Welcome to Pine State.
Pine State Publicity is a full service publicity firm launched in 2022 by Cassie Mannes Murray.
After years in the publishing industry across every field, Cassie decided to join those skills to create a company that supports writers and publishers who may seem traditionally peripheral in the larger publishing landscape. Whether that be poets, hybrid writers, genre-benders, chapbooks, small press, and Indie publishers, or mid-list authors at the trade houses, Cassie looks to promote fresh voices, cross-genre work, and artists at their debut and/or the height of their skills.
As a publicist for Bull City Press and previously Mind Buck Media, former literary agent at Howland Literary and Triangle House, a graphic and book designer for Ecotone Magazine and Lookout Books, an editor for Raleigh Review, a current Board Member for the North Carolina Writers Network, Lookout Books and Swing Magazine, and a writer with an MFA in creative nonfiction, Cassie understands both the granular view and 30,000 foot view of publishing. She is inherently interested in transparency, accessibility, and community building in her relationships with clients, and as a place to begin the promotion of a book or publishing project.
Cassie got her start in publicity doing marketing in-house for an independent press and a national literary magazine. During her time there she designed and branded an 1000+ person writing conference, designed advertisements, promotional swag, posters, social media assets, wrote copy and blog posts, and pitched and handled scheduling for national media outlets.
In 2022, Cassie decided to launch Pine State Publicity after seeing a gap in press visibility for independent books and small press authors. She believes publicity can be innovative and affordable at once. While her day-to-day as a literary agent was very much associated with the sales side of publishing, her heart and soul is in the fiery hunger and fierce possibility of independent publishers and striving writers. She’s hoping to work with authors and publishers who are passionate about books that may seem quirky, weird, or stylistically and thematically outside the box, to help harness their communities and grow their audiences.
Cassie is also a working mom and married to an incredible public school teacher. Part of her drive and tenaciousness is directly influenced by these two facets of her life.
Zoe-Aline Howard who has worked as an assistant and acquiring co-agent at Howland Literary, on publicity and marketing teams for current and backlist projects at Lookout Books, and holds a BFA and Publishing Certificate from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Through each of these and her own writing, Zoe has garnered an eye for those interdisciplinary, lyrical, quiet books that demand more space in publishing. In every book she works on, her largest goal is to find those niche and wider spaces where the voice of a project can truly be heard.
Alisha Gorder has built a career supporting small press authors. Formerly Publicity Manager at Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull Press, she loves to work across genres and on books that resist easy classification. As a memoir writer, she holds a soft spot for narrative nonfiction, and as a sometimes florist, she is also interested in books that center the natural world. Whether she is helping break out a debut or finding new readers for an already beloved writer, she is deeply invested in ensuring that every book she takes on finds the largest possible reach.
Check out our books
Since launching in 2022
Pine State books & authors have been featured in…
NY Times, Good Morning America, The Atlantic, TIME, Orion Magazine, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Boston Globe, The Millions, Publisher’s Weekly, Shondaland, The Rumpus, Romper, Library Journal, Salon, Insider, People Magazine, Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Nylon, Bustle, Wired, Chicago Review of Books, NBC News, Newsday, Scalawag, Columbia Daily Tribune, Poets & Writers, Full Stop, New City Lit, Shelf Life, Tupelo Quarterly, Bronx Literary Project, Feminist Book Club, been SPD bestsellers, been named to the First Partner’s Summer Book Club and Zibby Book Club, received shoutouts from Pen America and The New Museum, and donned starred reviews from Kirkus, Horn Book, Booklist and Publishers Weekly.
Our authors have been featured on the #1 Podcast in Texas: Lone Star Plate, Zibby Books, NPR, Book Public, MPR, WNYC, KQED, MPR, I’m A Writer But, Anthrodish, Thresholds, The Slowdown, Ledger, Reckon Interview, Take on the South, Poetry Spotlight, Deep South, Daily Yonder, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read, Inside Appalachia, The Lives of Writers, The Novel Queers, and we’ve collaborated with places like The Strand, Yu & Me Books, Powell’s, P&T Knitwear, Joseph-Beth Books, Stephenson Center for Appalachia, Poets House, Union Avenue Books, Skylight Books, Theodore’s, Southern Festival of Books, Open Book Festival, Parnassus, Elliot Bay Books, and Hugo House to put on dynamic events.
Pine State authors have also been awarded Foreword Indie Book Awards, Ohioana Award finalists, Writers’ League of Texas finalists, and won the 2023 Poetry Society of Virginia North American Book Award.
Featured coverage
Hear from clients
“Working with Cassie Mannes Murray at Pine State Publicity was like having a dedicated cheerleader who not only believed in my second book of poetry, but also believed in me as the writer of the book and in my ability to champion both the collection and its convictions. If I thought a venue or publication was too out-of-reach for me, Cassie believed it was possible. If I didn’t think I had a companion piece or essay in me, Cassie assured me that I did. Every time I started spiraling or doubting myself or my book, Cassie was an unwavering voice of confidence, and honestly, while I’m eternally grateful for the admittedly impressive, glossy places she was able to take my book, I valued her genuine enthusiasm the most. This enthusiasm also showed up in Cassie’s clear vision for who my ideal readers would be, and Cassie helped me to find and connect with these readers and editors and interviewers. Cassie worked tirelessly to promote my book, but more than that, she showed me how I could also do more to promote the book myself. I didn’t have an independent publicist for my first book, and as I researched publicists for this one, I felt discouraged by how expensive and dehumanizing the entire process felt. I love that Pine State Publicity was affordable enough for me to tell all my poet friends about it. And damn, did it keep me sane to have Cassie in my corner during those thrilling yet chaotic months we call book launch season.”
—Eugenia Leigh, author of Bianca (Four Way Books)
“I would work with Pine State Publicity again. My situation was a strange one: my small press is self-distributing and any promotional activity had to happen post-publication (due to production timelines). Cassie and Zoe at Pine State managed my expectations at first, but they demonstrated their commitment to my book unwaveringly throughout our partnership. Ultimately, they delivered results beyond what I could have imagined. Without Pine State, my book would have been invisible among a sea of poetry books—which would have been disheartening since my book took fourteen years to complete. I’m grateful to Pine State for helping me celebrate my book and connecting me to other readers. Working with Pine State was an absolute pleasure.”
—Rosanna Young Oh, author of The Corrected Version (Diode Editions)
“Pine State Publicity is an absolute dream to work with. Cassie is the sweetest force of nature--her enthusiasm is genuine and inspiring, and has led to true, deep relationships within the literary community. She not only opened so many doors for me; she also kept me feeling positive and supported during book release, a time that can often be so anxiety-producing and fraught. Her press releases and social media postings are beautifully crafted, both in word choice (she's an amazing writer) and in graphic design, and I love how many writers I've learned about through her. Cassie's publicity work is all about connection--helping writers find readers who will resonate with their work, helping readers find books that will be most nourishing for them, helping writers connect with one another--and I'm so grateful for the connections she's made for me and my book. Thanks to Cassie, my world feels both wider and kinder, and that's a tremendous gift, indeed.
—Gayle Brandeis, author of Drawing Breath, Essays on Writing, the Body, and Loss
“"After doing all of my own PR for my first three books, working with Pine State has been one of the best decisions I've made in my 20+ years of writing and publishing. Because of Zoe, I've had opportunities that I wouldn't have had promoting the book on my own. I'm beyond grateful for all of Zoe's advocacy and support and can't imagine going back to doing promotion on my own again."
—Jenny Sadre-Orafai, author of Dear Outsiders
“Working with Cassie has been such a pleasure. I'm a shy poet who often feels anxious about self-promotion. But Cassie's imagination, diligence, and sticktoitiveness when it came to marketing my newest book of creative nonfiction was so inspiring to watch. I know she got Taste: A Book of Small Bites into the hands of readers who might not have encountered it otherwise. I had such a great experience collaborating with Cassie that I've already asked her to be my publicist for my next collection of essays!”
—Jehanne Dubrow, author of none books of poetry collections and two nonfiction books (with more on the way)
“Can’t bury the lede: Pine State Publicity is the best investment a small press author can make! I lovingly placed my debut book, Curing Season, with a university press but as a small press publisher myself, I intuitively understood a smaller press’s strengths and also their limitations. And my own! A debut essay collection filled with experimental forms? Not exactly NYT-best-seller material. I needed an independent publicist who would suggest my book to the places I shrank from approaching myself, and Cassie/Pine State Publicity exceeded my wildest dreams, elevating my book’s reach and honestly giving me more confidence as an author that my book COULD hang with the big dogs!”
—Kristine Langley Mahler, author of Curing Season