Automotive journalism....how to even begin???
Discussion
I, like an abundance of others, dream of one day becoming an automotive journalist; not because I want to drive Lamborghini's everyday (although that is, of course, a large part of the reason!) but because I love cars and I love to write. I write a lot, both at work and in my own time; I've been told it's pretty good as well!
I've sent examples to magazines, racing drivers, businesses, journalists and all sorts of other people...the vibe tends to be pretty good, which is always nice....but how on Earth do you convert that from good words, good luck and "we'll keep you on file" to an actual viable role or freelance work??
When I last spoke to the web editor of Autocar and Auto guy at 'the Gentleman's journal' I was just told "keep on writing and it'll happen!", but that's pretty vague and doesn't really point you in the right direction!!
I guess my question is - does anyone have any more direction? Is there somewhere I should be posting? Is there someone who's particularly receptive?
I've sent examples to magazines, racing drivers, businesses, journalists and all sorts of other people...the vibe tends to be pretty good, which is always nice....but how on Earth do you convert that from good words, good luck and "we'll keep you on file" to an actual viable role or freelance work??
When I last spoke to the web editor of Autocar and Auto guy at 'the Gentleman's journal' I was just told "keep on writing and it'll happen!", but that's pretty vague and doesn't really point you in the right direction!!
I guess my question is - does anyone have any more direction? Is there somewhere I should be posting? Is there someone who's particularly receptive?
Books can be written about this. Just read the latest Chris Harris Jalopnik article for an insight into the industry.
Good writing is just the start these days I'd imagine. All mags and electronic mediums want people that the audience can relate too and who are decent on camera too.
Often said that its easier to teach a journo about cars than vice versa so worth trying to get published in some sort as well as developing on the car front as it will surely add to your profile.
Potentially though, its as 'easy' as ever to help yourself, start a blog, twitter, youtube account etc. Write, share, film; all can be done yourself for free or thereabouts to a fairly high standard. Manufacturers will loan cars to those with a following. I'd say this would look fairly good as a 'virtual CV'. However, lots of people have access to all of these and I'm sure there are a fair few out there doing so.
One more thing to consider is actually how many people are making their sole income from motoring journalism in the UK?
Good writing is just the start these days I'd imagine. All mags and electronic mediums want people that the audience can relate too and who are decent on camera too.
Often said that its easier to teach a journo about cars than vice versa so worth trying to get published in some sort as well as developing on the car front as it will surely add to your profile.
Potentially though, its as 'easy' as ever to help yourself, start a blog, twitter, youtube account etc. Write, share, film; all can be done yourself for free or thereabouts to a fairly high standard. Manufacturers will loan cars to those with a following. I'd say this would look fairly good as a 'virtual CV'. However, lots of people have access to all of these and I'm sure there are a fair few out there doing so.
One more thing to consider is actually how many people are making their sole income from motoring journalism in the UK?
Make full use of social media. Write a blog, tweet it out, and tweet it out again. Get as much stuff out there as you can. It can be done.
My son was 17 last summer and decided he wanted to be a sports journalist, or specifically a football writer. I was a bit disappointed, as I thought it would be very hard to break into, and I could see a promising future in maths/science that he excelled at, going down the pan.
But he worked his socks off. Within a couple of months he got unpaid regular work on Shoot magazine reporting on the u/21 premier league. He pushed his published work on social media ( and so did I) and was soon in touch with a few players. That led to an internship with a national sports radio station this summer and 3 weeks into that, the offer of a permanent job, aged 18 and 5 months!! So he turned down his uni place to do sports journalism to actually do sports journalism for real. He absolutely loves it.
Hard work, application, being prepared to work for nothing (plus a bit of luck along the way) and it is possible.
On the down side, he's passed his test, but has no interest in cars.
My son was 17 last summer and decided he wanted to be a sports journalist, or specifically a football writer. I was a bit disappointed, as I thought it would be very hard to break into, and I could see a promising future in maths/science that he excelled at, going down the pan.
But he worked his socks off. Within a couple of months he got unpaid regular work on Shoot magazine reporting on the u/21 premier league. He pushed his published work on social media ( and so did I) and was soon in touch with a few players. That led to an internship with a national sports radio station this summer and 3 weeks into that, the offer of a permanent job, aged 18 and 5 months!! So he turned down his uni place to do sports journalism to actually do sports journalism for real. He absolutely loves it.
Hard work, application, being prepared to work for nothing (plus a bit of luck along the way) and it is possible.
On the down side, he's passed his test, but has no interest in cars.
Thanks for taking the time to reply guys 
I have a blog/published work/write almost all content for our company website (which is pretty massive), so that's always a good start,
I think the next logical step is probably to take some form of journalism/grammar course...there's only so much you can teach yourself!!
That sucks about him not being into car, I can't even comprehend how it's possible!? I think an intervention is afoot!
I have a blog/published work/write almost all content for our company website (which is pretty massive), so that's always a good start,
I think the next logical step is probably to take some form of journalism/grammar course...there's only so much you can teach yourself!!
That sucks about him not being into car, I can't even comprehend how it's possible!? I think an intervention is afoot!
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Make full use of social media. Write a blog, tweet it out, and tweet it out again. Get as much stuff out there as you can. It can be done.
My son was 17 last summer and decided he wanted to be a sports journalist, or specifically a football writer. I was a bit disappointed, as I thought it would be very hard to break into, and I could see a promising future in maths/science that he excelled at, going down the pan.
But he worked his socks off. Within a couple of months he got unpaid regular work on Shoot magazine reporting on the u/21 premier league. He pushed his published work on social media ( and so did I) and was soon in touch with a few players. That led to an internship with a national sports radio station this summer and 3 weeks into that, the offer of a permanent job, aged 18 and 5 months!! So he turned down his uni place to do sports journalism to actually do sports journalism for real. He absolutely loves it.
Hard work, application, being prepared to work for nothing (plus a bit of luck along the way) and it is possible.
On the down side, he's passed his test, but has no interest in cars.
I think this sports journalism example is a good one. I know a couple of people that made it in this field and they share the same attributes: mad keen on sport to start with, pretty well educated and well informed on both their favoured sports and others, started right at the bottom rung of the ladder, learned from those above them and were in it for the long haul. FWIW I'd encourage you to develop your own style. Motor journalism seems to awash with the "clever dick" types whose ambition would be to be a Top Gear presenter and therefore think that the essential skill in writing is to be witty and funny. There are other ways of engaging the reader.My son was 17 last summer and decided he wanted to be a sports journalist, or specifically a football writer. I was a bit disappointed, as I thought it would be very hard to break into, and I could see a promising future in maths/science that he excelled at, going down the pan.
But he worked his socks off. Within a couple of months he got unpaid regular work on Shoot magazine reporting on the u/21 premier league. He pushed his published work on social media ( and so did I) and was soon in touch with a few players. That led to an internship with a national sports radio station this summer and 3 weeks into that, the offer of a permanent job, aged 18 and 5 months!! So he turned down his uni place to do sports journalism to actually do sports journalism for real. He absolutely loves it.
Hard work, application, being prepared to work for nothing (plus a bit of luck along the way) and it is possible.
On the down side, he's passed his test, but has no interest in cars.
ChasW said:
I think this sports journalism example is a good one. I know a couple of people that made it in this field and they share the same attributes: mad keen on sport to start with, pretty well educated and well informed on both their favoured sports and others, started right at the bottom rung of the ladder, learned from those above them and were in it for the long haul. FWIW I'd encourage you to develop your own style. Motor journalism seems to awash with the "clever dick" types whose ambition would be to be a Top Gear presenter and therefore think that the essential skill in writing is to be witty and funny. There are other ways of engaging the reader.
I agree with that! It's all about having a unique style...it very much depends what I'm writing about and who for! I'll just have to keep pushing and keep sending examples to everyone!
I got a job as a staff writer on a motorbike magazine off the back of a speculative CV, a couple of articles, and some feature ideas.
As stated above though; if I was a sub editor and read your OP I would be wincing. If you're going to put yourself in the shop window your output needs to be impeccable.
As stated above though; if I was a sub editor and read your OP I would be wincing. If you're going to put yourself in the shop window your output needs to be impeccable.
Carnage said:
I got a job as a staff writer on a motorbike magazine off the back of a speculative CV, a couple of articles, and some feature ideas.
As stated above though; if I was a sub editor and read your OP I would be wincing. If you're going to put yourself in the shop window your output needs to be impeccable.
I promise I can write! I wasn't really with it when I wrote this (which I know is no excuse!) I'd post example work but I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to link to external sites? As stated above though; if I was a sub editor and read your OP I would be wincing. If you're going to put yourself in the shop window your output needs to be impeccable.
The start of that is very helpful though, did you just send all of that to the magazine or was that a progressive thing over time?
It was completely on spec; when I left the Army I sent tailored articles to all of the UK bike mags. I had an interview with MCN and wasn't offered the job but was successful in getting a job at Superbike.
The then editor was very clear that the reason I got the job was because of the quality of writing. He didn't care how good I was on a bike because that could be taught.
Re the car magazines. What do you bring that no one else does? Are you a qualified mechanic or engineer? Do you have a race licence? Are you a club racer? Do you have a deep knowledge of buying/selling cars? Have you any professional qualifications? Lots of people want to work in journalism, what makes you a better candidate than them?
Please take the following as feedback - first, mentioning in the OP about driving Lamborghini's. Do you think an owner or an editor reading this might think you're the person he would trust to drive his car, say to Scotland for a feature? Or, might he think you'd treat it as a jolly and stuff it? Could you be trusted to be offered a week's work experience?
Second, there are professional journalists who read these forums. The editor of Classic and Sports Car posts regularly, for example. Your posts have got far too many exclamation points, ellipses with too many periods, and poor use of capitalisation. He's not going to look at these examples of your work and think about offering you work experience.
None of the above is personal and good luck with getting a job!
The then editor was very clear that the reason I got the job was because of the quality of writing. He didn't care how good I was on a bike because that could be taught.
Re the car magazines. What do you bring that no one else does? Are you a qualified mechanic or engineer? Do you have a race licence? Are you a club racer? Do you have a deep knowledge of buying/selling cars? Have you any professional qualifications? Lots of people want to work in journalism, what makes you a better candidate than them?
Please take the following as feedback - first, mentioning in the OP about driving Lamborghini's. Do you think an owner or an editor reading this might think you're the person he would trust to drive his car, say to Scotland for a feature? Or, might he think you'd treat it as a jolly and stuff it? Could you be trusted to be offered a week's work experience?
Second, there are professional journalists who read these forums. The editor of Classic and Sports Car posts regularly, for example. Your posts have got far too many exclamation points, ellipses with too many periods, and poor use of capitalisation. He's not going to look at these examples of your work and think about offering you work experience.
None of the above is personal and good luck with getting a job!
Carnage said:
None of the above is personal and good luck with getting a job!
Taken completely as constructive I can assure you Could I be really cheeky and email you an example of my work - it'd be good to hear your opinion on my actual work seen as you've been in the journalistic world?
Either way, thank you for the insight and feedback; lots to think about.
By all means. Worth bearing in mind I left journalism a long time ago though.
If I can offer you one bit of advice, which probably sounds a bit X factor, it's show how much you want it and how hard you'll work. Get work experience. Offer to write press releases for local race teams/club racers. Send articles to any and every magazine you can and make sure they are tailored to that publication. If you get a job as staff writer on Land Rover Weekly or whatever, it's a foot in the door. Offer to do donkey work; wash cars, take them to dyno runs, anything at all.
I race a Ginetta and the owners club magazine is well produced but always crying out for articles. I don't know if you have a particular marque of car you're passionate about or own, but see if you can do some features for the relevant owners club.
If I can offer you one bit of advice, which probably sounds a bit X factor, it's show how much you want it and how hard you'll work. Get work experience. Offer to write press releases for local race teams/club racers. Send articles to any and every magazine you can and make sure they are tailored to that publication. If you get a job as staff writer on Land Rover Weekly or whatever, it's a foot in the door. Offer to do donkey work; wash cars, take them to dyno runs, anything at all.
I race a Ginetta and the owners club magazine is well produced but always crying out for articles. I don't know if you have a particular marque of car you're passionate about or own, but see if you can do some features for the relevant owners club.
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