Within the midtown Manhattan places of work of Hearst Tower, surrounded by the acquainted chaos of print manufacturing — stacks of again points, proof pages scattered throughout the desk, the fixed hum of editorial collaboration — Michael Sebastian presides over certainly one of America’s most iconic magazines. With a twist.
At 44, the editor in chief of Esquire represents one thing of a paradox: a digital native who got here up by means of the ranks of on-line journalism, now stewarding a 92-year-old print publication (and its numerous digital merchandise) that lately notched the business’s loftiest honors.
This spring, Esquire picked up each the Pulitzer Prize for Function Writing — awarded to journalist Mark Warren for his article, “Demise of a Small-City Pastor,” a few small-town minister and mayor who died by suicide after his secret on-line life was uncovered — and the Nationwide Journal Award for Basic Excellence. For Sebastian, the awards are the validation of a philosophy that bridges outdated and new media — that nice storytelling transcends format, and that heritage manufacturers can thrive within the digital age with out abandoning their print DNA.
Sebastian joined Esquire eight years in the past as digital director, after operating digital information operations for the journal’s mother or father Hearst Magazines, contributing content material to the web sites of 18 titles that additionally embody Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and City & Nation.
But taking cost of Esquire was a singular problem: modernizing a media establishment with out shedding what made it iconic. The system for that, he’s realized, lies not in selecting between print and digital however in making them work collectively, inextricably linked elements of a model ecosystem.
WorkLife sat down with Sebastian to speak about what the everyday workday of {a magazine} editor seems to be like now, the intersection of legacy media and digital innovation (together with, naturally, the onslaught of AI), and what it takes to maintain a heritage model culturally related in an age of infinite content material.
You come from a digital background and now you’re additionally operating a print journal. How has that perspective formed your method to Esquire?
I prefer to say that our digital manifestation — and I don’t simply imply the web site anymore; clearly, it’s all of those channels — is the beating coronary heart of the model, however the print journal is the soul of the model. It’s additionally the flagship retailer on Fifth Avenue. We’d like that as a result of it differentiates us from an Instagram account or an internet site. Our viewers likes it, the subscriber numbers stay robust, writers like to be in print, photographers like to see their stuff in print, and celebrities prefer to see themselves in print.
How do these platforms work collectively strategically?
All of these items gas one another. Once we ebook a star for a canopy, the thought is all the time: How is that this going to carry out within the digital setting? 5 years in the past, it was about web site site visitors. That is still necessary, however it’s additionally about engagement on Instagram, what sort of video we will produce that’s going to dwell on TikTok and YouTube. Print now serves digital very a lot, however when you don’t deal with print like a bespoke product, readers and advertisers will acknowledge that.
What does the everyday workday appear like for {a magazine} editor now versus the previous?
There are far fewer martinis within the afternoon! However significantly, no two days are the identical. I oversee the model — setting technique, ensuring we’re executing on all the pieces from a giant function story to what we’re publishing on Instagram. I might be having lunch with an advertiser, assembly with the staff about tales, however I additionally prefer to dip into the weeds. Yesterday I frolicked reviewing digital headlines for all of the celeb profiles in our “Mavericks of Hollywood” bundle [the subject of Esquire’s September cover, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio], tweaking these with an editor. Perhaps that’s beneath my pay grade, however I feel it’s necessary.
Describe your individual day.
In the course of the college yr, I’ve the early shift with my children — I’ve a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old — so I’m making breakfast, getting them dressed, getting them to the bus. Then I’m within the workplace between 9 and 10, staying till 7 or 8. There’s nonetheless loads of journey — [Esquire creative director] Nick [Sullivan] and I’m going to Florence, Milan and Paris for the [fashion] reveals in June and January, so I’m gone most of these months.
How is AI altering journal publishing?
We have now entry to enterprise ChatGPT and inner editorial tips, however we’re not utilizing AI to create content material. There’s a quote I like: “I don’t need AI to jot down and make artwork for me. I need AI to do my dishes and my laundry so I can have extra time to make literature and artwork.” That’s precisely how we’ve approached this. How can we use instruments to unencumber writers, editors, photographers, designers to allow them to do what they’re most expert at and enthusiastic about?
I take advantage of it for analysis when making ready for interviews, or to floor issues from our digital archive. However AI can’t report a narrative. It could’t go to the Bowery Resort bar and paint a scene. It could’t substitute style or expertise. When Mark Warren writes about individuals who have misplaced somebody they love, AI hasn’t had its coronary heart damaged or been in love.
How has the tempo of change generally affected journal work?
The tempo of change that after lasted many years, then years, now appears to occur day by day or weekly. You must be as much as that problem to work right here — and you must find it irresistible like an ER physician loves it, since you’re going to be thrown curve balls daily. For those who simply need to do what occurred 30 years in the past, it’s not going to work. However you probably have that keenness in your stomach, it’s an incredible job.
Why are you assured about the way forward for magazines?
Esquire is a Tiffany model. It’s been round for 92 years, survived the Nice Melancholy, World Warfare II, the upheaval of the ’60s, the good recession, the pandemic. There’s loads of grit in our blood. Essentially the most venerable manufacturers — Esquire, Vogue, GQ, Cosmo — they’re all nonetheless right here and vibrant. They discovered how one can do it. And the tradition has modified the place now younger manufacturers try to appear outdated, creating typefaces to make it appear to be they’ve been round for 92 years. It’s actually good to be a heritage model proper now.
