You've seen the videos, read the posts, saw the pictures from press trips or getting to drive new vehicles all the time and said SIGN ME UP!!!
Yeah, it sounds cool, but trust me it is really a lot of work as well.
Ok, I haven't scared you off and you really want to do it. The reality is there is no guide book for how to get started and everyone gets into the business in a unique way.
I'll share how I got started and then have some advice at the end.
For me, I answered a Craigslist Ad to manage two Toyota truck websites. I was running another business, refereeing and was a stay at home Dad with two boys. My other business wasn't growing like I hoped and I didn't want to referee all the time so I was looking around for something else.
Now I do have a journalist degree and I grew up in Michigan surrounded by the automotive culture. That got me the job. I managed the websites, wrote up posts for a few years and then got my first review vehicle in 2012. I had no idea review vehicles were a thing and I certainly didn't know about press trips.
In 2013, I got my first invite to a press trip for the 2014 Tundra launch. Again, no idea that even existed. I went to the event prepared though with customer questions. During the presentation there was a Q&A session and I asked so many questions, they had to stop me and pull me aside to talk one on one with the engineers. Whoops. LOL.
I am proud to say one of my questions on why there was an oil filter access panel on the skid plate for the TRD Pro did lead to there being.... an oil filter access panel on the skid plate! I saw it at the Denver auto show a few months later. There's a photo of me under the Tundra pointing to the panel somewhere on the internet.
By that time, I had joined the local automotive press association and was making contacts. I had also started paying to travel to the major auto shows (Detroit, LA, Chicago, NY) and meet more people. Eventually I had made enough contacts to get more review vehicles, press trips and new outlets to write for. Then, I started my own outlet in 2016.
With all this said, that's how I got in. Jill got in when the newspaper she was writing for needed someone to fill the spot of automotive editor. Others got in through interning at the major magazines in Detroit. Some are ex-engineers, gear heads or other professions who found a way in.
My advice for starting out is to reach out to me and offer to write something up for free. Try it out and see what it is like. I wrote a lot of free posts for people over the years just working through the process and getting exposure. And yes, my other colleagues will scoff at me for the "free" and "exposure" part of this sentence since they think everyone should be paid and never work for free. If only that's the way the world worked and I had a massive budget. I don't have a budget for freelance.
Then, when you have a clip (aka something published), try to find another place to write or write another post. After you have some work published, find the local automotive press association (there's like 7 or 8 spread across the country), contact the local press fleet company (see the post on how to get review vehicles), and find more outlets to write for. You have to get your name out there and your work before you'll get press cars. Trips are a whole different matter and often the editors take those. If you work hard enough, you might get one in your first few years.
This job isn't a race, it is a journey and, unless you are lucky or have a big hit of a story, it is going to take time to get there.
Yeah, it sounds cool, but trust me it is really a lot of work as well.
Ok, I haven't scared you off and you really want to do it. The reality is there is no guide book for how to get started and everyone gets into the business in a unique way.
I'll share how I got started and then have some advice at the end.
For me, I answered a Craigslist Ad to manage two Toyota truck websites. I was running another business, refereeing and was a stay at home Dad with two boys. My other business wasn't growing like I hoped and I didn't want to referee all the time so I was looking around for something else.
Now I do have a journalist degree and I grew up in Michigan surrounded by the automotive culture. That got me the job. I managed the websites, wrote up posts for a few years and then got my first review vehicle in 2012. I had no idea review vehicles were a thing and I certainly didn't know about press trips.
In 2013, I got my first invite to a press trip for the 2014 Tundra launch. Again, no idea that even existed. I went to the event prepared though with customer questions. During the presentation there was a Q&A session and I asked so many questions, they had to stop me and pull me aside to talk one on one with the engineers. Whoops. LOL.
I am proud to say one of my questions on why there was an oil filter access panel on the skid plate for the TRD Pro did lead to there being.... an oil filter access panel on the skid plate! I saw it at the Denver auto show a few months later. There's a photo of me under the Tundra pointing to the panel somewhere on the internet.
By that time, I had joined the local automotive press association and was making contacts. I had also started paying to travel to the major auto shows (Detroit, LA, Chicago, NY) and meet more people. Eventually I had made enough contacts to get more review vehicles, press trips and new outlets to write for. Then, I started my own outlet in 2016.
With all this said, that's how I got in. Jill got in when the newspaper she was writing for needed someone to fill the spot of automotive editor. Others got in through interning at the major magazines in Detroit. Some are ex-engineers, gear heads or other professions who found a way in.
My advice for starting out is to reach out to me and offer to write something up for free. Try it out and see what it is like. I wrote a lot of free posts for people over the years just working through the process and getting exposure. And yes, my other colleagues will scoff at me for the "free" and "exposure" part of this sentence since they think everyone should be paid and never work for free. If only that's the way the world worked and I had a massive budget. I don't have a budget for freelance.
Then, when you have a clip (aka something published), try to find another place to write or write another post. After you have some work published, find the local automotive press association (there's like 7 or 8 spread across the country), contact the local press fleet company (see the post on how to get review vehicles), and find more outlets to write for. You have to get your name out there and your work before you'll get press cars. Trips are a whole different matter and often the editors take those. If you work hard enough, you might get one in your first few years.
This job isn't a race, it is a journey and, unless you are lucky or have a big hit of a story, it is going to take time to get there.