Author Websites with HR Hegnauer

Meet HR

Jennifer Van Alstyne: Hello and welcome to The Social Academic! I am Jennifer Van Alstyne, your host, and my guest today is all about books and book design, and book websites. So I’m so excited to have HR Hegnauer here. HR, would you please introduce yourself?

HR Hegnauer: Sure, yeah, thanks so much for having me, Jennifer. My name is HR. I work as a book designer and also a website designer and run my own design studio. And yeah, I love getting to do the work that I do.

Jennifer: So I think my first question for you is kind of about the book design process. So many people are like, they’re focused on writing their book, they’re so excited, they are getting it published. And then they’re like, “Well, what comes next?” I know it’s different with different presses, but do you think you could walk us through a little bit of the kind of book design process and what that’s like for people?

HR: Yeah, absolutely. And you’re totally right. It really does vary on kind of who that publisher is or maybe they’re self-publishing. There’s a huge spectrum. And I’ve been making books for about 18 years now. I’ve designed over 350 books. And so I’ve really seen that spectrum about every single type of publisher: corporate, institutional, universities, tiny micro nonprofit, self-publishing, the whole thing. When the person’s done writing that book, it’s going to of course go through the editing process and all of that. And then by the time I come on board, what we want to do is take that manuscript and make it into a really good book that someone wants to sit with and read and engage with, right? And it’s my job to make sure, right, that it can do that for the person. It’s legible, it works well. The design works for the book. The cover is like a visual articulation of what’s happening in the content.

Book design and book cover design

Jennifer: Hmm. What’s your process like for cover design? I know cover design and book design, the interior of it are a little bit different. I’d love to hear about covers because that’s honestly what I think people might have the most flexibility with when it comes to academic books. So what are your thoughts about cover design?

HR: That’s such a fun thing to dive into and it can be really hard for the writer to kind of imagine it too because they’re working in words, right? They’re the writer, they’re not working in visuals. And so in my process, I’ve developed this questionnaire over the last, you know, 18 years. And that helps us kind of set the visual tone, right? So is this, is it an academic book talking about something from the 19th century? Is it a hyper-modern poetry book? Is it something from the tech industry or a memoir? There’s all kinds of sort of, I guess, genres, right? That kind of help orient a little bit in ways. But then there’s all these other things to consider. Like maybe the person has a piece of art or photography they really wanna see on the cover, or maybe they wanna just go text only on the cover, which can be super fun. And then that text can be a graphic element itself, right?

Jennifer: So I’m curious, like I know that you partner with presses to sometimes do the cover design. Like what is the, almost like the technical process of like, let’s say an author gets their book accepted and their press is like, “Well, what do you want for the cover design?” Can they ask for a specific cover artist to work with them? What kind of input can they give if maybe they haven’t been offered someone like you to partner with?

HR: Yeah, you can definitely ask. Not sure always what the response is, but definitely ask for sure. I mean, to be an advocate for your own book because sometimes nobody else is. And so, you know and presses, some have their own in-house designers who are amazing. Some presses have certain style guides they’re trying to follow themselves or some series that they’re trying to work within. Oh, one of my friends, Dr. Echo Rivera, she was like really thinking about putting like a presentations book out in the world. And a press was very interested in working with her, but when she heard that she would have no control over the cover, that they were really stuck in this very set cover for the series that it was gonna be published under. She actually decided to not move forward with that project, with that press, just cause the cover is so important for something like presentations and design. Like that’s what she’s talking about. It can’t be a huge mismatch. So I love that you help people really get visual when it comes to their thinking, being introspective about their cover. Now, how does that differ from like the interior of the book? I mean, there’s so many academics that also are interested in self-publishing or wanna create resources that are more like book format. I’m curious about the interior. What’s that process like? 

HR: Yeah, well, ideally they’re in conversation with each other, the cover and the interior. They’re not always, but I think when they are, that is when you have the best fully integrated one.

Jennifer: Yeah. (Laughing)

HR: And so what that means, technically speaking, is sometimes elements from the cover are coming into the interior. Maybe that’s in the title font choices or maybe some little graphical, graphic element or embellishment somewhere. But the main thing for the interior is that, sometimes I like to think, you know, if the reader is noticing something about the interior, it’s usually because maybe they’re struggling through it because it’s not well done or not well designed. And I don’t mean that in any kind of like design slight, I just mean it in like, if someone spends sometimes years writing a book, you want your reader to be able to really read it and engage with it and not have to like physically struggle. And so that’s a big part of it. Can your reader really engage with it? And so sometimes an author will come to me or a publisher or somebody and say, “I really love Helvetica. Can you lay out my 400 pages in it, in Helvetica?” Sure, technically speaking, I could. But you know what, that’s my job as a design professional to help the person understand why that’s really not a good design choice because your reader is not gonna be able to work with that themselves.

And then that means like, well number one, they’re not gonna read it. But then, maybe then they’re a professor and they’re not going to teach it either or no one’s going to write a review about it. You know, all these kinds of things that unfold in these multiple ways.

Jennifer: Hm. So it’s almost like when you are being more intentional about the experience that people will have while reading your book and how that plays out in terms of design, that it limits all of those potentials for almost like a breakdown in connection that could happen afterwards. Once people do have a good reading experience with your book, we want them to be able to take the next step, whether that’s in their own life or to help you share your book and so that’s really interesting. Oh, HR, one of the things that you brought up was about some of the things that authors have struggled with. I’m curious. What are some of those, some maybe mindset things, some maybe like just not knowing what their next steps are, what are some struggles authors have when it comes to book covers, book design, sharing their book? 

HR: Sure, yeah, especially because, and it’s no fault of an author, it’s not them to have to know everything. The industry is constantly changing all of the time, even in terms of like what are options for self-publishing or then if you’re self-publishing, what does that mean in terms of distribution? How are you supposed to just know that? It’s not like an innate thing. And so those are real struggles. Or how do you promote your book? Maybe you have a really awesome publisher who has that support and foundation behind you, and that is so ideal, honestly, and that’s great. And then if you don’t, maybe you need to kind of build that team yourself. And so like one of the things, like for example, I don’t do marketing myself. I can make some materials to help do that marketing, but I don’t run like social media or something. 

Jennifer: Yeah, yeah, you’re not like managing the marketing process. 

HR: Yea, I can help that writer understand how to build a really successful team for themselves.

Websites for book authors

Sign up for Jennifer’s Promoting Your Book Online for Academics Workshop on April 12, 2025.

Jennifer: Hmm. I like that. Now you don’t just do like book design and book covers. You do websites for authors too which is, I mean, that is like a marketing deliverable in the sense that it’s long-term. So why should authors have websites for their books?

HR: Yeah, I know that is such a great question. And it’s really changed over a few years even, right? It didn’t always have to be necessary, or maybe someone has a LinkedIn page or something, some kind of digital version of their CV. Or maybe they’re a professor and they have a page on the university website or something. So why need their own website? And it’s such a great place to get to be in control of all your content for one, obviously, but then to get to really interact in different ways. So it can be this like digital up-to-date version of your CV and it can hold all kinds of things, including media and events and whatever you need. But one thing that has been so exciting to me the last couple of years, honestly, is I’ve gotten to work on some projects where it’s not just like a digital sales sheet to promote the book, but it gets to be this real extension of the book itself. So like, for example, you read a book and maybe there’s some images in it or something, or maybe you go to an event to support the book, but there’s some real limitations in how far that can go sometimes. And so, especially if a book really, and not all books need this, but some books really, really benefit from something a little more interactive or media-based or maybe someone is working with a lot of archives too, and they want to bring in different images. And that can get so exciting, I think. I’d love to, can I share just one project about that? 

Jennifer: Yeah, yeah.

HR: Like I’ve been working with this woman, maybe you know of her, Sasha Steensen. She’s a professor at Colorado State University. 

Jennifer: Cool. 

HR: And I’ve loved her writing for many years, but some authors I get to work with for, you know, well over a decade or more. I just love following their work personally, but she was working on this project and had institutional support and funding for it, which was so great. But looking at the past couple hundred plus years of her five acre property, and what happened on this exact plot of land in Colorado where she lives with her family. 

Jennifer: Wow, that’s cool. 

HR: Yeah, and like the archives, the federal transactional history there, a lot of devastation, all kinds of history on that exact spot where she spends her time with her family, right? And so at first we started making this website to help support that sort of already existing project she was doing. And then like once we’ve started building, there’s a number of pages on it, probably, I don’t know, 15 or so at this point.

And then it’s like we started to understand like, “Oh, this website, maybe what it can do is really actually now helping drive some of the creative work of the project. It’s really exciting, it’s still ongoing, you can go check it out. Stuff like that, it gets so fun.

Jennifer: Yeah, websites are so adaptable and like they can grow to fit your needs, but also they can inspire creativity and give you more flexibility with how you wanna reach people. So it’s fascinating that it sounds like once you started on the website together, it really grew and expanded based on what you were inspired to create long-term. I mean, all these things are so lasting, that’s why I love it. It’s like a book can get out there in the world, but honestly, it has potential to go out of print eventually or not get a second print run.

HR: Exactly, there’s that. 

Jennifer: And the website, the resources that you create, the conversations that you have about your book, those things can stay. Oh, fun! 

HR: Which means you’re seeing that website at presentations and class visits. And it’s not just for like the general public randomly who comes to it. It’s like, it’s also a teaching tool. It’s also a research archive. It’s also all these things, you know. And it’s a book, by the way. 

Jennifer: Yeah, and the book, and the book. (Laughing)

When to start designing your book

Jennifer: Now, I’m curious, like, at what point did that professor reach out to you to maybe start working together? Like, at what point in your manuscript creation process should you start thinking about these things?

HR: Yeah, that’s such a great question. I mean, in that particular instance, I’ve worked with her on a many number of projects. Book cover, her author website to begin with. You know, so many authors I get to work with on multiple projects- 

Jennifer: I love that. 

HR: For years and really do know their work quite well. But yeah, so it really varies. I mean, sometimes a project like this, the book is not published, it’s not done. It’s an ongoing, real place of discovery in this way. It’s kind of become this collaboration almost. 

Jennifer: Wow. That’s so cool! 

HR: Yeah, I mean, and that’s fairly unique, I would say certainly. Others like, I’m really not involved in the editorial process in most instances, right? You know, I’m there to help bring that book into that publishing process, whatever that looks like physically or digitally or however. And it’s generally speaking after editorial is done, after editing is done, and that kind of thing.

Jennifer: What kind of transformation do you typically see with authors from before they have a website to after they have a website? Do their feelings change about it?

HR: Yeah, that’s a great question right, definitely. Because before they have a website . . . Okay, for example I made this website a year ago or so for this author, Maureen Owen. She’s a poet, has, I don’t know, 30 or more books, something like this, dozens of works. 

Jennifer: She’s prolific. 

HR: Beloved poet, right? I’ve loved her work for decades. She’s never had her own personal website, but of course with her books, they’re on publisher sites, on Amazon, on random places. Goodreads of course. There’s all kinds of disparate places where she exists on the web, right? And she has university archives you know in multiple universities, these kind of official places even, but there was not one hub of her place, of her work. And, you know number one, that’s a bummer for the reader trying to just find out more about her or access maybe her work as a student or a grad student learning about her, any of those things. And so to bring all of that together was so great. I mean, and then, exactly, and then for her, that transformation is like people see her in a different way because now they’re seeing, you know, people who don’t necessarily know her personally say are learning about her and they’re able to learn about her in a more comprehensive way in one place from her own voice that she’s in control of because it’s her own website, right? 

Jennifer: Yeah, well, it makes such a difference. Some of the professors that I’ve worked with, I mean, many of them are authors. The focus of the website is less book than I think the websites that you typically design. But one of the things that they tell me afterwards is like their friends and their family, like people who they weren’t even expecting as like an initial audience for their website, people they know actually feel like they can understand them a little bit better, they can connect with the book or help share it more effectively. So I really like that there are kind of like unexpected sparks that can happen once you are more open to creating that kind of online presence for yourself.

HR:  Definitely, yeah, for sure. And being able to articulate your research about things or your interests, excitement, whatever that might be. 

Work with an awesome team

Jennifer: Yeah. Now this year, HR and I are going to be teaming up on some website VIP days. While of course you can work with just HR or just me, if you’re someone that is like, wow, how amazing would it be to have two professionals really thinking deeply with me about what is going to work for my website and actually creating it for you in a day?

We’re happy to chat and see if we’d be a good fit to work together. We’re happy to help you.

I also want you to know HR is an amazing resource. If you need a book cover, if you need the interior of your book design, if you need that book website or author website, you should definitely reach out to her. She’s so nice. And someone that I really trust, someone that I trust to sit there with you and to think in ways that’s going to make sense for you. Not just the way that your publisher wants your book to be, but have you be more of a part of that conversation than sometimes happens in the editorial world. Yeah, I just wanted to be sure to share you with people. 

HR: Thank you so much Jennifer. I’m really super excited, honestly, to be collaborating with you. it’s such a great thing. And I think one thing you said a second ago. You know, to get to work with someone who you actually know who they are as a human being and trust them, that means like the world, right? I mean, how do you, it’s such an abstract thing to just be like, “Okay, now I need a website. What does that even mean, right? Like, how do I do that?” Like, how is anybody supposed to know and what do they trust to do that? And I’ve worked with so many people, honestly, who have been like, tried to do some DIY approach over the years or maybe they did something with a student 15 years ago or something. And it’s just like, they’re still paying some ridiculous thing to some web host that, and I look at their stuff. I’m like, “What is going on here? This is so unnecessary. You’ve been, this is ridiculous.”

Jennifer: And you know it’s like, it’s unreasonable to think that anybody who’s not in that kind of field would just know what to do, right? I mean, like, I have professors who are like, information, technology, AI, like, really like experts in different tech areas that are like, “I’m not gonna learn how to make a website. Like, can I learn? Yes. But is it a good use of my time? Honestly, no.” And that’s okay. 

HR: Absolutely, yea. 

Jennifer: Like, you don’t have to do your website yourself, but also if you’ve done your website yourself and you don’t like it, don’t feel embarrassed. Like, come to us and we’ll help you. 

HR: Really, no. Get it to a better place, for sure. And, you know, it’s not magic and it’s not rocket science. It’s just like, it’s something that is just valuable to bring up to speed, really.

Creativity for your author website

Jennifer: HR, is there anything else you feel authors should know either about the book design process or about author websites before we wrap up today?

HR: I just think, especially in say a website when someone, it is really their project and they get to be in control of it, to just really kind of, to really take that, you know, get in control of it. And either if you’re building it by yourself or working with someone, to just know that it is your website and it is, you know the reflection of who you are as a creative person or an academic or whatever that is for you, researcher. And to just think, you know, it doesn’t have to look like one thing or another, it doesn’t have to be some template that someone is telling you to go with because it’s the easiest option or whatever. You know, there’s such a huge spectrum of how things can kind of come together. And a lot of people don’t even know what those kind of possibilities are. So it’s like, it’s that the person who wants that website or needs that website, you know, they get to be in this creative place and then the person who can help bring that to them can like show up with some really fresh ideas for them. And sometimes that like synergy is what’s so exciting to really make something happen.

Jennifer: I love that. This was such a good conversation and perfect timing because I am having a How to Promote your Book for Academic Authors event next month. And so I think that having this interview is a resource that can help people. I mean, there’s so many different stages at which you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I think I need a book cover or I think I need this author website and I didn’t know I needed it before, but I need it now.” And if that’s you, I really, I hope you’ll reach out to HR, schedule a call to see if you’re a good fit to work together- 

HR: Absolutely.

Jennifer: Because it really is, it’s like a no pressure call. It’s very warm. And I think that you’ll find that it’s a good space for you to actually have someone who knows who can talk with you about these things, not just your editor or, you know, your publisher. You have options. 

HR: For sure. And I love chatting with anybody and about what those options can look like too. It doesn’t have to be with me, but I’m absolutely happy to talk with anybody.

Jennifer: Oh, that’s perfect. All right, thank you so much for joining me on this episode of The Social Academic. HR, how can people find you or get in touch with you afterwards?

HR: I would also love to connect with you on my Instagram, @hr_hegnauer_design_studio.

My LinkedIn, if that’s a way that’s good to connect. Any of those ways. And on my website, there’s a little button that says like, you know, come and book a consult. Like, I really mean it, like just do it. I talk with people all the time, every week, you know, and love hearing what is going on for them. It’s not like a sales call. You don’t have to be like that, you know. Would love to though connect with anybody or help out with a question if somebody had a question.

Jennifer: I so appreciate your openness, HR. Thank you so much for coming on the show. 

HR: Absolutely, thanks so much for having me.

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