Dan Peres Explains It All

If it's autumn, it can mean only one thing: An onslaught of magazine-into-book adaptations. As publications prepare to turn their "magabrands" into the perfect Christmas gifts, an editor's eyes invariably turn to this year's crop. Among them is, yup, a Details book. The magazine's Details Men's Style Manual promises that it's "the ultimate guide for making your clothes work for you." Now, we're not exactly the Details demographic. We stick to a strict regime of jeans and button-down shirts and think that the Ben Sherman sample sale is some sort of exotic beast. Our taste in drinks extends to Yuengling, Wild Turkey and not much more. In short, reading about broguing on shoes was a new and somewhat disturbing world for us. But, hell, we're media bloggers. The idea of taking a magazine property and making a book out of it fascinates us in some sick way. So we decided to speak to Details EIC Dan Peres about it yesterday. He gracefully indulged us on a short break during a busy day to talk about the book with us. Hell, he even had a sense of humor about the whole Page Six thing. After the jump, we talk "magazine DNA", man boobs and the editorial process. FBNY: What is it like to do the book promotion beat? Peres: (Laughs) Well... promotion in general has never been my thing. To me, I see it as a necessary evil. When editors are out shilling for their magazines and special projects, it looks like they are shilling for themselves. I never do it terribly enthusiastically. But promotion of this book is great, so I have to go out there and do it. FBNY: What was the project like to work on? You seem to have had a sense of humor in writing the book. In the acknowledgements, you thank your wife for her patience while you wrote about how a man's ass should look in his jeans. Were there any moments when you couldn't believe you were writing about a certain subject? Peres: From the first moment to the last, as editor and chief of any magazine, there are tons of management work and decision making to be done. Crafting copy and lots of it. Being involved in this project gave me a newfound respect for everyone who writes about this for Details. It took a lot of time and that acknowledgement was very accurate. Like I said, no wife should ever have to see her husband run back to the office to write about how you should dress if you have man boobs. FBNY: It seems like Details has been having a busy media day. Peres: (Laughs) Well, let me say this much.. Let this be the worst thing that happened to me today and it will still be a good day for me. FBNY: How did the idea for the book come about? Peres: As the editor of Details, people I met out of the blue, outside of the magazine, asked me fashion questions (Peres goes on to list a ton, half of which never occured ot us). They needed the right resource to go to. That's how the style guide was born. It exists as a reference for men and covers a ton of territory; we're not imposing anyone's sense of style on our readers. FBNY: What is it like to turn a magazine property into a book? Peres: Concept to concept, I wasn't terribly involved. I was, of course, part of the initial pitch and met with Gotham Books and Melcher Media (publishers). But I'm thrilled to say I can't comment on the rest. Everything was pieced out to different editors and I took on a bit too much. But I have no regrets. Everything's now published and everyone involved had a Herculean task especially given that we have a monthly deadline. FBNY: What can we expect from Details in the future? Peres: Well, we'll continue to grow the brand in a way consistent with our DNA. As I grow and mature, being 36 years old versus being 28, certainly the life changes will be reflected in the pages of Details. But we want to make sure the changes remain. For more, Mediabistro previously interviewed Peres this past April.

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Dan Peres Explains It All

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