News platform for the Bloomsberry Publishing community
Bloomsberry's community news platform
Writers & Artists is a community of publishing industry representatives: writers, editors, agents, and publicists.
WEBSITES
Requirements
A client representing the international publishing house Bloomsbury PLC approached us with a request to help update their «Writers & Artists» website. The site was intended to become not only a new digital version of the «yearbook of writers and artists» but also a new, fully-fledged ecosystem for members of the community. Now, users can find articles with advice from industry experts, listen to or watch interviews with authors, participate in writing competitions, and join a community of people with similar interests. Furthermore, the site now offers young authors the opportunity to purchase editing services to help them on their professional journey.
Design
Support
Front-end
Back-end
Front-end
Support
Design
Back-end
Technology stack
Vue.js
Node.js
Git
Drupal 8
Solr
REST API
MySQL
HTML5
Drupal 8
Solr
Git
jQuery
Node.js
MySQL
Analysis and proposal
After an in-depth analysis of business requirements, we decided that the core technology would be developed using the Drupal CMS, with additional modules to support specific sections of the future platform. This approach allowed us to implement the first part of the project quickly and without sacrificing quality. This, in turn, gave us more time to focus on more complex functional areas.
Functionality and design
The site was created to unite audiences with similar interests, develop them, and increase engagement. Common interests include literature, art, and creative arts. By curating collections based on selected interests and offering corresponding subscriptions, the site provides access to relevant content.
The volume and type of content depends on the type of paid subscription. Most information is free. However, access to private information, such as a list of companies (for literary agents, publishers, and marketers), requires a subscription.
Users can create a personal account on the website. After logging in, they gain access to additional service functionality. This includes the ability to publish posts on forums, participate in public discussions, receive feedback on their work, and connect with like-minded individuals.
The primary tools of creative people are words and information. We’ve implemented the ability to use all necessary formats for presenting information: articles, blogs, videos, discussions, a glossary—everything users and authors might need. With a large amount of content, there was a risk of inconvenient site navigation. Thoughtful user interface details, navigation indicators, and the ability to search the entire site or specific content categories proved a successful solution.
Additionally, authors can purchase «Editorial Services» directly on the website. These are personalized training programs that allow authors to share their work with editors and agents for collaborative completion and feedback. For this purpose, we’ve developed a dedicated feature that covers the entire process: from payment and sharing initial documents to chat discussions and collaborative project completion. This feature has been tailored specifically for each area of work.
To increase engagement, a reward system for active users, «Rewards Points,» was developed. Users are rewarded for active interaction with the site in the form of bonus points, which can be converted into discounts on books, services, and other products offered on the site.
The service was becoming highly interactive. This necessitated the implementation of functionality for communication between community members. The solution was integration with CometChat. This module supports both personal and group chats in real time.
In addition to providing an online portal, the client hosts offline events in the UK and Ireland. We needed to develop the logic and functionality of a notification and search system for offline events based on geographical proximity and relevant user interests. We also created a complete booking and payment functionality, taking into account bonus programs. As a final step, after payment, attendees are added to a group on the platform. This allows guests to get to know each other and receive updates before the event.
The bookmarking feature was implemented to allow users to save content, improving navigational convenience. In addition to the basic saving feature, users can also leave notes on specific content, which in turn enhances user experience and personalizes it for future reference.
The final stage of the project was the development of functionality for portal administrators. The «Writers & Artists» team can view site statistics, generate financial reports, manage content, and send direct newsletters to users. This extensive functionality will allow for effective community management as needed, and personalization for repeat use.
Conclusion
Our team implemented all stages of the project, from design to testing and release of updates. We created an effective web portal featuring support for a large volume of diverse content, an administrative dashboard, user functionality with content access levels based on the presence and type of subscription, personalization of stored information, tools for communication and document sharing within the community, a rewards program, and full e-commerce functionality for booking and payment. This portal was designed for a dedicated, growing community. We continue to provide technical support for this project. This experience is suitable for projects with extensive content and the need to create a unified ecosystem.
The project was worked on
UI Designer
DevOps Engineer
Front-end developer
Project manager
Back-end developer
QA Engineer
UI Designer
QA Engineer
DevOps Engineer
Front-end developer
Back-end developer
Project manager
INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATION
WE WORK WITH BUDGETS FROM 10,000 EUR. THIS IS ENOUGH TO IMPLEMENT THE BASIC FUNCTIONALITY OF THE PRODUCT AND ITS FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
