About Scott Manning

For more than 45 years, Scott Manning has created and implemented public relations campaigns for a wide variety of high-profile authors, products, and organizations. His experience includes special events planning and media placement via long-standing contacts with print and online journalists, book reviewers, and broadcast producers.

His company has been responsible for campaigns that helped put thirteen books on The New York Times bestseller list.

In 1995, he started Scott Manning & Associates through a relationship with Grove Atlantic, Inc. In addition, he has conducted publicity campaigns for a wide range of clients including Simon & Schuster, Schaffner Press, Bauhan Publishing, Steerforth Press, Graywolf Press, Amazon Publishing, Milkweed Editions, Weinstein Books, Houghton Mifflin, Plume, Taschen, Abrams, Penguin Books for Young Readers, Rizzoli, Basic Books, Bloomsbury USA and Rodale. Authors Sy Montgomery (Birdology, Free Press; Soul of an Octopus, Atria), Erica Armstrong Dunbar (Never Caught, Atria), NBC News correspondent Chloe Melas (Luck of the Draw, St. Martin’s), Leila Philip (Beaverland, Twelve), and others have contracted with Manning directly to handle aspects of their publicity.

His company has been responsible for campaigns that helped put thirteen books on The New York Times bestseller list: Hue 1968, The Finish, The Best Game Ever and Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden, On the Wealth of Nations and Eat the Rich by P.J. O'Rourke, Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder, I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb, Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady by Derek Blasberg, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, Luck of the Draw by Frank Murphy (intro by Chloe Melas) and Beaverland by Leila Philip. The company has publicized seven additional books by O'Rourke, as well as Bowden's Killing Pablo, Guests of the Ayatollah, and Worm. Other Grove Atlantic authors handled by Scott Manning have included Norman Mailer (Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man), Jon Lee Anderson (Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life), Tim Flannery (Throwim' Way Leg, The Eternal Frontier, The Weather Makers, Here on Earth), Tom Clavin and Bob Drury (Halsey's Typhoon) and posthumously, Jacqueline Susann (Valley of the Dolls).

Along with its book-specific projects, Scott Manning & Associates has conducted campaigns on behalf of Barnes & Noble, iUniverse, Poets & Writers, Inc., The Great Books Foundation, PublishingOnline.com, The Norwich University Military Writers Symposium, and The Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Manning has also served as a consultant to Other Press, The Cato Institute, Now and Then Reader and Australia's Text Publishing on their overall publishing public relations strategies.

In 2020, 2022, and 2024, Scott Manning & Associates supported the launch of seasons 2, 3 and 4 of the public television series, Poetry in America.

Manning was responsible for public relations efforts on behalf of more than 250 books per year.

During his tenure as Vice President, Director of Publicity at William Morrow & Company, Manning was responsible for public relations efforts on behalf of more than 250 hardcover and trade paperback books per year. Highlights from that period include his work with Deborah Tannen, Ph.D., international best-selling authors Sidney Sheldon and Colleen McCullough, renowned Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme, and then first lady Barbara Bush.

In the late 1980s, Manning gained experience in consumer product public relations as an account supervisor at Manning, Selvage & Lee, one of the nation's largest PR firms. During that time, he coordinated the Weight Watchers International Member of the Year competition, which included regional events around the U.S., a national competition in New York and an international event at Versailles. While at MS&L, he also handled publicity for Waldenbooks and Family Circle Magazine.

Throughout his career, Manning has conceived, planned, and implemented a number of special events. He was co-chairman of three black-tie fundraising events for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, created the 50th anniversary party for Avon Books held at Radio City Music Hall, and hosted publication parties for Barbara Bush, Susan Isaacs, and Patricia Wells, among others.

In 2002, the National MS Society entered him into its Volunteer Hall of Fame.

In 1993, he was honored by the New York City Chapter of the National MS Society with the naming of the "Scott Manning Scholarships," that for more than ten years were presented annually to MS patients seeking educational or vocational training in order to cope with changes the disease imposed upon their lives. In 2002, the National MS Society entered him into its Volunteer Hall of Fame, and for 21 years he served as the Founder and Chair of the Executive Committee of The Books for a Better Life Awards, benefiting the New York City Chapter. In 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of MacDowell, the nation’s longest running artist residency program.