How do I get my car in the magazine

[Mick Mc]

I’m not talking about readers rides.
I’m talking about a full feature.
I have been told and have read, if one magazine shoots your car then the other magazines aren’t interested. If a freelance photographer shoots your car then all bets are off. If I have internet coverage, then the magazine is not very interested because its not new (everyone has already seen it). If I have no internet coverage then the car must be a fluke or barn build.

So do I let everyone photograph my car and hopefully get in one magazine or do I let no one photograph my car and hope that my favorite magazine calls and shows interest.

Is it more about who builds the car or the color?
Is it more about home built or what’s hot in the industry?
Is it about the name brand of the parts on the car?

I realize none of this (how to get in a magazine) is written stone, but a few rules would help.

Here are a couple of examples that have got my mind asking these questions.

A very nice Camaro was shot in February but has not been seen in the magazine.
This car was fast, raced, driven hard, looked good, but no printed press. Lots if internet coverage, by the builder.
Not a home built but not a total pro-shop built either.

Another Camaro, big name guy helping out (not the official builder) gets seven pages in a major magazine and then the cover in another magazine. Very nice car, but two magazines back to back. How do I do that? I thought if you were in a major magazine then no else was interested. Non competing and who was first and all of that.

Do I throw everyone’s name in a hat and pull cards to see gets a chance to put my car in a magazine, or do I make it a free-for-all and hope I get in at least one magazine (with everyone thinking that the other guy is going to use the photos).

If one guy promises to put my car in the magazine, do I not let anyone else take pictures even if they're promising coverage too.

Every magazine wants exclusivity, but if I say yes and they don’t run my car now I have no coverage. I feel like I could be between a rock and hard place. I know there are lead times and my car is not the only car out there. But I have seen a couple of top cars get completed and the next month they're on the news stand.

I searched for other posts on this subject and have been told they were deleted, not locked, deleted. Very interesting way of stopping a post by a moderator.

Are there some rules or a rule book?
Do I need to learn the secret hand shake to get the rule book?

Mick

[buickfunnycar.com]

No hard and fast rules Mick,patience is a must...along with thick skin.

In my case,I probably had a 1.5 year internet conversation with Henry De Los Santos of CHP and it took that long to make it a happen.
I knew Henry was interested in the car so I wasn't worried because anyone who knows Henry know's he's a man of his word.

He came and shot both Z/28's with his super-duper camera and the rest is history as they say...

Your car is amazing and needs to be published.I'd suggest getting the conversation started and following up to make a reality.

[ProdigyCustoms]

The best way is to make sure the car is someplace you know magazine guys will be. Invest more energy in those shows with magazine guys there. If they like it, they will find you. Keep in mind there are sometimes 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 cars and there might be 4 magazine guys looking for 2 cars each.

And having a Camaro is not a curse, but there are a lot of them around too. Most magazines have plenty of Camaro's in their file (probably where the one you refer to is sitting right now), so they may not need anymore Camaros.

Last month we got cover of High Performance Pontiac. That car was shot 1 year ago and sat in the file cabnet for 1 year! They wanted to do a cover with it, but already had a 69 Firebird on the cover that year. Lucky for us our other 69 Firebird they had the cover was EmptyNest. So our own car displaced the blue Firebird! We were just happy they waited for the cover. Both cars were worthy.

The other thing you can do is have a proffesional photographer shoot the car, and send it and a story to the magazines that interest you most to see if they are interested. Keep in mind the story is as important or maybe more important in some cases then the car itself. The easyier you make it for the magazine, the more inclined to say, this one is ready, lets run it.

Good luck.

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by Mick Mc

I’m not talking about readers rides.
I’m talking about a full feature.
I have been told and have read, if one magazine shoots your car then the other magazines aren’t interested.

Not necessarily.. just make sure you tell one magazine about the other. We shoot cars that have been in other books but it's generally when we think the other mag did a suck job (and we can do better) or it's a well known car.

If a freelance photographer shoots your car then all bets are off. If I have internet coverage, then the magazine is not very interested because its not new (everyone has already seen it). If I have no internet coverage then the car must be a fluke or barn build.

We don't give a hoot about internet coverage. I don't know of a magazine that does. If anything it might make more people want to read the story when it comes out.

So do I let everyone photograph my car and hopefully get in one magazine or do I let no one photograph my car and hope that my favorite magazine calls and shows interest.

Be careful who you let shoot your car. The problem with freelancers is that they can sell your pics to anyone, you have no control. The other problem is that many of them suck. For example, if your car is shot by Robert McGaffin or Stephen Kim then you have a near 100% chance of getting in a good magazine. If it's shot by "Larry" the guy with a new digital camera then we might not run it even if the car is very nice. Also, if a guy shoots crappy pics of your car and does sell them to a non-picky mag then you're done.. unless we decide to shoot it better. But there are LOTS of Camaros out there so why shoot old news when there's fresh meat.

Is it more about who builds the car or the color?

Neither, it's about the car itself and to some degree the cool (hopefully) story behind it. An ugly color doesn't help but that's pretty rare. Our next issue is all black cars.

Is it more about home built or what’s hot in the industry?

Both, Home built makes for a great story. Also, people are interested in what's hot. But different is good.

Is it about the name brand of the parts on the car?

We don't take that into account BUT if advertiser parts are on a car that certainly is a bonus for us. In general it's always the car and it's "coolness factor".

I realize none of this (how to get in a magazine) is written stone, but a few rules would help.

Rules:

1. There are no rules.. it's like the Pirate Code.. more like guidelines
2. Be in the right place at the right time - if you live in Montana good luck. If you live in SoCal we can shoot it next week. lol
3. Be upfront and demand that the magazine be upfront with you.
4. Choose a nicer featuer in a small mag over a low-end feature in a bigger magazine. In other words would you rather have 6 pages in Camaro Performers or 3 pages in Super Chevy? Know what you want.
5. Have fun, remember that this is SUPPOSED to be a hobby

Here are a couple of examples that have got my mind asking these questions.

A very nice Camaro was shot in February but has not been seen in the magazine.This car was fast, raced, driven hard, looked good, but no printed press. Lots if internet coverage, by the builder.
Not a home built but not a total pro-shop built either.

In our case we get burried in first gen Camaros.. especially high-end PT versions. We try to make sure our book had variety (first, second, third, etc, PT, drag, street machine) so sometimes a car will sit until there's a spot. Sometimes it runs the next month. It just depends on what we need.

Who shot it? Maybe the freelancer lost the CF card.. maybe he died.. lol

Another Camaro, big name guy helping out (not the official builder) gets seven pages in a major magazine and then the cover in another magazine. Very nice car, but two magazines back to back. How do I do that? I thought if you were in a major magazine then no else was interested. Non competing and who was first and all of that.

Must be a bad ass car that everyone wanted. This happend with Jackass.. Hot Rod did a techish feature but we thought it was sorta weak so we shot it for our magazine as a REAL feature. If you can't do it first do it better.

Again, the nicer the car the more likely that more mags will want it, even if it's a repeat. If the car is just "nice" then why do a repeat when there are so many others out there looking for some ink lovin?

Do I throw everyone’s name in a hat and pull cards to see gets a chance to put my car in a magazine, or do I make it a free-for-all and hope I get in at least one magazine (with everyone thinking that the other guy is going to use the photos).

You can do that, but it's just not cool. Someone ends up getting screwed and it's typically some poor freelancer trying to make a living. If your car is nice then someone will shoot it for a book. The big problem is geography and weather. If your in Chicago we're screwed shooting it in the winter.. that leaves summer. We rarely fly someone to shoot a car (too expensive). It generally happens at an event we go to attend or we have a local freelancer shoot it.

If one guy promises to put my car in the magazine, do I not let anyone else take pictures even if they're promising coverage too.

This is why it's important to CAREFULLY choose who shoots your car. If a magazine shoots it or hires a freelancer to shoot it then it will FOR SURE be used in the magazine. We don't waste shoots. If a freelancer says he wants to shoot you car "on spec" (in other words he HOPES to sell it to a magazine) then that's the chance you take. But you will make a good impression on a magazine if you're upfront. If you are shady then your name will go on our list and we won't want to shoot future stuff you might do. Just like you wouldn't want to work with us if we screwed you.

Every magazine wants exclusivity, but if I say yes and they don’t run my car now I have no coverage. I feel like I could be between a rock and hard place. I know there are lead times and my car is not the only car out there. But I have seen a couple of top cars get completed and the next month they're on the news stand.

That's because they are TOP cars.. Jackass, The Roadster Shop Corvette, the '69 from Johnson Hot Rods, those are rockstars just like how Super Models get the cover more than Jenny from Accounting. It's what the people want so they move to the front of the line.

Again, if we shoot it then we WILL run it. Some magazines are flakier than others, but if the pics are good they will run. If the pics are great they will run sooner and if one pic is perfect it will become a cover.

I searched for other posts on this subject and have been told they were deleted, not locked, deleted. Very interesting way of stopping a post by a moderator.

Not sure where your going here.. who's stopping what?

Are there some rules or a rule book?
Do I need to learn the secret hand shake to get the rule book?

Mick

Remember, no rules.. just guidelines.. lol

So, where are you and what car do you have?

BTW.. just like life this is a relationship business.. we shoot a car, make a friend and then when he builds another car we're far more likely to shoot it also since we like working with the guy.

Frank (Prodigy) brought us a car to TN all the way from FL...

[Steve1968LS2]

Oh, and some freelancers lie...

They will say "I guarantee your car will be in XXXXX magazine!" or "I guarantee it will get a cover!"

Cars are rarely guaranteed a cover.. it's all about if the shot works for the cover and it's not a repeat of what was done on the last few issues.

It's not like us editors are hard to find.. we're like cockroaches, we'er everywhere.. lol

[GregWeld]

Steve --

Just wanted to comment that you showed some real 'class' taking your time to reply the way you did. I commend you for it.

It was also interesting and made perfect sense. I don't have anything that anyone would want to look at or read about... but it certainly was interesting reading about how it's done.

Thank you!

[ironworks]

You could build a truck in 10 part build series for a magazine with the title of the series being, " How to build a Cover truck". That when it is done they don't want to put it on the cover. But they will name it into the Top Trucks of the Planet category for the last 10 years? But the truck they put on the cover for your feature issue did not make the Top Truck of the planet Top 6. It does not make sense, but so is life.

I did have another magazine offer to run a feature article with cover shot, named "How to build a cover truck, for another magazine". haha



Mick are you speaking of The One Lap Camaro feature that was done in Feb?

Steve what ever happened to running the feature in "WHEAT PENNY"?

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Steve --

Just wanted to comment that you showed some real 'class' taking your time to reply the way you did. I commend you for it.

It was also interesting and made perfect sense. I don't have anything that anyone would want to look at or read about... but it certainly was interesting reading about how it's done.

Thank you!

Well he took the time to ask, it's the least I could do.

People have funny misconceptions on how this all works. Do you know why Jackass got the cover this month? Because last month we had a 5th gen and because the shot fit the cover, was well composed, and let us run the necessary cover blurbs.. nothing more complicated than that.

Next month the car that got the cover was the same story. Except it won because it was black with white stripes and the stripes just "popped" better than the other black cars.

But to be honest, the biggest factor is geography. Also, like some women, some guys think there cars are hotter than they really are. lol

Lastly, money invested has little to do with it. We've turned down EXPENSIVE cars that just didn't look right in favor of low buck rides that were cool.

[Steve1968LS2]

Originally Posted by ironworks

You could build a truck in 10 part build series for a magazine with the title of the series being, " How to build a Cover truck". That when it is done they don't want to put it on the cover. But they will name it into the Top Trucks of the Planet category for the last 10 years? But the truck they put on the cover for your feature issue did not make the Top Truck of the planet Top 6. It does not make sense, but so is life.

I did have another magazine offer to run a feature article with cover shot, named "How to build a cover truck, for another magazine". haha



Mick are you speaking of The One Lap Camaro feature that was done in Feb?

Steve what ever happened to running the feature in "WHEAT PENNY"?

Maybe they didn't have a good shot.. maybe they chickened out on running a black truck.. who knows..

We pick the cover car based on what looks good on the cover and not on the car.

The One Lap Camaro suffers from a fate I mentioned.. an overabundance of first gen pro-touring cars. We try not to have two in one issue.

It's not in December since that was an all black car issue.. It wasn't in November since we had Jackass and wanted to quickly follow the Hot Rod story.

We didn't mind holding it since we just did a six pager on it running the Nevada Open Road race. Trust me, I shot it and it will run. Just one of those things.

Then again all a person has to do is contact their magazine guy and ask "Hey, when is my car going to run??" Communication is a two way street.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by Mick Mc

I searched for other posts on this subject and have been told they were deleted, not locked, deleted. Very interesting way of stopping a post by a moderator.



Mick

who told you that? The only posts that are deleted are ones that are spam or so far out of control there's no way to edit them and leave them in place, they no longer make any sense.

Jody