Victor Maze is an award-winning creative director and journalist who has spent the past two decades leading teams at the world’s largest publishers.
In 2015, he founded Be Amazed Media, a boutique branding and content consultancy that builds on 20 years of experience art directing and writing for travel, interior design, and lifestyle magazines in cities around the world.
In addition to helming Be Amazed Media, he currently serves as creative director of VERANDA, a luxury editorial brand owned by Hearst. Previous magazine roles include design director at COASTAL LIVING and art director at PARENTING.
Good design is his obsession, but he is a storyteller first. You can read about his career—and the career paths of other top editors—in his new book Lead Like an Editor: Hire Passionate Teams, Tell Stories That Inspire, and Build Brands People Love.
Outside of work, Victor’s passions include travel, pop culture, and theater.
Book Title: Lead Like an Editor: Hire Passionate Teams, Tell Stories That Inspire, and Build Brands People Love
Genre: Business, Leadership & Motivation
Website: victormaze.com/
What motivated you to bring this story or idea to life?
I have loved reading magazines for as long as I can remember, since my first subscription to HIGHLIGHTS as a kid. After serving as editor of my high school newspaper, I went to college and grad school for journalism, and along the way, I realized that I was not only interested in magazine writing but also in how publications were designed. For the past 20 years, I have moved around the country for leadership roles at the world’s largest publishers, including Time Inc. and Hearst. I currently serve as creative director of VERANDA, the luxury interior design magazine owned by Hearst, and was previously design director at COASTAL LIVING and art director at PARENTING, among other roles. In most of my roles, I have not only led the art and design teams but have also written occasional articles as well.
Although I have worked on staff at magazines for almost all of the last two decades, I did step away for three years to scratch an entrepreneurial itch and start my own branding and design business at the end of 2015. Having spent my entire career working in a very specific medium, I expected a bit of a learning curve as I applied my experience to other industries. But surprisingly, I found the opposite to be true. What I realized very quickly was that, although in my mind I had spent my career designing magazines, what I had been doing was creating brands that inspired loyalty in their consumers, while managing teams of people with diverse talents and personalities.
When it came to the nuts and bolts of running a business, I also had the skills to succeed. I knew how to set (and meet) deadlines, how to speak to my target customer in a voice that resonated, how to write copy that sells, and how to package it all appealingly. And when I didn’t know how to do something, my journalism training kicked in, and I reached out to find an expert who could explain it to me—just as I had for every story I’d ever reported.
Twelve months later, my business was booming—but it wasn’t just me who was thriving. Via social media, I watched while other editors and art directors started their second acts as leaders in new industries or as first-time entrepreneurs, meeting similar success. It was then that I began to realize that we editors had a secret sauce that could be used to shape—and launch—all sorts of businesses. Just because the magazine world was changing didn’t mean that our careers were over or that our knowledge was useless. When it comes to storytelling and connecting with an audience in a crowded marketplace, I would argue that our skills may be in demand now more than ever.
Why was this the right time to write this book?
I have dreamed of writing a book for years but never made it a priority. As I began to ramp up my new business in 2016, I knew that I no longer had an excuse not to do so, especially now that I had more control over my own schedule. At some point, I saw a Facebook Ad for selfpublishing.com and made the decision to sign up.
I took their non fiction as well as their very first fiction course, as I wasn’t sure exactly what type of book I would write. Although I dabbled in fiction, I kept coming back to the leadership lessons I had learned from working in the media and how they had made running my own business so much easier.
Ultimately, I decided to stay in the non-fiction leadership genre, working on the book over the next three years. Of course, I did not take into account how time-consuming running my own business would be. I placed my focus on the business—and even attended a selfpublishing.com Elite Business Intensive Weekend in San Diego in early 2018. But alas, because I had constant demands from clients, it was easy to push the book to the back burner.
At the end of 2018, I was offered a role to come back to publishing as creative director of VERANDA——while still running my own business on the side—which pushed the book even further down on my to-do list. But throughout all of this, I paid to keep access to the selfpublishing.com Mastermind Community on Facebook. I wanted to live vicariously through author authors as they shared their success with their books. As I balanced my heavy workload of having a full-time job while running my own business, I made a vow that I would keep in contact with the community and one day return when I had the time.
It took me a few years, but I attended Author Advantage Live in June 2023 and made the decision to go all in, with the goal of writing and launching the book by fall 2024.
What key takeaways can readers expect from Lead Like an Editor?
Like a superstar editor-in-chief, you will learn to put your own unique stamp on your leadership style, your business, and your career using the innovative MY STAMP Method. Internally, you will focus on M.Y. and learn to:
- Embody the editor’s Mindset, including the five key traits all good editors possess.
- Develop Yourself as a leader who models integrity, inspires others, and makes tough decisions with ease.
Externally, you will focus on S.T.A.M.P. and learn to:
- Architect a vision- and mission-driven Structure, while planning out your ideal day and year.
- Hire a Team of passionate people who are energized by your vision; then help them grow using a five-step process.
- Cultivate an Audience of dedicated fans who have an instant affinity for everything you produce.
- Communicate your brand’s Message in a voice that resonates, empowering your customers to live better lives.
- Create a Product that offers both style and substance, and is delivered in an efficient, elegant way.
What did your process look like for this book?
When I started the book in the fall of 2016, I had originally planned to write the manuscript in 90 days, but I didn’t account for how time-intensive running my own business would be. I missed my deadline, which was a bit too ambitious, but then never set a new one. This resulted in my puttering around with the book throughout 2017 and 2018, writing a page here and a page there, but not making any concrete progress. Despite my knowledge of the goal-setting process, I never set a deadline for its completion. And surprise, surprise—five years later, I still hadn’t finished it.
Then, after Author Advantage Live in June 2023, I was reinvigorated and decided to dust off my half-finished manuscript, which I had not touched in more than five years. I set an ambitious—but attainable—goal of publishing the book just over a year later, by fall 2024. Instead of crossing my fingers and hoping that would happen, I broke down all of the steps that would need to occur to meet my deadline. This time, I gave myself quarterly and monthly goals, all of which used the SMART goals framework.
From June 2023 to January 2024, I scheduled writing whenever I could: in the mornings before work or on Saturday and Sunday during the day were my most productive times. It meant saying “no” to other obligations and sticking to a schedule. Along the way, I found that using the Mind Map for each chapter made knowing what to write easier, resulting in more productive writing sessions.
What other challenges did you face during the writing process?
I knew that I wanted to include the voices and expertise of other editors—including current editors in chief, as well as former magazine editors who have gone on to become either successful entrepreneurs or executives at major corporations, ranging from Netflix to Nike. I interviewed almost two dozen people, which was fun—but also added a layer of complexity, from scheduling the interviews to reviewing the transcripts to figuring out how to work their thoughts into my manuscript.
The other difficult part for me is my perfectionism. As someone who works in publishing, it was important to me that the book be as close to perfect as possible. When I write an article, I can sometimes go through four or five rounds of self-editing, making sure that every sentence and paragraph is perfect. It is hard to do that with a 95,000-word book, so I also had to rely on my editor and copy editor, as well as two close friends who were early readers and who are also editors by trade.
Now for the fun part—what did you enjoy most about the process of writing your book?
The community support has been one of my favorite parts of the experience. Over the years, I have worked with four coaches, as well as meeting lots of staff and members virtually and in person.
I love how virtual events like Author Advantage Live allow anyone to attend, but there is also something special about an in-person event. I especially enjoyed the in-person Author Advantage Live event in Austin. As someone who was in the “messy middle” and working on a manuscript that had been started seven years before, I loved meeting some of the other authors who provided insight and inspiration. It was also fun saying hello to Chandler again for the first time in five years (we met in 2018 at the Elite Business Intensive in San Diego). Meeting the coaches and staff in person made the virtual calls that followed feel even more personal.
What’s next on the horizon for you and your book?
To be completely honest, I don’t know exactly what is next for me—but whatever it may be, I want to be ready for it. I wrote the book for two reasons: It was a bucket-list goal, and I also wanted it as a feather in my cap, to make me stand out from the pack in ANY future endeavors.
In 2025, I am focusing on promoting the book while also continuing to evolve my brand through thought leadership. I would like to try my hand at speaking and media appearances; I made two TV appearances in December 2024 and have a panel discussion lined up for January 2025. I am also beginning the process of podcast outreach.
I continue to remind myself that the promotion of myself and the book is not just a launch-week task, but rather an ongoing process through the coming year (and beyond).
Is there a final thought or message you’d like to leave with your readers?
I would just like to share how good it feels to publish this book more than EIGHT YEARS after signing up for the program and starting my manuscript. (I started writing in October 2016 and published my paperback in November 2024.) I sometimes wonder if that is a selpublishing.com record of how long someone has been an active member before publishing their first book!
I can honestly say that the book I have published today is not the book that I would have published back then. Many of the people I interviewed came about via connections that I did not have in 2016, and I also have eight more years of life experience and business experience under my belt. I was hard on myself for not finishing the book when I started it, but now in hindsight, I realize that everything happened in exactly the way it was meant to.
Interested in his story? Follow Victor on LinkedIn, Instagram or at Victor Maze as he shares his mission to transform leadership.
Is Victor’s journey inspiring you to elevate your leadership and brand? Discover the book writing support, editing services, and coaching that helped bring Lead Like an Editor to life through the Author Advantage Accelerator Elite Program. Schedule a consultation today or take the quiz above to find the perfect program for you and your book!
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