Feature Your Car

Have you ever wondered if your car was good enough to be in a magazine? Ever looked at some issues and thought, "Mine's better than that"? Read on...

Car magazine editors get literally dozens of emails a week offering feature cars. The vast majority fail because they don't fit the criteria the editors are looking for. So what is it that makes a good feature car? That's the big question and there's no easy answer. As a self employed photographer / feature writer, I deal with lots of different magazines, not just automotive and they all have different needs. My own tests that I apply when assessing a feature car are as follows:

1. Does it look photogenic? If it's not eye catching that's not the end of it, but there must be some other overwhelming reason why it should appear in print.
2. What's the story? Many visually attractive feature cars fail because they were simply bought with a cheque book. That's fine and no problem, but people like to read about what was behind the creation of it or what makes it interesting enough to take up expensive advertising space. Is it famous? Has it been driven across three continents in three days? There needs to be a story.
3. Has it been in print before? If a car has already been in a tuner magazine in one country, it's highly unlikely it will feature again unless it has been further changed to justify a new feature. However, the feature car market is international, so it may well be that there will be a market for it elsewhere.
4. Who will buy it? All magazine editors have ideas of how they like their publication to look. That's a good thing - after all, thats what they're there for, but sometimes, they won't run what you think would be a good fitting feature for them. You don't know what other issues they're facing, so just respect their decision and move on.

Still interested? Drop me a line by email, fill out the form or just pick up the 'phone and ring.