Erin Seaward-Hiatt - Designer
Bright and experienced book cover designer with a versatile aesthetic. Lover of the literary and all things socially responsible.
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Overview
Hello, there! My name is Erin, and I design books. I am one of those designers who enjoys adapting to new visual challenges, so you'll see some variety in my portfolio. My clients have included HarperCollins, Hachette, and Quarto imprints, as well as smaller houses like Seal, Counterpoint, Sourcebooks, Crooked Lane, and others who do important work in publishing. I am always excited to work with indie authors and small operations—I know that when marketing budgets are shrunken or nonexistent, an enticing cover can go a long way toward a book's success.
I began a visual arts career more than a decade ago, when I worked as an editor and found myself staying at the office late into the evenings playing with my typography and layouts. I have designed things day and night ever since, building a versatile style that has served my clients well. My work is the product of experience, flexibility, and—most important of all—collaboration. I like to approach my projects with both an informed art direction and an open mind—often, the best cover design is the one that's unexpected. I bring market research to the table as well as visual principles, so what I design ends up working from multiple angles. At the end of the day, the cover is there to show off, instantly, how hard an author has worked, and as a fiction writer myself, I take pride in bridging that gap between a hard-hewn piece of writing and the reader who craves it.
Please check out my portfolio to see if my work feels like a good fit for yours. Reach out anytime. I look forward to collaborating with you!
I began a visual arts career more than a decade ago, when I worked as an editor and found myself staying at the office late into the evenings playing with my typography and layouts. I have designed things day and night ever since, building a versatile style that has served my clients well. My work is the product of experience, flexibility, and—most important of all—collaboration. I like to approach my projects with both an informed art direction and an open mind—often, the best cover design is the one that's unexpected. I bring market research to the table as well as visual principles, so what I design ends up working from multiple angles. At the end of the day, the cover is there to show off, instantly, how hard an author has worked, and as a fiction writer myself, I take pride in bridging that gap between a hard-hewn piece of writing and the reader who craves it.
Please check out my portfolio to see if my work feels like a good fit for yours. Reach out anytime. I look forward to collaborating with you!
Languages
English (US)
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Health & Wellbeing
History
Humanities & Social Sciences
Fiction
Historical Fiction
Literary Fiction
Thriller & Suspense
Women's Fiction
Work experience
Book Designer
Self-employed
January, 2014
–
Present
(about 8 years)
I balance book cover and interior design projects as a full-time freelancer. I have worked with HarperCollins, Hachette, Seal, Sourcebooks, Quarto, Counterpoint, and others.
Freelance Designer, Writer, and Editor
Self-employed
November, 2007
–
January, 2014
(about 6 years)
I have maintained a roster of freelance clients in book design, paper crafting, and marketing design for more than 12 years.
Senior Designer—Paper Crafts
DCWV (now a division of American Crafts)
November, 2007
–
January, 2014
(about 6 years)
I used my crafty side to design products for sale at Michaels, Jo-Ann Fabrics, and other nationwide crafting retailers. I also created catalogs, marketing materials, and packaging for production. I loved this job because it gave me a chance to learn how to design, a skill I had always wanted to apply to books. In 2014 I felt ready to become a book designer full time, so I resigned from crafting and began a steady and successful tenure at my own business, Erin Hiatt Creative.
Book Editor
Cedar Fort
January, 2007
–
November, 2007
(10 months)
In my short time at Cedar Fort I read incoming manuscripts for the acquisition editor, copy edited manuscripts in Microsoft Word, typeset books in Adobe InDesign, and proofread both printouts and galley proofs. I wrote occasional cover copy and communicated editorial concerns directly with authors.
Portfolio (48 selected works)
The Secrets of Paper and Ink
Lindsay Harrel
Brought together across time by a love of story, three women in England fight to defy expectations, dream new dreams, and welcome love into their lives. As a counselor, Sophia Barrett is trained to help people cope with their burdens. But when she meets a new patient whose troubles mirror her own, she realizes she hasn’t dealt with the pain of her recent past. After making a snap decision to g... read more
The Wide Circumference of Love: A Novel
Marita Golden
A 2018 NAACP Image Award nominee and an NPR Best Book of 2017, a moving African-American family drama of love, devotion, and Alzheimer’s disease. Diane Tate never expected to slowly lose her talented husband to the debilitating effects of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. As a respected family court judge, she’s spent her life making tough calls, but when her sixty-eight-year-old husband’s heal... read more
Man Booker Prize Finalist, LA Times Book Prize Finalist, New York Times Editor’s Choice, and an American Booksellers Association National Indie Bestseller!Named a Best Book of 2016 by Newsweek, NPR, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Sunday Times!In the smash hit historical thriller that the New York Times Book Review calls “thought provoking fiction,” a brutal triple murder in a remote Scot... read more
Platte River: Three Novellas
Rick Bass
Available again, an acclaimed collection from an American master that USA Today called “Powerful . . . lyrical, vivid, engaging.”Originally published twenty-five years ago, Platte River is one of the early collections that established Rick Bass’s reputation as a master of the short form and one of the best writers of his generation. It contains three novellas of contemporary America, each info... read more
The Coitus Chronicles: My Quest for Sex, Love, and Orgasms
Olive Persimmon
Think you know everything about sex? Think again! This funny and true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her sexuality on the fringes of New York City’s sex and dating world will make you think twice about everything there is to learn about sex! Meet Olive Persimmon. Growing up, she looked exactly like Danny DeVito, except she was thirteen and a girl. By some miracle, she grew into a rela... read more
Raphael, Painter in Rome: A Novel
Stephanie Storey
Another fabulous art history thriller by the bestselling author of Oil and Marble, featuring the master of Renaissance perfection: Raphael! Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling is one of the most iconic masterpieces of the Renaissance. Here, in Raphael, Painter in Rome, Storey tells of its creation as never before: through the eyes of Michelangelo’s fiercest rival—the young, beautiful, brilli... read more
The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill: A Novel
James Charlesworth
**ONE OF POPSUGAR'S “10 BOOKS BY DEBUT AUTHORS TO WATCH IN 2019”** From a powerful new literary voice, a sweeping epic of one family and the destructive power of the American Dream All their lives, the children of George Benjamin Hill have fought to escape the shadow of their father, a dust-bowl orphan, self-made millionaire in bedrock American capitalism (fast food and oil), and destroyer of ... read more
Otherwise Engaged: A Novel
Lindsey J. Palmer
Life is sweet for New Yorkers Molly and Gabe: They're young, in love, and newly engaged.But when Gabe sells his first novel--a thinly-veiled retelling of his wild love affair with ex-girlfriend Talia--and it becomes a national sensation, Molly can't help but feel like the third wheel. To make matters worse, Talia reappears in Gabe's life, eager to capitalize on the book's success and to rekind... read more
Gorge: My Journey Up Kilimanjaro at 300 Pounds
Kara Richardson Whitely
The inspiring memoir of a plus-size woman who summited Kilimanjaro while overcoming fat prejudice and her own demons--"I was moved and inspired by every page of this beautiful book" (Cheryl Strayed)Kara Richardson Whitely was determined to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. But she struggled with each step--with the grueling conditions on the steep mountainside, with the 300-pound weight of ... read more
FIRE IN THE HEART is a powerful memoir by a woman, once a shy, insecure schoolgirl, who reinvented herself as a professional wildland fire fighter. Determined to forge herself into a stronger, braver person, Mary climbs to heights she never imagined for herself, eventually directing blazes across the country. Filled with literal struggles for survival, tough choices and Mary's burning passion ... read more
Periods Gone Public: Taking a Stand for Menstrual Equity
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf
The first book to explore menstruation in the current cultural and political landscape and to investigate the new wave of period activism taking the world by storm.After centuries of being shrouded in taboo and superstition, periods have gone mainstream. Seemingly overnight, a new, high-profile movement has emerged—one dedicated to bold activism, creative product innovation, and smart policy a... read more
Airbrushed Nation
Jennifer Nelson
Glamour. Cosmo. SELF. Ladies’ Home Journal. Vogue. In an industry that has been in a downward spiral for years, these magazinesand other womenfocused magazines like themhave not only retained their readership, they’ve increased it. Every month, five million-plus women peel back the slick cover of their favorite magazine to thumb through pages filled with tidings and advice about fashion, be... read more
Marcel's Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man's Fate
Carolyn Porter
An IPPY Gold Medal Winner Paris Book Festival Winner Finalist for the 2018 Minnesota Book AwardA graphic designer's search for inspiration leads to a cache of letters and the mystery of one man’s fate during World War II Seeking inspiration for a new font design in an antique store in small-town Stillwater, Minnesota, graphic designer Carolyn Porter stumbled across a bundle of letters and was ... read more
For fans of both real spy dramas and fictional ones—both Ben Macintyre and John le Carré—the story of why spies spy. Why do people put their lives at risk to collect intelligence? How do intelligence services ensure that the agents they recruit do their bidding and don't betray them? What makes the perfect spy? Drawing on interviews with active and former British, American, Russian, European, ... read more
*2016 Edgar Award Finalist**2016 Anthony Award Finalist**2016 Macavity Award Finalist*In 1970, Ross Macdonald wrote a letter to Eudora Welty, beginning a thirteen-year correspondence between fellow writers and kindred spirits. Though separated by background, geography, genre, and his marriage, the two authors shared their lives in witty, wry, tender, and at times profoundly romantic letters, e... read more
For fans of Mary Roach, a sweetly nostalgic and enlightening exploration of futures past, present, and still to come. Generation Robot covers a century of science fiction, fact and, speculation—from the 1950 publication of Isaac Asimov’s seminal robot masterpiece, I, Robot, to the 2050 Singularity when artificial and human intelligence are predicted to merge. Beginning with a childhood informe... read more
In the Valley of the Sun: A Novel
Andy Davidson
A finalist for the 2017 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. An addictive Western literary horror for fans of Joe Hill, Cormac McCarthy, and Anne Rice.One night in 1980, a man becomes a monster. Haunted by his past, Travis Stillwell spends his nights searching out women in West Texas honky-tonks. What he does with them doesn’t make him proud, just quiets the demons for ... read more
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Mason jars are no longer just for canning. Today we use them to drink from, to cook inside, andwith almost limitless possibilitiesto craft with. In this fabulous new book, Linda Braden, author and owner of MasonJarCraftsLove.com and ItAllStartedWithPaint.com, offers up a collection of fun and creative Mason jar crafts for kids. Her ideas include everything from wild science experiments and d... read more
Agathe's Summer
Didier Pourquery
One morning in August of 2007, Didier Pourquery’s daughter, Agathe, only a few days away from her twenty-third birthday, stopped breathing. Seven years after her death, her father tells her story, based on his notes taken during the last three weeks of her life. He shares not only his sadness and loss, but also the joy that characterized his relationship with his daughter. At her birth, Agathe... read more
All the Beautiful People We Once Knew: A Novel
Edward Carlson
For fans of Don DeLillo and Joseph O’Neill, an enthralling debut about the one percent, what they’ll do to stay on top, and the callous gaze they turn on those below them.Burned-out and alienated, Kilgore associate attorney Stephen Harker spends his work days defending insurance companies against spurious litigation commenced by private soldiers who supported US military operations in Iraq and... read more
The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield: A novel
Anna Fishbeyn
The Matrimonial Flirtations of Emma Kaulfield is an often laugh-out-loud comedy of conflicting manners, values, and customs, set against the backdrop of a Russian immigrant family's struggle to assimilate, their newfound love of capitalism, and their insistent push for their children's tangible success. Emma Kaulfield escaped the Soviet Union in the 1980s when she was 10--hers was one of the l... read more
The first book in the Horseshoer Mystery series by bestselling novelist Lisa Preston featuring farrier and amateur detective Rainy Dale, for fans of William Kent Kruger and Craig Johnson. Rainy Dale is The Clincher, a twenty-something high school-dropout turned farrier (horseshoer) who is haunted by a secret she carries. Estranged from her California D-list actress momma and her ranch hand Tex... read more
Some single, simple things, like mustard, have a wealth of history and a path of stories, usually known only to a few. . . . Even if you don’t think you’re interested in mustard, after reading this delightful book, you will be!” Deborah Madison, The Savory WayThe sharp, bright taste of mustard has been used to enhance food for centuries, and all the varietiesfrom the classic yellow French’s... read more
Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba for more than two decades, longer than anywhere else. He bought a home—naming it the Finca Vigia—with his third wife, Martha Gellhorn and wrote his masterpiece The Old Man and the Sea there. In Cuba, Papa Hemingway found a sense of serenity and enrichment that he couldn’t find anywhere else. Now, through more than a hundred color photographs and accompanying text... read more
A Tongue-in-Cheek Guide to Becoming a Dictator, Based on the Outrageous, Scandalous, and Excessive Behavior of Dictators Past and Present Who hasn’t dreamed of one day ruling your own country? Along with great power comes unlimited influence, control, admiration, and often wealth. How to Be a Dictator will teach you the tricks of the tradehow to rise to the top and stay in power, and how to e... read more
Kickdown: A Novel
Rebecca Clarren
*** "an impressive debut novel."—The Washington Post *** When Jackie Dunbar's father dies, she takes a leave from medical school and goes back to the family cattle ranch in Colorado to set affairs in order. But what she finds derails her: the Dunbar ranch is bankrupt, her sister is having a nervous breakdown, and the oil and gas industry has changed the landscape of this small western town bot... read more
Book Pipeline 2017 Grand Prize WinnerWinner of the Audiofile Magazine 2018 Earphones Award for Fiction Over one hundred years ago, Emma Rose Finnis was born and died in the remote northern California town she now haunts. When she was alive, she was a lowly chambermaid and worse, a Finnis. Now, no one remembers her hardworking life and her grand dreams—because there are none left to remember. I... read more
A Man Jumps Out of an Airplane: Stories
Barry Yourgrau
Ever dreamed of strolling through a Dali print? Or stepping into a fairy tale? Open A Man Jumps Out of an Airplane and experience the rush of having reality yanked from underfoot.This is the book that put Barry Yourgrau on the literary map, where he remains as an icon of imaginative prowess. In A Man Jumps Out of an Airplane, Yourgrau focuses his wide-awake subconscious mind on well-trodden th... read more
The Pallbearer: A Novel
Jordan Farmer
Lynch, West Virginia, is a husk of a town: houses collapsing, deserted coal mines, the money gone. The residents who have not abandoned their homes find themselves living in poverty with little-to-no job opportunities, fighting for scraps and survival under the rule of Ferris Gilbert—the patriarch of a local family who governs the town with manipulative cruelty. When Jason Felts, a dwarf and a... read more
Inspiration for Every Home Decorator with a Passion for the PastThe Heirloom House is a humorous personal account of two interlocking obsessions: eBay and the quest to create a vacation house that looks and feels like a family heirloom.Beginning with recollections of her childhood summers in Nantucket, author Sherry Lefevre narrates the development of her personal aesthetic: wanting everything... read more
In Short Measures: Three Novellas
Michael Ruhlman
In his three novellas, In Short Measures,” Strong Conspirators,” and Sally Forth,” Michael Ruhlman delves deeply into the nuanced complexity of romantic and sexual loveand the inevitable evolution of the heart over the span of years and decades.Each novella asks questions about the nature of love in terms of loyalty and fidelitywhat are one’s obligations toward one’s spouse, one’s family,... read more
The River Wild: A Thriller
Denis O'Neill
Two killers force a family into mortal peril in this “gripping thriller” based on the blockbuster movie starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon (Publishers Weekly). To help heal a rocky marriage, river-rafting expert Gail, her husband, Tom, and their son embark on a white-water adventure in Montana. Along the way, they encounter two inexperienced rafters looking for their friends downriver. Litt... read more
Where the Sun Shines Out: A Novel
Kevin Catalano
A raw, unflinching literary debut for fans of Dennis Lehane and Tom Franklin examining the aftershocks of survival, and the price of salvation. In the blue-collar town of Chittenango, New York, two young boys are abducted from a local festival and taken to a cabin in the woods. One is kept; one is killed. When they are next seen, ten-year-old Dean has escaped by swimming across Oneida Lake hol... read more
Heir Apparent: A Novel
James Terry
A compelling and compulsively readable riff on the classic noir detective novel that follows a hard-drinking PI accused of a murder he didn’t commit--or did he?Eddie King wakes up one morning with a splitting headache to find two cops in his room, who begin questioning him about the murder of a man named Walter Morris, a writer of pulp detective novels. Thus begins this novel about a Chandlere... read more
The Terrorist Factory: ISIS, the Yazidi Genocide, and Exporting Terror
Father Patrick Desbois, Costel Nastasie
A riveting, behind-the-scenes look of the Yazidi genocide and the terrorist threat it holds for the West, based on the investigation by Father Patrick Desbois, Costel Nastasie, and their team at Yahad–In Unum, as first shown on 60 Minutes. With testimony drawn from more than 200 interviews with Yazidi survivors—girls, women, boys, and men—recorded during 11 investigative trips to refugee camps... read more
Book of the Year, 2018 Saltire Literary Awards A CrimeReads Best True Crime Book of the Month For fans of Caitlin Doughty, Mary Roach, and CSI shows, a renowned forensic scientist on death and mortality. Dame Sue Black is an internationally renowned forensic anthropologist and human anatomist. She has lived her life eye to eye with the Grim Reaper, and she writes vividly about it in this book,... read more
Private Confessions: A Novel
Ingmar Bergman
Available again from the Bergman centenary comes an elegant novel structured as a series of five “conversations” that reveal Bergman’s mastery of dialogue and gift for setting. Revisiting the autobiographical themes he first explored in his novel The Best Intentions, Ingmar Bergman’s Private Confessions presents the relationship between Anna, an impetuous young woman, and her husband Henrik, a... read more
The Road Awaits! Criss-cross the country on America's classic two-lane highways with Road Trip USA!Inside Road Trip USA you'll find:A flexible network of route combinations color-coded and extensively cross-referenced to allow for hundreds of possible itinerariesMile-by-mile highlights celebrating the best of Americana, including roadside curiosities, parks, diners, and the local history and p... read more
Over 1,200 years old, 500 miles long, and rich with tradition and sacred history: Embark on the trip of a lifetime with Moon Camino de Santiago. Inside you'll find:Strategic trekking guides for walking the Camino, including where to start to get the Compostela certificate, and excursions to gateway cities like Santiago, Léon, Burgos, Pamplona, and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-PortUnique ideas for enrich... read more
By the author of the bestselling parent book 1-2-3 Magic<From the Author of Bestselling Parenting Series 1-2-3 Magic!For the estimated 20 million Americans with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder comes the third edition of All About ADHD by Dr. Thomas W. Phelan, an internationally renowned expert and lecturer on child discipline and ADHD. Completely updated with the latest research and t... read more
The New I Do: Reshaping Marriage for Skeptics, Realists and Rebels
Susan Pease Gadoua, Vicki Larson
If half of all cars bought in America each year broke down, there would be a national uproar. But when people suggest that maybe every single marriage doesn’t look like the next and isn’t meant to last until death, there’s nothing but a rash of proposed laws trying to force it to do just that.In The New I Do, therapist Susan Pease Gadoua and journalist Vicki Larson take a groundbreaking look a... read more
This groundbreaking multicultural anthology shares moving personal stories about the impacts of Alzheimer’s and dementia. An estimated 5.7 million Americans are afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease, including 10 percent of those over sixty-five, and it is the sixth leading cause of death. But its effects are more pervasive: for the nearly 6 million sufferers, there are more than 16 million family ... read more
The Judge's Wife: A Novel
Ann O'Loughlin
*Shortlisted for a 2017 RoNA Award*With her whole life ahead of her, beautiful young Grace’s world changes forever when she’s married off to a much older judge. Soon, feeling lonely and neglected, Grace meets and falls in love with an Indian doctor, Vikram—he’s charming, thoughtful, and kind, everything her husband is not. But this is 1950s Ireland, and when she falls pregnant, the potential s... read more
Vegas Girls: A Novel
Heather Skyler
For Fans of Julia Glass and Ann Hood, a Novel about How the Choices We Make Last a LifetimeVegas Girls begins when three former high school friends, now in their mid-thirties, reunite in their hometown of Las Vegasa city they vowed to escape as soon as they couldto celebrate their new lives and revisit old haunts. But what starts out as a week-long, sun-kissed reunion takes a strange turn as... read more
Daughters of Divorce: Overcome the Legacy of Your Parents' Breakup and Enjoy a Happy, Long-Lasting Relationship
Terry Gaspard, Tracy Clifford
Restore your faith in love and build healthy, successful relationships with this essential guide for every woman haunted by her parents' divorce.Silver Medal Independent Publisher's AwardWinner of the Best Book Award in "Self-Help: Relationships" Over 40 percent of Americans ages eighteen to forty are children of divorce. Yet women with divorced parents are more than twice as likely than men t... read more
The Confession: A Novel
Jo Spain
You find out who did it on the very first page. On the last page, you'll find out why in this expertly plotted, “enthralling” (J. P. Delaney) psychological suspense novel from an internationally bestselling author.Late one night a man walks into the luxurious home of disgraced banker Harry McNamara and his wife Julie. And when the man launches an unspeakably brutal attack on Harry, a horror-st... read more
Rain Down: A Crime Novella
Steve Anderson
A man with no name hits the streets of Portland to find a friend he fears may have been killed for taking a stand.By the author of the new novel The Preserve.It's 2009, and the economy's falling apart. Formerly homeless, the no-name man owes what little he has to his friend Oscar. As a fellow day laborer, Oscar had always stood up for their rights--maybe one time too many.Now he needs to find ... read more
Erin has 5 reviews
Professionalism
Professionalism
Quality
Quality
Value
Value
Communication & Punctuality
Communication & Punctuality
Erin designed the cover of my memoir and did a magnificent job! Dozens of people have commented on how much they loved it and I've had multiple writer friends ask me the name and contact info of my cover designer. I couldn't be happier with her work and definitely plan on using her again for future projects.
Reannon Muth, October 2021
Erin is the best. She did a beautiful job designing my book, patiently trying many versions of the cover until we both loved it. She is quick, efficient, friendly, and knows what she's doing. From now on, she is my go-to designer.
Sue Lick, February 2021
We are still in the early days of our project, but it has been excellent so far.
Sue Lick, October 2020
Erin is not only a terrific designer. She has an attribute that makes working with her an even more outstanding experience: she listens. I highly recommend her as both a designer and as a person who will exceed your expectations.
Marylee MacDonald, August 2020
Third time hiring Erin. This time to help with generating some graphics similar to the book cover for the book website. Great job again.
Travis Ramsey, July 2020
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