Authors In The Media With Benjamin Wallace

It makes me so excited when authors come and return to Behind The Book Q&A’s discussing authors’ new releases as well as Authors In The Media Q&As discussing what authors do (or used to do) outside of writing books. Benjamin Wallace who had released his new book The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto, has returned for this Authors In The Media Q&A to discuss his career as a features writer at New York Magazine & contributing editor at Vanity Fair & executive editor at Philadelphia.  Benjamin has also written for publications Wired, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Washington Post.

Q: Benjamin, welcome back to Book Notions! What drew you into writing & editing? 

A: At least as far back as 8^th grade, I had in my mind that I wanted to be a writer. I wasn’t sure what kind, but I worked for my high school newspaper all four years, and then wrote for a college magazine, and after moving to New York, the only jobs I applied for were with magazines and newspapers. They seemed like the one clear way to earn a salary for writing. 

Q: Before becoming a writer for New York Magazine and contributing editor at Vanity Fair and executive editor at Philadelphia, did you have to go to college first? Or did you apply for those jobs after graduating high school? 

A: After graduating from college, I taught English in Czechoslovakia and started writing articles for The Prague Post and The European, which at the time was kind of the USA Today of Europe. When I moved back to New York, I worked for some trade publications, as a reporter at Magazine Week, on the business of magazines; and after that at Corporate Control Alert, about mergers and acquisitions. None of this seemed to be leading in the direction I wanted, which was to write for magazines of the sort I loved reading. At the time, city/regional magazines like Texas Monthly and Philadelphia were localized versions of national general-interest magazines where young writers got lots of opportunities to write and to learn the craft, and which served as feeders for national magazines. So, I cold-contacted Philadelphia and ended up getting a fact-checking job there. It meant taking a 55% pay cut, as well as a cut in responsibility, but I got to do the kind of work I wanted to do, and I stayed there ten years, eventually becoming executive editor. Later, after I’d published my first book (The Billionaire’s Vinegar) and moved to New York, I started freelancing for New York and then Vanity Fair and eventually worked my way onto the masthead at each place.

Q: We briefly touched on your writing and editing career in our regular Q&A. Here is some of what you wrote So, it was truly a dream fulfilled to get to write for editors and alongside writers whose work I’d admired for so long, to write for these legendary general-interest magazines about a vast range of topics (Guantanamo Bay, Kim Kardashian, you name it), and to make a living doing it. What were your favorite topics to write about at New York Magazine? 

A: Profiling Larry David was a joy; he is inescapably himself, so spending time with him was exactly as you’d imagine (the only difference being that he’s very nice). A ten-year treasure hunt in the Rockies, which took some crazy turns, was the kind of story that the magazine could easily have skipped, and didn’t, so I was grateful for New York’s wide conception of what the magazine can be. Writing about the bankruptcy of Relativity, a film studio with a Barnumesque leader that absurdly promised to bring mathematical rigor to choosing what movies to make, was fun.

Q: What were your favorite articles that you contributed to Vanity Fair? What was your favorite part about being a contributing editor at Vanity Fair? 

A: My favorite of the pieces I wrote for Vanity Fair was about National Lampoon, which had been the comedy phenomenon of the 1970s; graduates of its magazine and shows went on to staff Saturday Night Live and make movies like Animal House and Pretty in Pink and Trading Places and Old School. It was an iconic comedy institution and brand. But ever since its glory days, a series of entrepreneurs had tried and failed to recapture the magic, while driving its reputation into the ground by licensing the name to dozens of horrible movies (e.g., National Lampoon’s Attack of the 5’2” Women). Two CEOs in succession were sentenced to prison for financial malfeasance. A new CEO was making yet another doomed attempt to revive the brand. The whole thing was darkly comic, with a cast of characters that included the rapper Ludacris and Bridget the Midget, a porn star, and would have lent itself to a movie titled National Lampoon’s National Lampoon. The magazine ran the story at, as I recall, more than 10,000 words; Vanity Fair was one of only a tiny number of places that would do that.

Q: What was your role of being executive editor at Philadelphia? What was your favorite part of being executive editor at Philadelphia?

A: I was executive editor for three years. It was the #2 job there, so I was assisting the editor with everything from hiring to assigning to issue-planning to “packaging” (working on the look, mix, etc, of each issue) as well as working with writers and editing their stories. I enjoyed the variety, and the ability to suggest ideas that I didn’t need to act on myself. As a writer, the work part of me is on a rollercoaster: When the story’s going well, I’m up, and when the story’s not going well, I’m down. As an editor, having responsibility for lots of little things instead of one big thing lets me sleep better at night and generally have more equanimity.

Q: Congratulations on having your work featured in Wired, The Wall Street Journal, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Washington Post! Does it feel surreal knowing you have written work in famous publications? What advice would you have for anyone wanting to submit pieces to those publications? 

A: I can’t speak to those particular publications, because it’s been a while since I wrote for any of them, but whatever publication you want to write for, you should pitch specific ideas to them, and you should do a lot of groundwork before approaching them. You need to have a sense of why this story, why for this publication, why now, why me. You need to check whether the publication, or its close rivals, has published the same or a very similar story recently. And you should have a sense of what kinds of stories the publication tends to assign to freelancers versus those they assign to staffers. Where are the gaps in their coverage? That’s where there may be an opportunity for you.

Q: What wisdom have you learned over the years that you hope anyone wanting to write for a magazine or being an editor would know while pursuing both as a career?

A: As a writer, follow your interests. They are most likely to lead you to the stories you’re most suited to tell. And/or: If you’re set on working for a particular place, take any opportunity to get your foot in the door; it’s much easier to work towards your other goals from inside.

Q: Would you ever write a nonfiction book about writing for New York Magazine & being a contributing editor to Vanity Fair & executive editor at Philadelphia? I know I will read it. I did enjoy The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto. Then again, I think I would enjoy any book you write after.

A. Well, thank you. Would I write that book? I’d have to feel like I had something new to say, a story that I was uniquely positioned to tell, and that people would be interested in hearing. And there are many other people who’d be better at that. Vanity Fair has already yielded at least two great memoirs: Dilettante, by Dana Brown, my former editor; and When the Going Was Good, by Graydon Carter.