PARTNER


DESCRIPTION


  on a regular basis.


PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR DREW JERRISON


THE SHORTLIST


Jess Barratt & Rebecca McCarthy SIMON & SCHUSTER


Harriet Dunlea SCHOLASTIC


Jo Hardacre & Amber Ivatt


MACMILLAN CHILDRENS BOOKS


Drew Jerrison PROFILE BOOKS


Katarina Jovanovic USBORNE


Sabah Khan SIMON & SCHUSTER


Alice King EBURY


Virginia Woolstencroft ORION


T


he nine campaigns on this shortlist were all winners at the Publishers’ Publicity Circle’s annual awards. From that impressive range it is the superb


work by Profile Books publicity manager Drew Jerrison on Torrey Peters’ Detransition, Baby that secures the overall prize. (His work on Catriona Ward’s The Last House on Needless Street was also shortlisted, see left.) Jerrison’s campaign for Peters stood apart


for its positioning, exceptional author care and agility. It stretched all the way from the acquisition announcement in mid-2020 to book-of-the-year picks in December 2021, and secured review and feature space that far exceeded what might be expected for a début author. It also anticipated the need to carefully plan the exposure of a trans author, and targeted platforms and journalists who would understand the issues raised in Detransition, Baby.


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Where Jerrison really excelled was in the deft


handling of a torrent of transphobic abuse directed at Peters when the book was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize in March. Within hours, messages of support and book giveaways had drowned out the negative noise on social media, turning the positivity into a story of its own and leading to a spike in sales. Peters went on to be one of the most talked-about début authors of 2021, and Detransition, Baby enjoyed multiple reprints. But by showing how to beat social media abuse and opening the door for other trans writers, the value of the campaign goes beyond a single book. “A mindblowing campaign—a masterclass


in planning and responsiveness,” the judges said. “So many things could have gone wrong or caused harm, but Drew stayed calm and turned everything to the book’s advantage… It’s a campaign to show any publicist who wants to know what author care means.”


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