Hi, I’m Simon Appleby
If you need help creating or evolving a website… you’re in the right place!
I run the only digital agency in the UK dedicated to delivering website and e-commerce projects for publishers, authors, literary agents and other book-related businesses. I’ve been doing this for ages, and have worked with loads of great publishers and amazing authors during that time.
I really understand publishing (I spent several years working in-house for a publisher you’ve probably heard of), so you don’t have to educate me about ONIX feeds, AI sheets, ARCs, TCM figures or ISBNs. This means we can spend more time talking about what you actually want to achieve with your project.
Although we’re based in the UK, we have worked with clients all around the world – from the USA and Canada to Egypt and New Zealand.
"Simon has an almost psychic ability to understand exactly what you need. If you’re an author or a publishing company and need a new website, Simon is your man!”
Justine Solomons, founder, Byte The Book
How Bookswarm can help you
Website design and build
We design and build beautiful, bespoke websites for publishers, authors, literary agencies and other organisations and individuals in the worlds of books and publishing.
We use WordPress to make our sites easy for clients to manage, capable of evolving over time and good value. As of 2020, WordPress has a 60.8% market share in the CMS market.
Branding and design
We develop brand identities for publishing startups and self-published authors, and we can design all of the supporting marketing materials required for any campaign, including print and social media.
Training and support
All of our clients receive a hands-on training session and as much remote support as they require to feel comfortable with their new website.
Our ‘Ninja Support’ plugin gives all clients the ability to ask for help from directly within their website – for the full life of the website.
Read our full, detailed proposals
Author websites
We’ve put everything you need to know about creating an author website with Bookswarm into this online proposal – including details of scope, process, timing and cost. Explore our portfolio, hear from past clients and decide if we’re the web agency for you.
Campaign microsites
We’ve put everything you need to know about creating easy campaign microsites with Bookswarm into this online proposal – including details of scope, process, timing and cost. Explore our portfolio, hear from past clients and decide if we’re the web agency for you.
“Simon is wonderful to work with. We enjoyed every bit of the process and are more than elated with the final result. We love our website! Thank you, Simon.”
Elizabeth and Sukey Novogratz, authors
Recent projects
We’re proud of our body of work. Here are some of our recent projects.
Don’t take our word for it…
At Bookswarm we value our reputation for delivering great work that keeps clients happy. Here’s what some of them have to say about the experience of working with us.
“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.”
“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!”
“Right from the very first phone conversation I felt I had an ally in Simon. He wanted to understand what we were about, how our market worked, what the priorities were, how quickly we wanted to be up and running, and he created a plan to deliver it on time and cost-effectively.”
“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.”
“I’ve had a complicated career that’s involved multiple projects and many publications on a wide variety of themes. In the past, I’ve commissioned personal websites but never been satisfied with the results. Until now, no one has ever managed to build something that strikes the right balance between breadth and depth. I’m delighted to say that Simon and Bookswarm have managed to build me a website that allows me to publicise my books while also housing my personal archive. I was hugely impressed with the patience with which Simon discussed my needs with me and then developed a website that reflected my idiosyncrasies.”
“I was bowled over by Simon and his team at Bookswarm. They were efficient, creative and incredibly helpful. I couldn’t recommend them more.”
Fun Bookswarm Facts
Some things you might like to know about us
News from Bookswarm Towers
Twitter – solving for X
Twitter launched in 2006, and I can remember having arguments with colleagues about whether it was a meaningful new communications medium or just a way for people to share inane details of their daily lives. Clearly, although it's not the world's most heavily used...
Simon is running the 2023 Loch Ness Marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support
Yes, I'm at it again - seeking sponsorship for my second marathon, once again running to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. Find out more at my JustGiving page
London Book Fair event report – How To Be Yourself Online
As part of the London Book Fair’s busy programme of author events, Byte The Book packed out the English PEN Literary Salon for a panel on digital promotion. Chaired by Byte founder Justine Solomons, the discussion saw Bookswarm’s Simon Appleby, marketing mentor and...
London Book Fair panel: How To Be Yourself Online
Simon will be on the panel for an event at this year's London Book Fair. It's at 5:15 on April 19, 2023, in the English PEN Literary Salon, and has been organised by our friends at Byte The Book. Join Simon and a panel of other experts as we give advice on what...
Bookswarm shortlisted for 2023 Independent Publishing Awards
We're delighted to say we've been shortlisted for the IPG's 2023 Independent Publishing Awards. We won the Services to Independent Publishers Award in 2021, and we're chuffed to be on the shortlist again this year. The judges said: Bookswarm has powered many...
Bookswarm sponsors Byte The Book as it returns to running in-person events
We're proud to be sponsoring the first Byte The Book of 2023, marking a return to in-person events after years of online events caused by the pandemic. The event is called Write Now: How can you be a successful author in the 21st century? Here's some more info: This...
“Simon and his group have a great system for authors to express their creativity and passion through their website. If you are an author in need of a site to highlight your writing and other work, Simon is the right guy for you!”
Matthew S. Bennett, speaker, trainer, author
Meet the Bookswarm Team
Simon Appleby
Director
Simon Appleby is the founder and Managing Director of Bookswarm, the only digital agency in the UK dedicated to delivering projects for publishers, authors and others in the world of books.
Simon has spoken at the Publishing Scotland conference and the Faber Factory conference, contributed to the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, and created and delivered a course on digital project development for the Publishing Training Centre.
Simon’s career in digital media started in 1998, and he gained experience of digital project delivery for a range of clients while working for a number of digital agencies. In 2009 he went ‘client-side’, where as Digital Projects Manager for Octopus Publishing Group, he gained invaluable inside experience of the publishing world.
Alex Knight
Technical Lead
Alex is a web developer. She has worked at digital media agencies in London and Birmingham and more recently has chosen to freelance. She is passionate about creating pixel perfect websites, being skilled in both back and frontend coding.
She enjoys reading a variety of genres, with sci-fi and fantasy being favourites, and tends to have a couple of books on the go at once. Despite being a bit of a geek when it comes to owning gadgets she still prefers a real book to a Kindle.
Alex loves the sea, and lives in south Devon where she grew up. When not in front of a computer she can be found kayaking, sailing or exploring Dartmoor.
Hazel Miles
Creative Lead
Hazel is a tea-fueled Graphic Designer of many years experience.
Hazel has experience in a range of design disciplines. Starting out in design for print, she moved into web design, and retail and packaging design before deciding that it was time to branch out on her own. Working for herself Hazel has found greater creative freedom and enjoys working with a purring cat inches from her keyboard.
Although Hazel feels the Kindle is “a marvellous invention” she is adamant that she will always read the printed word… unless it’s one of the many blogs she follows. Hazel has more books than time but when she does find time to read Hazel enjoys a wide range of genres with a particular fondness for the classics.
Susie McConnell
Designer / Developer
Susie is a graphic designer and front-end developer. After many years spent working for both print and digital agencies, she decided to take the leap and pursue life as a freelancer, focusing mainly on working with clients in the arts industries.
Susie is a big fan of non-fiction, enjoying the works of writers such as Mary Roach and Jon Ronson. In her spare time, she enjoys the cinema, playing music, binge-watching true crime documentaries, and a good cup of tea.
“Authors should look no further: Bookswarm completely understand our needs.”
Annabel Kantaria, author
Contact Bookswarm
Want to get in touch? Use the option that suits you best. You can…
- E-mail us on [email protected]
- Call us on +44 (0) 7847 912989
- Fill in the contact form
We’d love to hear from you!
“Simon and the Bookswarm team are always a delight to work with. Receiving an email from them is usually the highlight of my work day!"
Laura Jones, Bloody Scotland
Free downloads
Free White Papers and downloadable resources which help demystify the process of developing WordPress sites.
Selling Books Online
Download our FREE cheat sheet, showing you all the linking formats you need for different book retailers’ websites, along with information about affililate schemes and other handy tricks.
What does GDPR mean for your website?
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) represents the biggest shake up of data protection legislation for many years, designed to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). Ahead of GDPR coming in to force, we have been working with a number of our clients to ensure their websites are GDPR-ready. Here are some of the things we think you need to know.
Commissioning Author Websites with WordPress: Ten Things We Learned (So You Don’t Have To)
The world of WordPress is booming. In fact, it’s estimated WordPress now runs HALF of all websites that have a Content Management System (CMS). For your WordPress project, you can choose to work with any of a wide range of designers, developers, agencies and hosting companies; not to mention a thriving ecosystem of good-value themes, free and premium plugins and other goodies. This cornucopia of choices can be overwhelming. So, we’ve tried to make it easier for you. Next time you commission a WordPress project, or recommend to your authors that they explore the possibilities of WordPress, here are ten tips for you to consider.
Selling With WordPress: Easy E-Commerce Options for Authors and Publishers
Bookswarm has built its business around WordPress, and one of the things we’re often asked by clients to work on is e-commerce. With the range of options widening we thought we’d provide a tour of some of the solutions out there, and look at some of the issues and challenges specific to the world of publishing, and to selling books online.