photos by: Grant Cox, Kevin DiOssi, Daean Chase and the Author
Have You Ever Wanted to Get Your Car Featured in a Magazine? We Give You Some Tips on the Do’s and Don’ts
Over the last three years since we’ve been in publication, we’ve been getting hounded repeatedly on how to get your vehicle published in GM EFI Magazine. There are obvious ways to reach out to us, be it through our social media channels, emailing your author directly ([email protected]) or if we happen to stumble upon your car at an event.
If you’re absolutely adamant about getting your car seen by millions of people, we can certainly make that happen, regardless. To make things simpler for everyone, we’ve decided to outline some tips to keep in mind when you decide to contact us for your potential feature shoot.
1.) Build Something Cool: This should be a no-brainer but you would be surprised to see our inbox, with requests for features of cars that are basically stock — or so cookie-cutter that it they wouldn’t have been considered cutting edge since 1997. Bring us something new and different, and outside of the box. Do you have an unusual engine swapped vehicle, x275 tire record-breaker, or one of the most competitive autocross cars out there? Let us see it! Now it doesn’t necessarily have to be a show-winner, but we would patricularly appreciate it if it shows well in photos — rat rod or otherwise. The idea behind our feature cars, is that they’re essentially a way of telling the world what’s hot right now, and what’s going on in the current crop of modifying and hot-rodding your late-model GM vehicle. It should be a way to inspire other car owners and car builders of where to take their current project.
2.) Send High Quality Photos: With the completed vehicle sorted out, now you have to catch our attention! If we don’t run passed you at an event, that’s OK, there are plenty of ways to do so. First, send us the summarized specifics of the vehicle, as well as some decent imagery so we at least have an idea of what we’re talking about.
Obviously we don’t expect you to take the same level of quality images that our staff does, but picking a great location with some decent angles will help. We’ve went into detail with this in the past, and you can further cite our previously published article HERE. Once you have some good photos, attach them to the email!
3.) Be Patient, and Don’t Take it Personal: In the event that we don’t get to you right away, we will eventually. We receive numerous requests daily and sometimes we can’t even begin to keep up with the emails that come in! Just hang tight and we’ll get back to you, shortly. If we like your car, we’ll begin the planning process. If it isn’t quite what we’re looking for, don’t take it personal. We could always revisit later, once you work out some of the details.
4.) Fill Out The Tech Sheet as Complete as Possible: Whenever we shoot a car, we typically send out a tech sheet for the car owner to fill out, the breaks down every modification of your car so we can compile an article to the most factual and accurate extent. Obviously details may change overtime, while we schedule your shoot or after we shoot the vehicle, and we actually publish the story. The more details, the better!
5.) Getting Published (things to know): Here’s where you really have to take the planning process seriously. The idea is to shoot your vehicle in its completed state; i.e., with every detail buttoned down, and the car in its top state. Obviously, project cars are “never done” and there’s going to be changes to follow after the fact, but if you have a new set of wheels, gauges and an exhaust sitting on the shelf? We’d recommend that you install them before we get there.
I can’t even count how many times we’ve shot someone’s car, who then immediately threw another $30k at it, expecting us to come out and reshoot the car again before the 
story goes to press. Or rerun the car with updated imagery and information at a later date, essentially double-dipping. Not happening, bud.
Also, if you plan on selling the car 15 minutes after we shoot it we recommend that you don’t bother. We’re not Auto Trader or Mecum Auctions, and we’d appreciate you not using this grassroots publication for your own monetary gain. I’m more than happy to help you legitimize the value of your car sometime down the road as a result of the article, but we’re not here to build you car’s value and use our images for your Craigslist ad. We’re geared to the true enthusiast who takes pride in ownership and crafting the car of their dreams, and to provide insight to fellow car builders.
That being said, we’re on a pretty tight schedule and our car features are scheduled months in advance, typically. So it’s best to (again) be patient with the publish date, as we get each feature on the site in the order that they’re shot (typically). The sooner we have all of your information and the car’s images edited, the sooner that you’ll you’ll be able to make a display plaque of your feature car to hang on your shop wall! We don’t make those, but you can get them from In The News, by the way.
Good luck!
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
