• National TV & RADIO CAMPAIGN: C-SPAN Book TV, Democracy Now!, NPR, Alternative Radio, Pacifica Network stations/shows, community and NPR affiliate radio stations around the U.S.
• PRINT CAMPAIGN: LA Times, NY Times, SF Chronicle, Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, New Republic, Wall St Journal, Chicago Tribune, and other major daily newspapers and magazines. We'll send to the trades: PW, Kirkus, Library Journal and Booklist.
• Author will write op-eds targeted to national newspapers.
• Will pursue first serial and excerpts.
• ONLINE/SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN: Will pursue review/excerpts/opeds on Shelf Awareness, Tomdispatch, Counterpunch, CommonDreams, and elsewhere
• Connecting with many of the activist booksellers involved in the "Boxed Out" campaign, who understand the importance of the U.S. Post to independent bookselling.
• These bookstores include Raven Bookstore (Lawrence, KS), Solid State (Washington, DC), Community Books (Brooklyn), Greenlight Bookstore (Brooklyn), McNally-Jackson (New York), Book Soup (Los Angeles), and Skylark Books (Columbia, MO)
• While we already have the American Postal Workers Union’s endorsement for the book, we will see how else we can collaborate to further spread the word about this work.
• We’ll also reach out to Danny Glover, whose “A Grand Alliance” campaign advocated for the Post Office.
• DC-based advocacy group Public Citizen has agreed to spread awareness about the book through its Twitter following of 440k and its print magazine, in which it plans to review the book.
• Working with Ralph Nader on the grassroots campaign to save the Post Office.
• Endorsements received from the American Postal Workers Union, Jim Hightower, Dean Baker, Lawrence C. Goodwyn, and Steve Hutkins.
• Also pursuing Danny Caine (Raven Bookstore), Philip F. Rubio, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jill Lepore, Sarah Smarch, Robert Weissman, and Congresspeople outspoken about their desire to save the Post Office, including Tammy Duckworth and Mondaire Jones.
• Creative marketing ideas include a "stamp" sticker to promote the book and a postcard.
• Events will include partnerships with groups who depend on the mail, such as artists and zine-makers.
• Social media campaign: creating memes for places like Twitter or Instagram for the advocacy groups and unions to circulate. Also there is a presence of postal workers on Tiktok which we'll attempt to utilize.

Investigating the essential role that the postal system plays in American democracy and how the corporate sector has attempted to destroy it.

"With First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, Christopher Shaw makes a brilliant case for polishing the USPS up and letting it shine in the 21st century."—John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation and author of Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis

"First Class is essential reading for all postal workers and for our allies who seek to defend and strengthen our public Postal Service."—Mark Dimondstein, President, American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO

The fight over the future of the U.S. Postal Service is on. For years, corporate interests and political ideologues have pushed to remake the USPS, turning it from a public institution into a private business—and now, with mail-in voting playing a key role in local, state, and federal elections, the attacks have escalated. Leadership at the USPS has been handed over to special interests whose plan for the future includes higher postage costs, slower delivery times, and fewer post offices, policies that will inevitably weaken this invaluable public service and source of employment.

Despite the general shift to digital communication, the vast majority of the American people—and small businesses—still rely heavily on the U.S. postal system, and many are rallying to defend it. First Class brings readers to the front lines of the struggle, explaining the various forces at work for and against a strong postal system, and presenting reasonable ideas for strengthening and expanding its capacity, services, and workforce. Emphasizing the essential role the USPS has played ever since Benjamin Franklin served as our first Postmaster General, author Christopher Shaw warns of the consequences for the country—and for our democracy—if we don’t win this fight.

Praise for First Class:

"Piece by piece, an essential national infrastructure is being dismantled without our consent. Shaw makes an eloquent case for why the post office is worth saving and why, for the sake of American democracy, it must be saved."—Steve Hutkins, founder/editor of Save the Post Office and Professor of English at New York University

"The USPS is essential for a democratic American society; thank goodness we have this new book from Christopher W. Shaw explaining why."—Danny Caine, author of Save the USPS and owner of the Raven Book Store, Lawrence, KS

"Shaw's excellent analysis of the Postal Service and its vital role in American Democracy couldn't be more timely. … First Class should serve as a clarion call for Americans to halt the dismantling and to, instead, preserve and enhance the institution that can bind the nation together."—Ruth Y. Goldway, Retired Chair and Commissioner, U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission, responsible for the Forever Stamps

"In a time of community fracture and corporate predation, Shaw argues, a first-class post office of the future can bring communities together and offer exploitation-free banking and other services."—Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen