If I Ruled the World and the Wild Ride of 90s Magazine Life - Book Gang | Lyssna här

Amy DuBois Barnett draws on her editorial career for If I Ruled the World—a vibrant novel of magazine publishing, ambition, and reinvention in 1990s media.

I’m honored to warmly welcome Amy DuBois Barnett to Book Gang as she shares the story behind her debut novel, If I Ruled the World. Drawing on her groundbreaking career in magazine publishing, Amy brings us a vibrant, sometimes gritty, and always honest exploration of ambition, identity, and reinvention in 1990s print media.

Today we explore Amy’s decades-in-the-making fiction journey, what inspired her to finally tell this story, and how her editorial background influenced her process as a novelist.

If I Ruled the World follows Nikki, a thirty-something woman navigating the cutthroat world of late-90s print media after bravely reporting a powerful colleague’s misconduct. As she hustles to revive a struggling hip hop magazine, Nikki’s journey is marked by career chaos, personal missteps, and a search for her true voice amid shifting alliances and expectations.

With wit and candor, Amy unpacks the complexities of identity, representation, and legacy as she crafts a story that is both an insider’s look at magazine publishing and a deeply personal tale of transformation.

In this week’s fascinating episode, we discuss:

📚 The Writing Journey: Amy shares how she made history as the first Black woman to helm a major mainstream U.S. magazine and how decades in editorial shaped her fiction. We discuss why writing this debut novel in her fifties was the perfect moment, and celebrating that long-awaited “yes.”

📚 Representation & Identity: We talk about Amy’s trailblazing career and how this experience shaped her leadership, and what she borrowed from her own life to bring Nikki’s biggest triumphs and trials to life in this story.

📚 Building a Magazine: Step inside the electric world of 1990s magazine publishing—where iconic covers were gambles, backstage drama was real, and Nikki’s story was born from Amy’s lived experience. Amy shares a high-stakes celebrity cover story that blurred the lines between art and life, plus her perspective on the reckoning in hip hop she witnessed firsthand in this #metoo moment.

FREE BONUS BOOK LIST: 13 Books About Magazines to Light Up Your Analog Heart— This curated list dives into the page-turning, messy, and fascinating world of magazines, both real and fictional. Patrons will receive a printable book list and an exclusive spoiler-filled episode with Amy DuBois Barnett!

Meet Amy DuBois Barnett

Amy DuBois Barnett is an award-winning media executive and author who earned national acclaim as editor in chief of Honey, Ebony, and Teen People—where she made history as the first Black woman to helm a major mainstream U.S. magazine—and as deputy editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar. She has held senior leadership roles at Paramount, Hearst, Disney, Time Inc., and several independently owned brands. Barnett has a BA from Brown University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. She resides in Los Angeles. If I Ruled the World is her debut novel and is available on store shelves now.

Mentioned in this episode:

NEW BOOK LIST: 13 Books About Magazines to Light Up Your Analog Heart (FREE TO BROWSE ON PATREON THIS WEEK)

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