- Through the new site’s creation, replace two old and out of date sites
- Support visits from consumers, retail customers and potential B2B business partners
- Provide a platform that would automatically update product content using Onix feeds
- Structure the design around distinct brands serving different purposes, whilst maintaining clear navigation for users
- Future proofing on a number of fronts, including the facility for direct sales, user accounts, adding brands, generating themed content and linking to social media
- Ease of updating and platform management for non-technical team members
Bookswarm delivered all of the above in a timely and cost-effective way, whilst maintaining their patience with us as the brief evolved during the design and build. Their publishing industry expertise was especially helpful, when it came to understanding specific issues we needed to tackle and the practical delivery of live Onix data feeds.
We would definitely recommend using Bookswarm to other publishers seeking to develop their web presence. “
Andy Riddle, Founder – Heartwood Publishing
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
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
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.
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.
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
Bedford Square Publishers
Bedford Square Publishers is an independent publisher of fiction and non-fiction, founded in 2022 in the historic streets of Bedford Square London and the sea mist shrouded green of Bedford Square Brighton.
The site uses an ONIX feed from Consonance to populate its catalogue, and also incorporates a ‘sub site’ for the No Exit Press imprint – No Exit titles and authors have separate branding.
“It was so fantastic to work with the Bookswarm team as they were both collaborative and creative but also transparent about everything they were doing, including the costs. So we got a website that we are really pleased with and it all came in on time and within budget.”
Laura Fletcher, co-founder & Commercial Director at Bedford Square Publishers
Brambleby Books
Brambleby Books specialises in natural history, with an emphasis on biodiversity, conservation and the environment.
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
Duckworth – 125th Anniversary Edition
A major update to the Duckworth website to celebrate the publisher’s 125th birthday!
“Hugely knowledgeable, practically minded and super-responsive – what more could you want? Simon and all the team at Bookswarm are a genuine pleasure to work with.”
Pete Duncan, MD, Duckworth Books Group
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
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.
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.
Profile Editions
Profile Editions, the custom publishing business of Profile Books, which focuses on publishing custom arts, heritage and company histories, wanted to transition away from a Magento-based e-commerce store to a WordPress-based site. We recreated the site using WooCommerce, with title data imported from an ONIX feed – and incorporated a raft of subtle design changes during the project as well.
Swan River Press
Swan River Press is Ireland’s only independent press dedicated exclusively to the literature of the fantastic. Guided by a passion for works of the supernatural and strange, they are committed to producing high-quality, limited hardback editions, in order to provide fitting homes for these fascinating texts. They publish contemporary, classic, and occasionally obscure writers from around the world with an emphasis on Ireland’s past and present contributions to the genre.
We worked with founder Brian J. Showers to transition from a static website to a fully WordPress-based database of titles and authors, incorporating PayPal buy buttons for available titles, and migrated the Swan River Press blog from a standalone WordPress.com site to being an integral part of the new website.
“Simon and his team were helpful and professional in creating a new website to best suit my company.”
Brian J. Showers, founder, Swan River Press
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.
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
Batsford Books
A website for newly-independent Batsford, which has been part of other publishing companies for more than 20 years, derived from the website of Pavilion, from which Batsford is being ‘spun out’.
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.
Swift Press
Swift Press is an independent publishing company that launched in June 2020. Part of the Independent Alliance, they publish fiction and a wide range of non-fiction.
“We worked with Bookswarm to create the website for our new publishing company Swift Press and were delighted with the results. Simon is great to work with, the communication was always clear, punctual and thorough and we felt very supported throughout the build process and beyond. Highly recommend the Bookswarm team!”
Swift Press
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.
Henley Hall Press
Brand creation, website design and build for publishing startup Henley Hall Press, an independent publisher of thought-provoking non-fiction books, including current affairs, gardening and ecology.
Profile Books
Twenty-five years sinces its founding and the mission of Profile Books is unchanged: to be a fearless publisher of a diverse range of distinctive books, of the highest quality, written by the best authors in their field, and to remain a beacon of independent publishing. We created a new website for Profile Books, powered by a feed from Biblio, to mark this milestone and to provide a solid foundation for all their future digital marketing.
A new website for imprint Serpent’s Tail was created as part of the same project.
“We had a great experience working with Bookswarm. Simon knows how publishing works and his vast experience meant that most challenges with our build had been encountered before and he was able to present flexible solutions. Responsive and agile as a team, we were pleasantly surprised by how stress free the builds were (we’ve built two sites with Bookswarm in the past year) and very pleased at how they’ve turned out.”
Niamh Murray, Campaigns Director, Profile Books
Serpent’s Tail
Serpent’s Tail is an imprint of Profile Books. They are passionate about finding and championing books that excite them creatively, by talented writers who don’t just break but smash the mould with work that opens up space for readers to think, and live, differently.
We designed their new website in tandem with the new website for Profile Books.
“We had a great experience working with Bookswarm. Simon knows how publishing works and his vast experience meant that most challenges with our build had been encountered before and he was able to present flexible solutions. Responsive and agile as a team, we were pleasantly surprised by how stress free the builds were (we’ve built two sites with Bookswarm in the past year) and very pleased at how they’ve turned out.”
Niamh Murray, Campaigns Director, Profile Books
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.
Barbican Press
The Barbican Press list holds poetry, drama, writing for children, and compelling nonfiction too, including vivid tales of maritime communities.
The publisher is the writer Martin Goodman. He knew what sort of publisher he would like to find for his own work, and so created it for others. The Press was born in Plymouth – hence the name ‘Barbican Press’ for the Barbican in that city, and a sense that a Barbican is a strong and protective space in which writers with a fighting spirit can take shelter.
Barbican Press were already using WordPress, but we worked with them to create a completely new look-and-feel and content structure, including the ‘Where in the world?’ map, which plots the key settings of all of their books.
“A sweet aspect of Bookswarm is their focus on books. They bring wide and relevant experience to the table. That gave us clear direction in creating Barbican Press’s new website. In our meetings there was real focus on understanding how we want to communicate with our readers and the book industry. Our site feels distinctly ours, meets our needs, looks good, works cleanly, and the support in finessing it once it went live has been prompt and effective. We’ve been really happy to recommend them to others.”
Martin Goodman, Publisher, Barbican Press
Saraband 2020
Saraband is an award-winning independent publisher of outstanding fiction, absorbing nature writing, pressing environmental issues and compelling memoir. Over the last quarter century, they have provided a platform for underrepresented and marginalised voices that are often overlooked, championing diversity and inclusion as part of our commitment to excellence – and to their readers of all ages, backgrounds and personal identities, wherever they may live.
This is the second version of the Saraband website we have created.
Boldwood Books
Boldwood Books is a new fiction publishing company with its first books published globally in August 2019.
Based on the principles of a true partnership with authors, consumers and team members, Boldwood seek out the best stories from around the world from both new and established writers and bring them to readers everywhere.
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
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.
Duckworth
Duckworth nurtures a rounded world view through accessible and stimulating works of popular science, psychology, memoir and history. Founded by the family of Virginia Woolf in 1898, Duckworth have published incredible authors including D.H. Lawrence, Oliver Sacks, Evelyn Waugh and Beryl Bainbridge.
We really enjoyed creating this site for Duckworth after they joined the Prelude Books family – and reading about their interesting and at times hair-raising history!
“Hugely knowledgeable, practically minded and super-responsive – what more could you want? Simon and all the team at Bookswarm are a genuine pleasure to work with.”
Pete Duncan, MD, Duckworth Books Group
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
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.
Farrago Books
Website for Farrago Books, the series-driven humour imprint of Duckworth Books Group.
“Hugely knowledgeable, practically minded and super-responsive – what more could you want? Simon and all the team at Bookswarm are a genuine pleasure to work with.”
Pete Duncan, MD, Duckworth Books Group
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.
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.
Icon Books
ONIX-feed powered website for Icon Books, an independent UK publisher which produces popular, engaging and sometimes provocative non-fiction for adults.
In 2017, we launched a new version of the site to celebrate Icon’s 25th birthday!
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
Atlantic Books
Atlantic Books is an independent British publishing house founded in 2000. Based in the heart of Bloomsbury, they publish quality literary fiction and non fiction. Atlantic are also the home of commercial imprint Corvus, and proud publishers of a selection of books from Grove Atlantic in the US as well as a home to a growing list of fine fiction and non-fiction from Allen & Unwin.
We designed and built Atlantic’s new site to be updated with a feed from their Biblio system, and put their four imprints at the heart of the structure – so each imprint has its own ‘home page’ within the site.
Summersdale
Founded in 1990, Summersdale is a vibrant publisher that puts its heart and soul into creating exceptional books. They swiftly respond to emerging technology and trends, provide entertaining, informative and innovative content in the genres of travel writing, general non-fiction, health and well-being, and gift and humour. Summersdale produce a diverse range of over 150 titles per year, with a backlist of over 600 titles.
“I’m so proud and delighted with the new Summersdale website. It’s been a long time coming, but has been well worth the wait. I genuinely believe that we have one of the best websites out there. It looks stylish and modern, but it is also very functional. One of the site’s primary functions is to showcase our beautiful books, and they sure look good. Choosing Bookswarm to create our new site was the right choice, they have been magnificent.”
Alastair Williams, Managing Director, Summersdale
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.
Saraband
New website for independent publishers Saraband, winners of the inaugural Saltire Scottish Publisher of the Year.
“When we decided to give our website a makeover, we were very keen to work with someone who truly understood the needs of a publisher, and Bookswarm have been second-to-none in that regard. From the off they ‘got it’ – both in terms of how our new website needed to be intuitive to use for us as publishers, and in terms of how it performed for readers and the wider books industry.
Simon and his team have been superb to work with and we’re delighted with the final website – it really does look better than we could have hoped for.”
Sara Hunt, Publisher, Saraband
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.
SPCK Publishing
SPCK is the mission agency which works through publishing. Their mission is to promote Christian ideas and values; we do this by publishing, and supporting the publishing of, books and resources for people for people of all denominational and faith backgrounds.
We created a new e-commerce website with WordPress and WooCommerce, encompassing both SPCK’s charitable and publishing activites. Orders are submitted to Macmillan Distribution (MDL) for fulfillment.
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.
Crimefiles
Crime fiction community website for Hachette publishers Headline, Hodder & Stoughton and Quercus, showcasing their combined crime list as well as staff and guest blogs and a regular podcast.
“When a project comes along I can work with Bookswarm on I immediately feel more relaxed. Communication on projects from start to finish is outstanding (and so important) which helps to move things along at a good pace and get the results we all want. Simon is always on hand for questions and advice throughout the project, and is incredibly tolerant of the unrelenting change requests and tweaks from our many stakeholders.”
Amy Dolman, Digital Marketing Manager, Hodder & Stoughton
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.
Penguin blog on WordPress.com
Creation of a customised theme for the Penguin Blog in its new home on the WordPress.com platform.
The Curious Files
The Curious Files was a rummage through the most interesting articles written and produced by Faber and Faber‘s non-fiction authors.
Green Bottle Press
Brand design and web development for startup poetry publisher Green Bottle Press, which aims to publish work that is unusual and deserves representation but might not appeal to the more established presses.
“It was so straightforward and easy working with Bookswarm to design my website. They really listened to what I needed and kept my costs down. I especially liked that they love books too and seem to understand what writers and publishers are looking for.”
Jennifer Grigg, Publisher, Green Bottle Press
bookbridgr
bookbridgr lets book bloggers request books, exclusive content and author interviews direct from the publisher. It gives bloggers first access to dozens of front and backlist Headline titles (both in physical and ebook formats), while also allowing them to request a huge amount of extra book content for their blogs, join an author blog tour or request interviews with new and bestselling authors.
“Building bookbridgr with Simon and his team was awesome. From initial wire-framing right through to implementation and launch, he was on hand at every moment to build, fix, tweak – and most importantly to put my mind at ease throughout the process.”
Ben Willis, Publicity & Digital Campaigns Manager, Headline Publishing Group
Three Hares Publishing
Brand creation and website design for startup publishing house Three Hares.
Salted
Blog design for innovative independent publisher Salt Publishing.
“Bookswarm’s technical and aesthetic experience clearly shines through in their work. When this is matched with a clear understanding of books and readers, it’s a powerful combination. We’re delighted with the results.”
Chris Hamilton-Emery, Operations Director, Salt Publishing
Patrician Press
Branding and website design for startup independent publisher
