I have a (journalistic) dream...! Can any of you help?!

[grifterkid]

It's time for change and time for me to follow a path I should have chosen to follow AGES ago!

I have been into classic cars since I was a nipper and over the years (decades!) I like to think I've learnt a lot and I hope I can start to use that to my advantage now.

What I'd really like to do (along with thousands of other I do not doubt) is pursue some kind of career in classic automotive journalism. It's something I've been aching to do and the time to do it is now (ish)...

I would really appreciate it if any of you good people can help guide me in the right direction! Are any of you out there in journalism who can tell me what they did?! Does anyone know of an 'in' where I can sneak through and get my foot on the ladder?!

If anyone of you good people can help in any way at all that would be awesome as I feel I've got to the point where I need to do what I want to do. If it doesn't work out at least I can say I've given it my best shot and my best shot will be fired that's for sure!!!

Many thanks to each and every one of you in advance...

[alolympic]

Start with a blog....

[composimmonite]

I know one motoring journalist who writes for magazines - his full time job is writing the boring everyday things for a local newspaper with the motoring aspect only being a very small part of his work.
So I'd say first off get a job in journalism, learn everything your can and then try to branch out into the motoring aspect.
Maybe write some freelance articles for magazines to "test the water" and see if you have what's required. Do you already have a background in writing as that will be more important to prospective employers than a passion for cars. Maybe consider attending uni / college as mature student to get journalism qualification ?
Good luck with whatever direction you go.

Paul H

[grifterkid]

Thanks folks...

I think I will contact a few of my local rags to see if they'd be intersted in me doing a couple of articles.

Also, a blog will be started so I'm going to have to do some research to see what's hot and what's not!!!

If any of you fine people have any other pointes please do let me know. Ta!

[Mystery Machine]

Agreed with Al, definitely a blog.

Decide on exactly what you want your blog to be about (ideally a similar theme/ethos to what you want to write about as a journo) and stick to it for the blog. Plan out your 'theme' and use this to base your material around. Keep it going, don't falter or dip in & out of it, keep it regularly updated and interesting with new articles and material to keep people interested and help build an audience.

There are millions of blogs out there and most of them consist of reblogging. Keep the content fresh and uniquely your own, don't be tempted just to reblog things....people are so tired of just seeing things recycled and regurgitated over and over. Fresh material is king, especially if it's your own.

Get familiar with using a camera. OK, so you want to write, but the ability to take some good snaps is perfect to enhance your wording. You don't need anything expensive either, just a reasonable quality point & shoot will do. DO NOT use your phone/Instagram etc...

Get out there and gather material. If you want to write about cars, get to car shows and motoring events. Meet people, introduce yourself, get yourself out there. This is the only way you're going build material that is interesting and unique. Sitting in front of a computer and researching topics will just push you more towards reblogging, even if you re-write things in your own words. Internet research is great for gathering details about an article, but not the place to research everything about an article, it should come from you.

Going back to the photos, take pics of everything. Get to know what photos work and what ones will suit what you are trying to convey. If you know what photos will work with your articles, you'll know how to brief/guide or work with a photographer further down the line to capture what you're after. If you can write about it, see if you can create the visuals to go with it....this is key to blogging IMHO.

Once you've done a good spell of blogging (a good few months, ideally a year) see if you can get to write a few articles for magazines for free. OK, so you don't get paid, but they get free content and you get your foot in the door which will inevitably lead to paid work if your style is what they like.

Don't rush out there to eagerly write for all the local rags with stories of how someones wheelie bin was stolen or missing cats etc....this will leave you wishing you hadn't started. Write about WHAT YOU LIKE! Otherwise, why bother? If you hated Marmite, would you eat it every day as a taste tester just because you *might* get the chance to become a taste tester for beer? Surely the beer company will employ someone who can demonstrate a good understanding of the intricacies of beers and their different flavours, not someone who can tell their Marmite from their Bovril?

Focus on the type of content you want to spend your time writing about and make yourself an expert in that. When seeking for work, your experience in this subject field (no matter how wide it is) will show through over someone who simply knows how to word things well.

There's probably lots more to cover, but I'm not actually too good with this kind of stuff which is why I always prefer to have a camera in my hand and not a pen.

Good luck with it and let us see how you get on....

[Mystery Machine]

Have a photo of a Retro Rides journo on a photoshoot for his own Dad's car:

[grifterkid]

Mystery Machine you are a Prince, you've nailed it for me!

When talking about a 'style' that's why I want to do my own thing as I think I can bring a uniqueness to proceedings out there in the big, wide cosmos.

Also, luckily, I'm not too shabby with a camera... I'm not a David Bailey but I can recognise a good location and take a good few shots so I'm ok(ish!) there.

With regards to getting in touch with the local rags I am going to be asking if they'd like me to do a few 'column inches' on classic cars every month... Obviously I'd be doing it for free but it's a start and if you don't ask etc...!!! It's worth a shot I suppose... From there I can then move onto doing something similar for magazines if they'll have me...

I am just going to try and attack it from all anlges and see what happens (trial and error is the theme!). I realise this will mean some pretty big changes in my life but if you don't take risks you're not really living are you...?!

Anyhow, here's a picture...

[dbizzle]

May 20, 2014 14:22:43 GMT Mystery Machine said:

Once you've done a good spell of blogging (a good few months, ideally a year) see if you can get to write a few articles for magazines for free. OK, so you don't get paid, but they get free content and you get your foot in the door which will inevitably lead to paid work if your style is what they like.

A lot of professional journos hate this approach, saying that a swell of free content is tempting editors with increasingly strangled budgets away from established journalists and into a territory of comparative inexperience. It's caused a lot of tension and arguments. They see the bedrock of their careers being eroded by people who are willing to do their paid jobs for free.

...that said, it's how I got into the business, and it worked - I started off writing for free, and now I get paid for it. The more of it you do, the more editors will see the value of your work.

[HoTWire]

If you are thinking of this as a career I'd give some thought to the future of journalism and if you want to specialise in print or digital media. We get the circulation figures (by various means and methods) for most of the car magazines in the UK that publish their figures, over the last few years they have been in a downward slump, a couple of the key ones have more than slumped, the ones that aren't publishing circulation figures we assume are doing worse. We also get viewing figures for online media, conversely this is on the rise. However they are both different forms of writing, or at least to be good at either you have to approach them in different ways, it is easy to do both in a fairly average way (RSM is testament to that! ).

People want quality and will attempt to get it, but with publishers being squeezed it seems that a lot of quality is moving online where the overheads are less. One of the major publishing houses recently dropped the word "publishing" from their name and set a fair number of their products as digital only dropping the paper version all together.

This trend is not likely to go away. We'll always have paper (in the way that Kindles didn't spell the end of the paper books), but I would make sure that you skill up to be able to be effective in digital and on paper.

[grifterkid]

The whole digital thing is food for thought and it is something I understand as I am currently involved in the online world in certain areas...

I think that paper media will indeed dwindle but I am hopeful that it will remain as you cannot beat that feeling of opening up your favourite glossy magazine every now and again!

On the flip side though who needs paper when we can see all we want to with our chosen electronic communications device?! This is weird territory we are heading towards and who really knows when, and where it will end?!?!?!

Anyhow, I'm just going to go all out and see where I get to!!! Let's hope there's room for me out there...

[ThePollitt]

Don't do it. It's an awful job and there's no money in it.

Well, the last part is true. Don't want to rain on your parade or anything, but if you want to do it you need to know now that you're not going to get rich in this line of work. Unless, of course, you're Bizzle. He's secretly loaded. I've been doing the math and he must have at least £35 now. Anyway, that's the only caveat I have, and it's mentioned now so I'll move on.

Everything that's been said above is valid, with the main undertone of exposure being the key thing to hold on to. Editors will forget you if you don't regularly remind them you exist. Don't take this personally, I'm an Assistant Editor and frankly I forget my intern's name sometimes and he sits next to me. Journalists - and more importantly those who commission work - are busy people. You need to put yourself on their radar. It's what I did and it all worked out in the end.

Another key thing about this line of work is meeting people. MM mentioned it above, the meeting people at shows and what not. Very important stuff. As MM says, this will get you content to write about. But, it can also lead on to bigger things. You never know who you might meet. It's the oldest cliche in the book, but trust me, it's not what you know, it's who you know. MM and Bizzle (and myself) are living, breathing cases in point. We've all done some wonderful stuff, stuff people have had the audacity to even pay us to do, and in a lot of cases it's all come about through networking. Write that down[/VanWilder]. I've seen young guys start and quickly fail because there's been a complete lack of interest when it comes to networking. Just make it part of what you do and who you are. It pays off in the end, hell, I can't walk through the NEC for Autosport or some such without bumping into a plethora of people I know or who I've done work for. Though please don't think of me as being big headed, I'm merely trying to demonstrate that it works.

Get work experience. It's a given. I did mine at Redline and then Classic Ford. Got published in both, then did paid freelance for CF and the rest is history...

Learn about writing and never stop. I've being doing this for seven years now, and while I've always been a competent writer, I'm not a qualified one. I taught myself how to write because I love doing it, and I taught myself by reading other motoring-based content, by never being afraid to learn new words or grammar and by always wanting to advance myself. Again, it works in the long run. Trust a brother.

Finally, do it for the love, not for what you perceive it to be. Much like I've seen people quickly come and go because they don't network, I've also seen people come and go because they don't like the grunt work. The thing is, we all do the grunt work. It's not about getting keys to flash cars and showing off. It's a job, and there's work to balance out all the fun stuff. Enjoy the perks as they come, don't focus your expectations on them.

Oh, and have integrity. Just because the pretty PR girl throws you the keys to a press car for a week, don't think you have to be nice about it. If it's curse word, say it's curse word. If it's good, say it's good. There are far too many bloggers out there calling themselves journalists who, quite simply, will say whatever the PR people want just so they can get a free Corsa 1.2 SXi for a week. Don't be one of those guys. Charlatans.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Though if you have any questions, just drop me a PM. Always happy to help.

Chris

[grifterkid]

It just gets better, thanks for the sage advice...

Networking shouldn't be a problem as I'm more than happy to meet people from here, there and everywhere! That's one thing I miss in doing what I do now but I digress...

I understand that this won't make me a fortune and it's not really a fortune I want. Just enought to keep me in Icelands finest frozen creations every now and again will do just fine!!!!!!!!!

To me, it's about getting into something I've always wanted to do but never had the 'testicles' to get into when I really should have! The time has come though and I have to do it...

[HoTWire]

I'd also recommend this : www.amazon.co.uk/Writers-Handbook-Guide-Essentials-Writing/dp/0844253723 ... it isn't new or flashy, but it has a great section on how to write which I found very useful when I started writing to be published, rather than just writing for myself

[grifterkid]

It shall be purchased immediately...!!!

[dbizzle]

May 20, 2014 16:04:31 GMT ThePollitt said:

Learn about writing and never stop. I've being doing this for seven years now, and while I've always been a competent writer, I'm not a qualified one. I taught myself how to write because I love doing it, and I taught myself by reading other motoring-based content, by never being afraid to learn new words or grammar and by always wanting to advance myself.

I love this. I wish more motoring journos cared about how they said things.


If you want to see how it's really, really done properly, buy a copy of Evo and read something by Henry Catchpole. Or a copy of Top Gear, and find a piece by Sam Philip. If I'm a good boy and work very hard indeed, maybe one day in the future I'll be able to approach the sort of effortless brilliance of those guys. Perhaps. If I wish very hard.




***edit***
Oh, and in addition to HW's book recommendation... I bought this years ago when I first became an editor in advertising (which is still my day job, and something I was doing long before I got into scribbling about cars): amzn.to/1o2kVAv It's invaluable.

[grifterkid]

What has been said by The Pollitt strikes a huge chord with me as I'm not qualified in any way at all with regards to writing or journalism...!

I want to do it as I love the English language in general and I love old cars! Marry the 2 and I hope I'm onto something...

When it comes to writers I like any of the crew from 'CAR' from the 1960's and 1970's, they float my boat hugely...! LJK Setright really nails it for me as his breadth and depth of knowledge always amazes me.

I may not have all the stamps on a piece of paper but I've got a love for all things written and automotive so I'm hopeful this should help a tad?!?!?!

[goldnrust]

May 20, 2014 15:33:52 GMT dbizzle said:

May 20, 2014 14:22:43 GMT Mystery Machine said:

Once you've done a good spell of blogging (a good few months, ideally a year) see if you can get to write a few articles for magazines for free. OK, so you don't get paid, but they get free content and you get your foot in the door which will inevitably lead to paid work if your style is what they like.

A lot of professional journos hate this approach, saying that a swell of free content is tempting editors with increasingly strangled budgets away from established journalists and into a territory of comparative inexperience. It's caused a lot of tension and arguments. They see the bedrock of their careers being eroded by people who are willing to do their paid jobs for free.

...that said, it's how I got into the business, and it worked - I started off writing for free, and now I get paid for it. The more of it you do, the more editors will see the value of your work.

Working freelance in the video production world, I see and hear the same issues with people willing to work for free. I don't know how applicable it is for journalism but from what I see in video theres a compromise that can be found.

People are happy to work for free as long as it's a non-profit project, for example I'm working on a couple of short film where everyone works for free to get the chance to try out new things and potentially end up with a nice piece of showreel material which can be used to demonstrate their skills to drum up work. On the other hand doing work for free, that would otherwise involve someone getting a paid job is generally looked down upon.

So in your shoes I'd rather be setting up a blog, and getting a bunch of good examples of your writing together, which you could then use to try and get paid work.

I don't mean to sound like I'm picking on you Mystery Machine, because everyone has their own way of looking at things. So often it depends if you come at things from a hobby/passion angle or a business angle, but again from my own experience I would disagree with the comment about not just going out and writing about anything. I got into video work via my hobbies (mountain biking at the time) and always wished I could work on that kinda subject matter, but after a year or two realised it didn't matter what the subject of the video was, the enjoyment of making the video was all in how well my video was telling the story, and how good the shots looked etc. I've done a little automotive based stuff, but it wasn't a great project so I didn't enjoy it. Equally I've done some rugby related videos that were very enjoyable eve though I've no interest at all in the sport.

I'm definitely not saying 'don't write about cars', just in my opinion if you want to be a journalist and you get a job/offer that could lead to a job and it involves writing about the local garden centre, I'd jump at it!

[ratchart]

The only advice I can  offer is from the point of view of a consumer. I've been reading car magazines for the fat end of thirty years and there seems to be a few recurring things that wind people up.

Get peoples names right. 

Get the names and basic details of cars correct.

Write about what interests you. As a reader I can spot immediately when a writer is filling space on a subject they don't care about, especially car features that just amount to a glorified list of parts because the writer can't think of anything original to say about a vehicle they don't really like. 

Are there events you go to that never seem to get featured in magazines or blogs? Start there. 

I'm sure I'm stating the blindingly obvious to you there but not everybody on every mag seems to get it.

Good luck. 

[grifterkid]

The above does knob me off just in the slightest so I will be sure to adhere to those points! As you say, it may sound simple but a shed-load of people forget the basics!!!

It makes me wonder why some people write about things when they clearly couldn't give a hoot about the subject matter. You will never engage the reader if you're not engaged yourself right?!

[sharkattack]

Reading everything in this thread with interest. I'm having some success with photography after plugging away at it for the last 18 months. I didn't start from scratch, already had a good deal of knowledge, experience and a bit of kit. But, I live in the northeast and being a self employed photographer is just as hard and poverty inducing as having curse word jobs and getting laid off every 6 months so I thought it was worth a good, sustained effort. But when I get work, I love it.

Working for free is the only way in these days. Everyone will want to meet you and try you out and there's so many other people trying to get in to the game that they simply don't have to take a financial risk on new talent. Work for free if it's a good job and you want to do it. Work for free if it's something you've never done before and need the practice. It's something to put on your CV (website, which you must have!) and it makes you look busy. Never do free work for the same person twice. They know what you can do, if they want you back it's for a reason and they'll have to pay for it.

I've quietly amassed a tonne of stuff over the last year and a bit and when I look back I can't believe how much I've done and I'm actually really pleased with the results. I've got a website in the works and it's going to go online with a bunch of image galleries that I'm really happy with so it's a finished product. None of this 'under construction' curse word.

So I'm a few months further down the line than you are and things are finally starting to snowball. Good luck getting where you're going. Just get busy. Write, write and write. When you approach an editor the first thing they want to see is your work.