The winner of the PPC third quarterly award was announced at our meeting at Foyles on Tuesday 21st November. Alice O’Keeffe from the Bookseller was judging the entries for this quarter. Winner: Elaine Egan for Hot Mess by Lucy Vine ‘Elaine’s campaign was a wonderful example of a publicist’s passion for a title publishing into the very crowded market of women’s commercial fiction. Elaine’s initial positioning of Hot Mess as Bridget Jones for the Tinder generation was clever, as was her self-designed Anti-Valentine’s Day package sent to individual journalists early on. She managed to secure reviews in practically every women’s magazine, and as a direct result the initial order at a major retailer was increased five-fold. The social media campaign was also inspired, with Orion staffers persuaded to share their own ‘Hot Mess’ moment. Elaine also tried to organise a series of events with a TOWIE author which, although it didn’t work out, was evidence of a publicist determined to track down every last opportunity. She has established Lucy Vine as an author to watch in this area. Really well done!’ Highly commended: Rebecca Thorne for Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Rennie Eddo-Lodge ‘A sensitively planned and executed campaign which positioned this polemical book from a debut author centre stage in the debate about race and racism in the UK.’ Congratulations to both Elaine and Rebecca.
