"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
10/08/2020 at 13:23 • Filed to: None
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"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
10/08/2020 at 13:23 • Filed to: None | 2
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This is a good listen.
Spanfeller is a twat
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
10/08/2020 at 15:11 |
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I still think Daftryosuke had a great writting style and that he should’ve continued trying...
But the main issue with auto journalism is something I call the “Top Gear effect”
Top Gear made the notion of car journalism a bit more like being a celebrity than being... A... You know... Journalist. As a consequence I think a lot more people want those kinds of job. Where they get to film themselves driving or writing reviews which are a bit more like creative writing than a review. Couple it with widespread youtube/blogs and then you have a somewhat saturated market where there’s a lot of people willing to write/make videos and not quite a lot consuming it .
I really like writting about cars.. like many others... But it also sort of makes car journalists compete in a very bizarre market.
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Spanfeller is a twat
10/08/2020 at 16:08 |
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I don’t think you have to be a celebrity, but you definitely need some kind of distinct personality and viewpoint to set you apart from others. That said, great writing and good ideas will get you far.
My current
favorites: Harris, Catchpole, Cammisa, Sam Smith, Bovington.
dieseldub
> Spanfeller is a twat
10/08/2020 at 16:13 |
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Getting into auto journalism is definitely not easy and for most it likely doesn’t pay all that well either.
Extremely few ever make it as far as something like TopGear, which is less journalism and more high video production and personalities and shenanigans that are less about waxing poetic about cars, test numbers or some of the more practical features that could be the decision maker for actual car buyers and more just being entertainment.
Kind of like cable news! More entertainment or at least stoking of emotions to keep you watching rather than striving for factual, straightforward reporting.
Although I used to love Car and Driver for being a bit of both. They could critique things with some pretty creative use of language that I found entertaining while at the same time providing hard data that they obtained the hard way in order to make sure the manufacturer isn’t trying to sell you on something it’s not actually capable of.
The other challenge is general market pressures in a saturated market that consumers aren’t directly paying for thanks to the internet.
Stef Schrader
> dieseldub
10/08/2020 at 17:43 |
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hella does not pay wel
l on the freelance side
: can confirm, hate my
life
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dieseldub
> Stef Schrader
10/08/2020 at 18:21 |
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I’m sorry Stef :(
Even wrenching like I’ve been doing most of my working career, it’s usually thankless, pay isn’t all that great unless you are good enough to support an entire customer base yourself as a self-employed mechanic, and even then, you spend so much on tools and learning things the hard way among other forms of education, not to mention healthcare is WAY more expensive than if you were at a job with benefits...
It’s only better if you work for yourself and can at least carve out a modest living while doing so. You otherwise just end up hating everything and everyone when stuck in the trenches being underpaid at someone else’s shop.
I like writing some myself, but if I were to try and work towards something more auto journalism-y, it would likely be freelance and on the side of what I’m already doing because I am not at all confident I could make an OK living doing that alone.
It would be pretty rad if Oppo were able to go to their own platform and articles written by bloggers would get a commission, a percentage of what ads pay per view. So, if you happen to write something that gets a lot of views, you get paid better. Sounds OK as a side gig, anyway. Then again, being that I’ve turned wrenches my whole life, I’m rather used to the mindset of being on some sort of commission based pay and well familiar with the pitfalls of that along with additional stresses when you can’t predict what your pay might be. Would be hard to rely on for sure, but is an interesting idea for those trying to ply their craft and better themselves, see what works to draw in more viewers along with provide the type of reading that viewers want to come back for more of.
May not be a super helpful suggestion to someone who’s already been a paid professional at the gig, but then again... if you were the one who made that platform a reality, you get to keep a bigger chunk of that ad revenue, partly to pay for the overhead of the website as well as some extra for being the one who made it a reality and runs the show.
RallyWrench
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
10/08/2020 at 19:34 |
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Seems... very specifically aimed. ;)
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davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> RallyWrench
10/08/2020 at 20:00 |
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Haha - maybe if I keep nudging...
Berang
> dieseldub
10/08/2020 at 20:56 |
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Auto journalism takes a lot of privilege to get into successfully. If not in the form of money or education, then in the form of being in the right location to get in via connections and access. Even in the internet age this is still largely true.
I’ve done an occasional article here and there on historic cars, mostly because that’s what’s easiest for me to get access to. But most outlets have only tiny interest in that subject matter, so even then selling it can be another challenge. A normal person isn’t exactly going to get to test drive the latest and greatest, even if they live right by the company’s headquarters.
Skill enters into it on a different level, where I see a lot of people stumble. Writing a few articles a year is doable even for an amateur like myself, but try doing it monthly, weekly, or daily, and it becomes an entirely different story. Even if I were offered a monthly or weekly gig, I’d have to turn it down because I know my limitations when it comes to writing.