Q&A with editor Blaise Zerega from Alta magazine
Yesenia Zuniga
"The world should know what's happening in the West Coast. Ideas start here."
Blaise Zerega is the managing editor of Alta Magazine. He spends his workdays editing, filtering out content for the next issue, and spending one-on-one time with the latest magazine contributor. Zerega enjoys making the next edition for Alta and finding those passionate about California's culture.
Q: What is Alta? Who is it made for?
A: "Alta is a quarterly journal devoted to arts and culture in California and the West. It's broadly defined. Yes, arts means performing, books fine art and music, so on. Its culture — technology science, outdoors, nature, the environment. It's also Hollywood! It's avocado toast and Silicon valley.
It's a passion project and we're in year five. We thought, why isn't there a New Yorker on the West Coast? That's what we're going for. Covering arts and culture told from the perspective of someone in California. That's our thesis.
We go East sometimes, in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, take a big lazy left into Texas if the story's right."
Q: What is the biggest difference between print and online writing?
A: "In the days of the glossies in magazine land a senior editor would work with half a dozen editors, line by line, word by word. They'd really walk it through. They'd polish the product. It's something I find missing today."
Q: The biggest quality of California is the changing demographic. We have the old-timer Californians and now we have millennial Silicon Valley new Hollywood. How do you cater to these groups without forgetting the Classic Californians?
A: "We rely on our writers to deliver these stories. We position ourselves as a writers magazine. We won't rewrite someone's voice. There's room for style. There's amazing diversity and humanity in California that's not monolithic.
We find writers that represent that. We ask, 'Hey, what is one story you've always wanted to write? We pay well, we're quarterly, we have long lead times. What is it you want to do?'. So far it's been successful. I can't come up with the ideas. We as a team rely on our writers."
Q: What's the process like recruiting new writers?
A: "I read a lot. I Initially would pay attention to magazines and newspapers. I'd study bylines and who's writing what. I reach out to a writer with a few winning prizes, to take in as much as I can.
For example, I like Lynell George. I am a big fan. A few years ago I knew she'd be at the LA Times Book Festival. I tracked her down and asked her to write for us. Now she's still here!
Typically word of mouth works a lot. The best thing to do is to contact whoever is on the masthead. You have to get that relationship."
Q: What do you look in for a writer — specifically new ones who are trying to get into the game?
A: "It's persistence. You have to feed the lake. Help and don't climb up the latter and pull it up. Leave it and help others out. Manner and politeness too. It's not about you. Be friendly."
Q: And how do you pick those writers?
A: "Persistence and manners… A pitch will come in, and I ask 'Why this story, why this writer, and why now?' It's about pleasing the readers. Will these please them? If it doesn't we have no reason to exist.
Do these writers have special access, the chops, or pull off a 5,000-word feature? We're not a news publication. We want something evergreen. Print is finite and online is finite. There's only so much one can publish in a day. So a good 'why now'? gets it published quickly."
Q: Why is it important the pitcher is well versed in Alta and California culture?
A: "We want our stories to come from a point of view that is coming from someone in the West."
Q: What is the biggest challenge Alta has faced in recent times?
A: "COVID immediately springs to mind. We had to tear up an issue. Anything that involved travel, photography, in-person interviews, couldn't be done. We actually been leaning to change the magazine. We decided to go saddle stitch with our issues. We were struggling. We were acting monthly, it was weird. We tore up the issue and came out with science fiction.
We increased the coverstock and focused on stories with longer shelflife and those that were evergreen. People responded so well. We came up with the California Book Club and decided to become more literary. We compete to be different.
Another issue was being established. People didn't know what Alta was, but now people love us and our writers."
Q: Where does your revenue come from?
A: "All our revenue comes from subscribers."
Q: I'm going back to COVID right now. Did subscriptions go up during the pandemic? I know I relied on books since I was at home.
A: "Yes. We saw at least a 25% spike in subscriptions and it has stayed that way."
Q: How do you manage both physical and online copies for the magazine?
A: "Organizationally they aren't different. The same people work on print as they do physical. The process is different though. There is a higher premium on the quality control of print. They can't be changed. Online we can go back and fix things but print you can't.
Newsletters are also important. Those get scrubbed through different people since you can't change the errors on those. We have impeccably high standards, but we have such a great time.
With online I don't want to feed the beast. I worked for an online company and the pace and quality was not good. The stories just weren't fun to read. We're all freelancers and we want a polished product on both ends."
Q: Do you think Alta will converge with multimedia formats like video?
A: "Yes and no. In other words, we'd love them. It's a question of resources and if we'd like it. We have Alta Live, a 30-minute brown bag lunch. We want it to serve the reader, help with subscribers, we have to put things through that filter."
Q: How do you involve yourself with the community?
A: "10 years ago, magazines said print is going away. Everyone's doing this, where you become a member, not a subscriber. You're not a reader of the New Yorker, you're a member because you're a part of the community. So what? Do you get a tote bag now? Well, what does that mean!?
Will Hearst said he wanted us to develop membership. We started a clubhouse app group — an online chatroom for members where we talk about events and chat, invited some to movie screenings, and launch parties. We wanted to build a community. It's been huge. People like it."
Q: Can you tell us what the California Book Club is?
A: "The California Book Club is a year and a half old. We're partners with book clubs across the state. But we wanted a club. When COVID happened we thought 'perfect, let's do it through Zoom.' We wanted a book club for Californian readers. People make fun of Californians — dyed hair, boob jobs, Tinseltown, stupid stereotypes! There's great stuff. How dare they! Over 20 Pulitzer Prize winners came from California.
To get it off the ground we partnered up with a ton of places to get the word out and did giveaways. If you go to a California Book Club event and learned about it from the library you get a book. We encourage reading and discussion."
Q: How does the magazine address the lack of diversity in media?
A: "It goes back to writers. We look for those who look have those stories to tell. With different gender, ethnic, socioeconomic groups and we want it reflected in our stories. Sometimes companies fill buckets — very formulaic. But we are organic."
Q: Are there any stories you refrain from publishing?
A: "We don't cover the news. We're not set up to cover the news. We're not afraid to cover politics, but once you cover it you have to keep going with just how changing they are. We have long lead times and you can't cover something changing in that time.
For example, we're covering Joan Didion, she passed away in December and this is the April cover. We're covering an archival story with people who knew her. The story is in-depth. We don't do the rapid news. We want people to know 'This is why I read this.'"
Q: What is one thing you want your members to know?
A: "I want our members to know they are a part of a community. They are not alone in their interests in California and the West. We want them to engage in our thoughts."
You can find more information about Alta and subscriptions here: https://www.altaonline.com/# .
