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[Agency] Fox Mason (Ben Mason)

Miss Plum

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Does anyone have additional info, sixth sense, whatever, about this new agency, headed by Ben Mason? Publishers Marketplace shows a respectable record when he was at Conville & Walsh, which included both fic and non-fic sales. He negotiated a preempt to Simon & Schuster in his first few days as an independent.

http://foxmason.com/fox/fox_mason.html
 

CaoPaux

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He's got the chops, certainly.
 

aruna

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He replied to my submission yesterday... about an hour after I queried (with partial) ... and told me my name rang a bell, and wasn't I once repped by ****. I replied that it was true; I was at one of his former employers. He's been at quite a few top UK agencies and he seems to be just up my street. His agency only opened two months ago so fingers crossed.
 
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Miss Plum

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He requested my graphic novel and said No thanks -- liked the artwork but not the dialogue.
 

kenaipi

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Ben's assistant, Elisabeth Kershaw, requested a partial from a query, then a day later wanted the whole thing. I'm waiting to see what happens.

genre: crime/mystery
 

Glen T. Brock

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Hello folks,

I looked over Ben Mason's web site and decided to try him out myself. I sent a query for WHITE CAMELLIA, my 19th century thriller about an assasination plot against William Tecumseh Sherman and got a reply less than a day after requesting the first fifty pages. I've got my fingers crossed.

Glen T. Brock
 

CTaft

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Just got a full request from Ms. Kershaw. My novel is a horse racing themed thriller. Turn around time was a month from first fifty pages.
 

ArsProsa

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I read about "Black Mamba Boy" somewhere, probably The Guardian, and thought that whoever represented that novel might be interested in mine due to a similarity in themes, audience, and so on. I found out it was Ben Mason and queried him in August, with the first 5 chapters attached. I got a response exactly one month later stating that he enjoyed what I've sent him and requesting the full manuscript.

It's been more than two months since I sent him the full, is it too soon for a polite follow-up email?
Should I simply assume he's not interested?
 

waylander

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Standard procedure is to allow 3 months before querying on requested material. If you get no reply send a very polite status update once a month until you get a reply.
Did he acknowledge receipt of your manuscript?
I would never assume someone who requested a full manuscript was not interested. It is far more likely that the affairs of his existing clients ate his available time and he hasn't got to it yet.
 

aruna

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My update: I got a rejection form his assistant. It was a memoir; she mentioned the title and called it "your novel". It does begin a bit like a novel with a rather unusual and dramatic situation, so I was left wondering -- did she think it was a frst-person novel? I'd told him it was a memoir in the query, but if she read it, not him, she might not have realised that.
 

Doobie Cantrip

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That seems to be a pretty resounding no!

Should that be a concern?
 

CaoPaux

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Not at all; AW demographics are such that his tastes and location don't make him a frequent target. :) Here's mention in The Bookseller of a couple recent sales, FWIW.
 

Phyllo

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I queried with 50 pp. on Dec. 15/2010 on mainstream/lit. novel and received a rejection Feb. 2/11 with a note that read:

"While we felt the manuscript was competently written, we felt as though the concept was not as intriguing as we had hoped to see."

Don't know if that helps you at all (can't say it helped me much - LOL), but they seem unfailingly polite and a month and a half over the holiday season on 50 pp. is more than fair.

Good luck.
 

Project Deadlight

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Had a nice personal from Ben saying the writing was good but the narrative was not to his personal taste, stressing the last part. Was a quickish turnaround for first three chapters, around 2 months.
 

galacticlooloo

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Ben Fox Mason

Mr. Mason took me on after reading a chunk of my work, then suggested I try and write in the style of a best-selling US novelist (for obvious reasons). You - nor I - can write like someone else. Such advice is meaningless and for an agent with a psychology degree, disappointing. This initial advice was followed by a confusing array of 'pointers' that ultimately left me bewildered. He had not been long at Sheil Land at the time and very quickly moved to Conville and Walsh (asking if he could take me with him). I agreed, but soon after this we parted company. Not much later I learned that he had left Conville too. I did not 'get him' and he certainly did not get me...
 

CaoPaux

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In '15, Mr. Mason retired and passed his client list to Johnson & Alcock.