WHEN Jenny Qi won the 2020 Steel Toe Books Poetry Award for her debut poetry collection, Focal Point, it was the culmination of more than a decade’s work. The earliest poem was written when she was in college, and she’d spent the previous four years shaping her manuscript. “I worked on this book for so long,” she says. “There were times when before I would get on a flight, I would send the latest copy to my friend and say, ‘If I die, can you please make sure you do something with this, because this is my life’s work.’”
Since she had put so much time and effort into the book, as the publication date with Steel Toe Books neared, she wanted to ensure she launched it as effectively as possible. “I wanted it to have the best chance in the world, and I didn’t think I could do that alone,” she says. Like many small presses, Steel Toe Books has a small staff and limited resources for publicity, so Qi knew she’d need additional support.
To launch effectively she enlisted the help of Jennifer Huang, who was then working as an independent publicist at the Shipman Agency, a New York City–based speaking agency that also offers the services of literary agent Annie DeWitt and editorial consultant Mike Levine, as well as online writing workshops and craft seminars. (Huang, who is also a poet whose first book, , won the 2021 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry and was published by Milkweed Editions earlier this year, recently decided to leave publicity work for other opportunities; the Shipman Agency plans to hire another independent publicist.) Huang worked with Qi on review and interview coverage, event planning, bookstore outreach, and pitching essays related to the book to media outlets. Because publishing essays related to a forthcoming book can be an effective publicity strategy, Qi and Huang worked together to place essays that touched on the themes. Qi shared a list of ideas for essays, as well as essays she’d already drafted, and Huang helped her decide where to send the pieces she had already written and helped her draft pitches for others.
