Scott Manning & Associates
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20 Main Street, # 417
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scott@scottmanningpr.com
Featured: Kirkus 100 Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
Rust Belt Boy bookcover

Hidden history books, especially those telling the stories of marginalized communities, make for exciting and fulfilling launch projects. We've worked on a number of books that fall in this category, among them the National Book Award finalist, Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's Schools by Rachel Devlin.

In 2021, we handled the launch campaign for a book that proved to be particularly gratifying.

The Historic New Orleans Collection publishes exquisitely produced books about its region's history. Meticulously researched and edited, they are the kinds of books we are honored to represent. The dilemma confronting us, though, was how do you take a regional book and make it of national interest?

The fact that such a community existed at that time in a major southern city was the first surprise

Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood by Fatima Shaik tells the surprising story of a mutual aid society comprised of prosperous, free Black men in New Orleans prior to the Civil War. The fact that such a community existed at that time in a major southern city was the first surprise we were able to pitch. The second surprise was how the book came about: the author's father had saved the society's ornate journals from the trash in the 1950s. They sat in a closet for 50 years, until our journalist/historian author could contain her curiosity no longer and started working on what became this monumental book. Through meticulous research, Shaik pieced together a narrative that establishes these men's contributions to history, from the Haitian Revolution to the evolution of jazz.

This was just the kind of story we felt we could successfully pitch to media both regionally and nationwide. Along with a great story, we benefited from an author brimming with innovative, collaborative ideas, and a dedicated group of professionals at her publisher who supported us through the months leading up to publication.

We then branched out through a collaboration with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance

New Orleans media outlets were happy to cover the book, with The Times-Picayune leading the way ("to see the city through her eyes is the gift of a passionate historian.") We then branched out through a collaboration with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). Shaik appeared at their New Voices, New Rooms conference, co-sponsored by the North Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) - spreading word of her book over nearly a third of the country. SIBA also hosted a virtual event that was posted by eleven independent bookstores ranging from New Orleans to Memphis and Tampa to Richmond.

At the same time, we collaborated with Shaik to turn her existing social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter into more effective tools for book promotion making it easier for readers to find information about her and her book. We also worked with Shaik to get books in the hands of people with large social media followings who could serve as key influencers.

Both the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library invited her to appear

Nationally, we found success with such outlets as The New York Times Book Review, ("Shaik's rendition of her hometown is lyrical and mysterious and always captivating"), and Kirkus Reviews ("A lively, readable story that nicely complicates the view of racial and ethnic relations in the South of old"-starred review). Numerous other print and online publications either weighed in, interviewed Shaik, or published pieces that she wrote specifically for each. And our author appeared on podcasts, radio, and television shows. Both the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library invited her to appear in virtual conversation with fellow authors Bliss Broyard and Jennifer Egan (respectively).

After several months of non-stop coverage, we received the icing on the cake. Kirkus Reviews placed Economy Hall on its list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the year, calling it out as one of only ten from small publishers. It was also named "one of our 51 favorite books of 2021" by The Washington Independent Review of Books.

For a book from a small yet prestigious regional publisher, it doesn't get much better than that.