Promotional Information

Galleys available: national mailing to key review/media outlets 4-5 months prior to publication.





National advertising: Poets & Writers, American Poets, the Academy of American Poets newsletter, Rain Taxi, and Redactions.



National print campaign: 100+ finished books will be mailed to key review outlets, specifically targeting Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, The LA Times, Poets & Writers Magazine, The Rumpus, Huffington Post Poetry, BookForum, LA Review of Books, PBS NewsHour, NPR, etc.




Outreach to blogs and online outlets for category features, including BuzzFeed, Bustle, Book Riot, etc. for such themes as rail travel, depression, Pacific Northwest writing, Rocky Mountain writing, etc.




Buy-ins to relevant academic conferences, trade shows, and publications: American Library Association Annual Meeting, CBSD Sales and Academic catalogs, etc.




Spring announcements will be submitted to Publishers Weekly.




Online/social media campaign: Extensive promotion through BOA's website and blog; Facebook (6,500+ contacts), Twitter (6,100 followers), Instagram (1,500+ followers), and Pinterest (550+ followers) accounts; print and e-postcards; print and e-materials; and print and e-catalogs.



Electronic book announcement postcards will be sent to Kai’s list of academic contacts, reviewer contacts, bookstore contacts, and literary bloggers.




Electronic newsletter feature will be emailed to BOA's database of 6,500+ contacts.



Ebook will be available at the same time as print publication to maximize sales. Ebook ISBN will be included on all press materials, author and publisher websites, and whenever print ISBN is listed. Publisher and author will be promoting both electronic and print editions via social media.




Kai will attend the AWP Conference 2018 in Tampa, FL, where he will have an author signing.




Kai is producing a series of poetry short films a la Beyoncé’s Lemonade to promote and supplement the book. He will film and edit the videos over the summer of 2017 and release the videos in spring 2018.




In addition to the short films, Kai is creating a series of photo essays to supplement the book.



Plans for a multi-city book tour across the Highline, the Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains, and elsewhere.




Possible joint readings and events with Kaveh Akbar (Alice James Books), William Brewer (Milkweed), Javier Zamora (Copper Canyon Press), Danez Smith (Graywolf),Sophie Klahr (YesYes Books), Hieu Minh Nguyen (Coffee House Press), Virginia Konchan (Carnegie Melon University Press), and sam sax (Penguin).




Promotion through the author's social media platforms and website.

About the Author

Kai Carlson-Wee is the author of Rail (BOA, 2018). He has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and his work has appeared in Ploughshares, Best New Poets, TriQuarterly, Gulf Coast, and The Missouri Review, which awarded him the 2013 Editor's Prize. His photography has been featured in Narrative Magazine and his poetry film, Riding the Highline, received jury awards at the 2015 Napa Valley Film Festival and the 2016 Arizona International Film Festival. With his brother Anders, he has co-authored two chapbooks, Mercy Songs (Diode Editions) and Two-Headed Boy (Organic Weapon Arts), winner of the 2015 Blair Prize. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow, he lives in San Francisco and is a lecturer at Stanford University.