Bruce Mason

Bruce Mason – Publicist

NYC-based publicity services for authors and publishers for over 20 years. Seeking to promote new authors whose voices deserve to be heard.

Overview

A highly motivated and seasoned publicist with over 20 years of extensive experience, I was recently a Director of Communications for Penguin Random House. Formerly the Director of Publicity for Miramax Books, I have worked in-house at HarperCollins, Henry Holt, and Overlook Press. Since branching out on my own a decade ago, I have handled a vast portfolio of client projects ranging from book publishing (Street Noise Books, Simon and Schuster, Blast Books) to the arts (BAM, The Onassis Foundation, This American Life) and non-profit (Heifer International, Aids Healthcare Foundation, Tiger Woods Foundation) to tech (Audible, On Story podcast, Serial).


I enjoy working closely with my clients as well as their agents, publishers and in-house marketing and publicity teams in order to optimize earned coverage and results. I offer full publicity services which encompass everything from messaging (i.e., press release, pitch letter, author Q&A) and press strategy (brainstorming pitch handles, timeline creation, identifying trend and current event tie-ins) to media outreach and the planning of relevant book events and exploring potential partnerships. I strongly feel that a good marketing and publicity campaign requires a team effort in which the author plays a vital role. I like to work for clients who are willing to actively participate in their book campaigns and who are also realistic about managing their expectations. For example, if an author expects to be on a national morning show program or wants their book to be made into a movie, I will not be able to meet those expectations if that person is a first-time author without a strong platform. It's important to find, identify, or target a book's audience through key assets: social media, websites, and other tools that can help to create a foundation through which to better target a book's audience.


I’ve learned what it takes to hit the campaign ground running and strive toward success and therefore make a concerted effort to work solely with clients and on campaigns whose work, content and stories inspire my own.





Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs LGBTQ Non-Fiction Photography Religion & Spirituality Travel
Fiction
Literary Fiction Science Fiction Young Adult
Certifications
  • New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) guest lecturer
  • NYU Masters in Publishing guest lecturer
  • New School guest lecturer

Work experience

Penguin Random House

Aug, 2022 — Aug, 2024 (about 2 years)

Penguin Random House Canada is the country’s largest book publisher and is part of Penguin Random House, the world's largest trade book publisher. Some of their celebrated and widely known imprints include Anchor Canada, Doubleday Canada, Knopf Canada, McClelland & Stewart, Penguin Canada, Penguin Teen, Random House Canada, Viking Canada, and Vintage Canada.

They publish over 500 new original titles per year in the North American market and distribute another 10,000 titles in Canada on behalf of Penguin Random House publishers in the U.S. and the U.K. and many clients. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with office locations in Mississauga, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Penguin Random House Canada is the literary home of world-renowned Canadian authors such as Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, Kim Thúy, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, David Chariandy, Dionne Brand, Richard Wagamese, and Chris Hadfield.

Self-employed

Jan, 2006 — Present

* Communications Strategist and Publicist for This American Life and the launch of its podcasts Serial and S-Town.

*Communications Consultant for the Ford Foundation and the regional screenings tour of HBO's Gideon's Army, a documentary which follows three public defenders working to give their clients the best representation while juggling hundreds of cases for little compensation.

*Press liaison for the annual PEN World Voices, 2010-present. PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect the freedom to write in the United States and worldwide.

*Hired to consult BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) regarding various campaigns including their 150th anniversary and The Next Wave Festival.

*Media consultant and Festival Publicist for the Onassis Foundation. Launched Narcissus Now, an inaugural 4-day festival of ideas + culture in the Fall of 2015 and last Spring's Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus season. Help to manage the client's partnerships with BAM, Carnegie Hall, the New York Review of Books, The New York Public Library, the Museum of the Moving Image, among others.

*Freelance Publicist for Planned Parenthood's 2017 launch of #IDEFY, a five-year effort to identify, train, and
mobilize young people to bring them into the Planned Parenthood family for affordable high quality health care, comprehensive sex education, and a lifetime of activism.

*Publicity Consultant for the Nation Institute's Ridenhour Prizes at National Press Club, DC (2009-10).

*Communications Consultant for Heifer International.

*Freelance Publicist for The Authors Guild Foundation. Press liaison for six successful annual black-tie benefits (i.e., May 2010 benefit at the Metropolitan Club which honored the work of New Yorker editor David Remnick, hosted by Garrison Keillor).

*Hired by the Museum of the City of New York and Phaidon Press to launch the 9/11 anniversary publication
Aftermath: The World Trade Center Archive. This campaign entailed a 20-city tour and launch event at the New
York Public Library.

Miramax Books, Penguin Putnam, Henry Holt, Harper Collins

Jan, 2000 — Jan, 2008 (about 8 years)

MIRAMAX BOOKS
Publicity Director who oversaw a staff of four. Oversaw budgets, marketing plans and presented titles at sales
conference. Drafted new acquisition memos, oversaw all press materials, and placed key column items.
Planned and executed over forty campaigns per year, event planning, scouting potential new projects, representing Miramax at appropriate functions and national media outreach. Coordinated high-profile book parties with Vanity Fair, Variety, Vogue, AMC, Daily News and Rolling Stone at high-end venues, i.e., Bungalow 8, Four Seasons, Lotus, Cipriani, and Le Cirque. Orchestrated and hosted various cross-pollinated events with Paramount, Disney, Hyperion for Kids, Variety, AMC and Food Network. Achieved five #1 New York Times bestsellers (Rudolph Giuliani's Leadership, Michael Chabon's Summerland, Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, Queen Noor's Leap of Faith and Tim Russert's Big Russ & Me) and twelve additional New York Times bestsellers (including titles by Arianna Huffington, Plum Sykes, Chris Rice, Felix
Dennis and Peter Bart).
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PENGUIN PUTNAM
Publicity Director of Penguin Putnam's Overlook Press imprint.
Oversaw publicity and marketing for a catalogue of 65+ books per year including literary fiction, history, biography, pop culture, film, and art books. Increased visibility of imprint through the launch of area ding series, literary salons and orchestrated several press luncheons. Developed partnerships with high-profile organizations, i.e., BBC and New Yorker to launch new titles.
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HENRY HOLT
Senior Publicist
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HARPER COLLINS
Publicist

Audible

Jun, 2017 — Dec, 2022 (over 5 years)

Strategized the launch of select podcast campaigns. Audible is a seller and producer of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming on the Internet. Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers. Through its production arm, Audible Studios, Audible has also become the world's largest producer of downloadable audiobooks.

Projects

Five Decembers

“Hard-as-nails mystery/suspense/noir set against a backdrop of war in the Pacific. One hell of a good story.” – Stephen King

“War, imprisonment, torture, romance…The novel has an almost operatic symmetry, and Kestrel turns a beautiful phrase.” –The New York Times, Best Mystery Novels of 2021

“Lyrical, violent, intelligent, breathtaking: this is an unforgettable book.” – Wall Street Journal

"A gripping, resonant neo-noir odyssey" -New York Magazine

"A great blend of crime, war, and history" -The New York Post

Book Description:
Five Decembers is a gripping thriller, a staggering portrait of war, and a heartbreaking love story, as unforgettable as All the Light We Cannot See.

December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever. Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn’t know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor.

This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it’s a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.

Serial (This American Life)

Serial is an investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, narrating a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. The series was co-created and is co-produced by Koenig and Julie Snyder and developed by This American Life. Season one investigated the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, an 18-year-old student at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore. Season two focused on Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, an American Army soldier who was held for five years by the Taliban, and then charged with desertion. Season three, which debuted in September 2018, explores cases within the Justice Center Complex in the Cleveland area. Serial ranked number one on iTunes even before its debut and remained there for several weeks. Serial won a Peabody Award in April 2015 for its innovative telling of a long-form nonfiction story. As of September 2018, episodes of seasons one and two have been downloaded over 340 million times, establishing an ongoing podcast world record.

Uneasy by Chris Buck

Uneasy is a book of Chris Buck’s portraits of the famous from 1986 to 2016. For three decades Buck has been carving out a unique space in the world of celebrity portraiture, capturing its ineffability - its danger, its oddness, its warped sense of reality.

White Fur by Jardine LiBaire

A stunning star-crossed love story set against the glitz and grit of 1980s New York City.
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PRAISE FOR WHITE FUR

“A fairy tale of love and class and money and death and New York City in the 1980's, as seen through eyes so new and so young that everything seems like magic all the time…What holds it together is ferocity — Libaire's elegant, incongruous, glitz-and-trash command of the language of youth and young love, and the uncompromising fire of her main characters as they drift and dash from page to page.”—NPR
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“Two barely-20-somethings from opposite sides of the tracks fall in frantic love amid the lush grit of New York City in the 1980s…The real strength of the novel is its Technicolor atmosphere: Libaire’s New York is a glittering whirlwind, raw and sweaty and intoxicating. A page-turning whirlwind steeped in pain and hope.” —Kirkus Reviews
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Writing with all the senses, Libaire demonstrates an ability to evoke vivid moods and places, drawing a stark and realistic depiction of ’80s Manhattan. She also succeeds at giving equal weight and attention to both her protagonists, elegantly toggling between their perspectives. The most lively, memorable, and convincing character in the novel is the setting itself. —Publishers Weekly
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“[The] setting is viscerally exposed and uniquely gritty, and Libaire’s meaty, brazen, Ferrari-fast sentences prop it up well.” —Booklist
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A sexy, literary love story...White Fur would merely be an excellent exploration of the power dynamic between two lovers if the prose weren't so evocative and the sex scenes so torrid. —Maris Kreizman, Vulture (New York Magazine)

The Butterfly Effect by Jon Ronson

Join bestselling author Jon Ronson as he traces an intriguing butterfly effect. Many years ago, a teenager in Brussels had an idea – make porn free and easy to stream online. The consequences of that idea are surprising, delightful, and sad. They reach into areas of life no one could have expected. In this series’ first episode, meet Fabian Thylmann – that teen from Brussels.

Street Noise Books

Hired to oversee the publicity and marketing for the launch of a new publishing company, Street Noise Books. An independent publishing company of nonfiction for young adults, with a focus on heavily illustrated, and graphic novel nonfiction will launch in the Spring of 2020. Street Noise Books will publish 6 titles in the first year, and then will publish 6-8 titles per year for the first few years. Its books will have a radical, intersectional feminist, queer, and inclusive vision, and seek to provide a platform for the voices of marginalized people. Employing the traditional publishing model and open to unagented submissions, Street Noise Books sees its role as discovering and publishing books that are best described by the company’s tag line, “unapologetic, authentic, and politically relevant”.

Portfolio

Adam Murphy wants to be a serious journalist. Unfortunately, he spends his days writing copy about underwear and abs for a gay lifestyle magazine. When a troubled young porn star brings him a tip about a recently deceased marine's secret visit to an infamous p... read more
For readers who adore Candace Bushnell, Tinsely Mortimer, and Lauren Weisberger comes New York Times bestselling author Plum Sykes’s sly and amusing satire—now back in print for its 10th anniversary in a gorgeous, eye-catching package, with a new foreword by t... read more
Brilliant, painful, dazzling, and funny as hell, Yellow Dog is Martin Amis’ highly anticipated first novel in seven years and a stunning return to the fictional form.When “dream husband” Xan Meo is vengefully assaulted in the garden of a London pub, he suffers... read more
A stunning debut; a Departures original publication. The ultimate survival story; a wild ride—the wildest—down a South American river in the thick of the Amazon Basin; a true and thrilling adventure of a young married couple who survive a plane crash only to l... read more
Founded 175 years ago, the National Library of Medicine is the world’s largest medical library, with more than 17 million items dating from the 11th century to the present in its holdings. Today it is home to a rich worldwide heritage of objects, from the rare... read more
In the course of one nine-month period, filmmaker Mark Millhone's youngest son nearly died from birth complications, his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, his mother had a heart attack and passed away, a freak illness claimed the life of one of his fr... read more
Tennyson

Lesley M. M. Blume

It’s 1932, the Depression. Things are evening out among people everywhere. Tennyson Fontaine and her sister Hattie live in a rickety shack of a house with their mother and father and their wild dog, Jos. There is no school, only a rope swing in the living room... read more
She lived and worked for two years in the Gaza strip, often in Islamic dress, once beaten bloody by Hamas. For several terrifying days in Somalia she was pinned down by sniper fire on the way to her hotel. She careened across the snowy Tien-Shen Mountains with... read more
Over the course of three days in 1970, June 5, 6, and 7, simply sitting on a white bench in a Hamburg park, Thomas Bernhard delivered a powerful monologue for Three Days (Drei Tage), filmmaker Ferry Radax’s commanding film portrait of the great Austrian writer... read more
A lush and profusely illustrated history of the country's oldest performing arts center. BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) is at once the oldest performing arts center in the country and a renowned nexus for contemporary global and local culture. From its openin... read more
"Aftermath is a testament to the heroism and compassion that were so much a part of the recovery effort at ground zero. Joel?s work and dedication presented on the pages of this book is for every American, as a tribute and historical record ensuring 9/11 is ne... read more
#1 National BestsellerFrom two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and S... read more
2017: A Novel

Olga Slavnikova

Professor Anfilogov, a wealthy and emotionless man, sets out on an expedition to unearth priceless rubies that no one else has been able to locate. His expedition reveals ugly truths about man’s disregard for nature and the disasters created by insatiable gree... read more
A funny and intimate portrait of a relationshipgleaned from the author and his fianceé’s couple’s therapy sessions. After roughly three-and-a-half years of dating his girlfriend Hilly, New York Observer nightlife and society reporter George Gurley decided that... read more
Here Kitty Kitty

Jardine Libaire

An intoxicating, stunning story of self-destruction and redemption set against the vibrantly painted underworld of New York City, from the critically acclaimed author of White Fur. Lee, hedonistic yet earnest, is on the cusp of a breakdown. Her wild nights out... read more
Every year people watch in shock as homes are destroyed and communities devastated by natural disasters. As the media arrives, the information that is reported is mainly statistical. The horror of living through and recovering from the experience is rarely tol... read more
Written for the growing number of people wishing to free themselves of mild, moderate, or severe stress, STRESS PANDEMIC outlines a practical, effective and proven approach to achieving complete wellness and longevity. Paul Huljich offers a comprehensive lifes... read more
The Company

Robert Littell

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times called it "a perfect little gem, the best Cold War thriller I've read in years," and the praise kept coming with critics hailing Littell as "the American Le Carré" (New York Times) and raving that his books were ... read more
Suspense, excess, danger, and exuberant fun come together in Chuck Barris's unlikely autobiography- the tale of a wildly amboyant '70s television producer nationally known as the host of The Gong Show. What most people don't know is that Barris also spent clos... read more
The groundbreaking novel that inspired the Tony-nominated Broadway musical! Jeremy Heere is your average high school dork. Day after day, he stares at beautiful Christine, the girl he can never have, and dryly notes the small humiliations that come his way. Un... read more
Summerland: A Novel

Michael Chabon

From the Pulitzer Prize winning Michael Chabon comes this bestselling novel for readers of all ages that blends fantasy and folklore with that most American coming-of-age ritual: baseball—now in a new edition, with an original introduction by the author.Ethan ... read more
Madam Secretary: A Memoir

Madeleine Albright

A national bestseller on its original publication in 2003, Madam Secretary is a riveting account of the life of America's first woman Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. For eight years, during Bill Clinton's two presidential terms, Albright was a high-lev... read more
From the 1950s to the 1980s, American corporations commissioned a vast array of lavish, Broadway-style musical shows that were only for the eyes and ears of employees. These improbable productions were meant to educate and motivate the sales force to sell cars... read more
This is the first reference book to provide a detailed assessment of the Affordable Care Act, explaining the realities and myths surrounding one of the most divisive political struggles in recent U.S. history.• Uses nonpartisan sources of information that incl... read more
“Brimming, addictive . . . In Everybody Behaves Badly, the party has just begun and the taste of fame is still ripe . . . The Lost Generation [is] restored to reckless youth in living black and white.” — James Wolcott, Vanity Fair “An essential book . . . a pa... read more
BAM: Next Wave Festival

Joseph V. Melillo

Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, founded in 1983 by impresario Harvey Lichtenstein, gathered performances in which genres mixed and traditions were upended. Events held in downtown lofts were given larger venues at BAM. Choreographers, directors... read more
Uneasy is a book of Chris Buck's portraits of the famous, with 338 color and black-and-white photographs, from 1986 to 2016. For three decades Buck has been carving out a unique space in the world of celebrity portraiture, capturing its ineffability--its dange... read more
Political analyst and Democratic campaign veteran Mark Hannah and renowned New Yorker illustrator Bob Staake give Barack Obama the victory lap he deserves in this compendium that takes the president’s critics head-on and celebrates the president’s many underap... read more
A Man. A Mission. GREENPEACE CAPTAIN PETER WILLCOX has been a Captain for Greenpeace for over 30 years. He would never call himself a hero, but he is recognized on every ocean and continent for devoting his entire life to saving the planet. He has led the most... read more
“Like Wave Hill itself, these pages make an indelible impression—wildly intimate, possibility-laden, provocative—leaving me wide awake and hungry for a visit.” —Margaret Roach, author of A Way to Garden Wave Hill, a world-renowned public garden in the Bronx, b... read more
White Fur: A Novel

Jardine Libaire

Amazon Best Book / Literature + FictionBarnes & Noble Discover PickHuffington Post “Great New Books” for Summer 2017Vulture’s 10 Summer Reads Kirkus’s 11 Thrillers for Summer 2017 New York Magazine’s Things to Do June 2017A stunning star-crossed love story set... read more

Bruce has 6 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Naomi A.

Naomi A.

Apr, 2022

Pinned
First time author here! I self published using Bookbaby and wanted to give PR a try. Bruce was recommended to me by my UK publicist to cover the US territory and I am so pleased with the results! He did an introductory call with me to understand my book's goals and my background and constructed a strategy in real-time over the phone. I have a career in augmented reality so he used that as a...
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Alan S.

Alan S.

Feb, 2021

Pinned
Bruce is doing an amazing job. He takes charge, knows what needs to be done, then gets it done. He fits in well with our team. Everyone on the team likes and respects him and his work.
Bruce M.
It's been an absolute pleasure working with Alan. I feel both gratitude and honored to be helping him share his work and mission. He's brought together a wonderful and energizing team of souls whos...
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Ban M.

Ban M.

Mar, 2020

Pinned
Bruce worked hard to bring me exposure to every relevant media outlet and platform. I was happy to learn that he had personal contacts with many editors. He helped me guide my own efforts in every possible way. His professionalism and courtesy were admirable. The final outcomes were limited by my own prior clout, and by ill-timing of the book release, but his contribution to the exposure of m...
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Barbara Wade R.

Barbara Wade R.

Dec, 2021

We had a month-long contract. Our collaboration started extremely well. Bruce worked hard sending out ideas, following them up and getting back to me. After two weeks follow-ups petered out. I asked what was going on and he sent a pro forma letter about how to promote myself. Then communication ended. The last two weeks of the contract there was nothing. l have no reply to my last email. I am v...
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Victor A.

Victor A.

Jun, 2020

When I collaborated with Mr. Mason I wasn’t expecting to be placed on the New York Times best seller list. However, he did do three things: one, he was paid three thousand dollars; two, I got nothing from that sum; three, I got only lip service, and excuses and nothing more. I was completely disappointed for a person with his credentials.

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