How Well Do You Recognize Magazine Writers?

How well do you remember or recognize writers names when you read something? Do you flip open to an article and say "Oh yeah, the author is Rob Smith, I usually like what he writes, like that article on the Pinto or backpacking across Poland." I would think that those written in the first person accounts or opinion pieces like columns would stick out more than a third-person feature article as far as the reader connecting the author with the article. Doesn't have to be GRM, or car magazines at all. I just want to know if you recognize names and recall who wrote what in past issues, or if they names fade away and you recall an article as just being "written by National Geographic," or similar.

Nobody remembers bylines

DaveEstey wrote: Nobody remembers bylines

Soooo, you don't read much, Dave?

I can usually tell if someone I have read a lot is the author.

JeepinMatt wrote: How well do you remember or recognize writers names when you read something? Do you flip open to an article and say "Oh yeah, the author is Rob Smith, I usually like what he writes, like that article on the Pinto or backpacking across Poland." I would think that those written in the first person accounts or opinion pieces like columns would stick out more than a third-person feature article as far as the reader connecting the author with the article. Doesn't have to be GRM, or car magazines at all. I just want to know if you recognize names and recall who wrote what in past issues, or if they names fade away and you recall an article as just being "written by National Geographic," or similar.

Good writing always catches my attention, on a number of different levels.

As for motorsports-related favorites, Pete Lyons was a genius in reporting races; he captured and portrayed events in a fashion that made an enthusiast feel as if he were a spectator.

Peter Egan is another standout who gets my attention. The man has so much to share and does so with a wry humor; that makes him an icon of automotive journalism, IMHO.

There are many more, but these two immediately come to mind as stalwarts in the "bidness".

There are a few out there. Ignoring the GRM crowd, I'll always read something if a certain guy wrote it... Peter Egan, Brock Yates, P.J. O'Rourke, Garrison Keillor... Those are really the few that I always read when I see their names.

Peter Egan of course... and John Phillips makes me laugh out loud.

Because of David Freiburger, I read editorials. The use of appropriate hot rod slang is a calling card. So are editorials that have nothing, yet everything to do with cars. Any CarCraft readers remember the "Legend of the blue puffy?"

anytime there is something written by JG, I make damn sure i read it!

To tell the truth, as a writer, the editorials are almost always my favorites.

Egan of course, a few others stand out. There are a number or writers for the Hemmings magazines that stand out for terrible writing. I think they try to use obscure words to sound smart. That pisses me off. I think they get paid by the word too because they write the most complex articles possible.

I try when I find stuff I like. My sister and her boyfriend both wrote for Mags before they were shutdown.

Ohh course, I have a 1 year old so my brain is shot.

The Blue Puffy should be regularly soaked in automatic transmission fluid. MOPAR ATF.

No, I never read the article.

In reply to JeepinMatt: After reading the title, the byline is ALWAYS second. I then have an idea of what to expect or to find a newby talent making it. It's interesting.

Appleseed wrote: Any CarCraft readers remember the "Legend of the blue puffy?"

Heh, I remember that one. He's done a good job of turning Hot Rod and Car Craft around.

oldsaw wrote: Peter Egan is another standout who gets my attention. The man has so much to share and does so with a wry humor; that makes him an icon of automotive journalism, IMHO.

Egan is really the only one whose style leaps out at me as his own. This is a good thing though--the man is a national treasure IMHO.

Kevin Cameron is an excellent technical writer with Cycle World magazine.

And he's GRM worthy.

racerfink wrote: Kevin Cameron is an excellent technical writer with Cycle World magazine.

When I get my copy in the mail, I always read Kevin Cameron's and Peter Egan's columns first before I look at anything else.

Egan, BS Levy... there are others but I can't remember them right now (damn getting old is hell )

Kevin Cameron' article several years ago describing a firearm as a 'single stroke' engine, is one that sticks in my mind. Egan, Brock, O' Rourke, Freiburger, Pewe all get read any time I find an article or column they've written. And I'll go back and re-read old ones too. And they'll be just as good the second or fiftieth time they're read. But, I love to read, and will read about anything in front of me.

I would like to spend an evening around a campfire drinking beer with Peter Egan telling car stories. I have that feeling every time I read his work. Pat Bedard and Don Sherman would have been fun beer-drinking buddies too.

Obviously, Egan. I also really like Sam Smith (formerly of Automobile, now blogging at Jalopnik)

Actually, I always look at the byline. I'm a writer myself, so that may be part of it, but I like to know who I like and who I don't - that way if I see an article in Classic by, say, Kathleen Mangan, I know it's going to be well-written, thoroughly researched, and interesting. In one of my other interests, history of the West, if I see an article by, say, Johnny Boggs, I know it's going to be good. There are some writers, of course, that are at the other end of the spectrum.

And then there are the really good ones - Peter Egan of course, and back in the old days, Satch Carlson. A couple of others who come to mind that influenced me in the area of off-road travel writing were the Sagstatters, Glenn Bamburg (who mostly writes about fly fishing these days) and a couple of others. These people make you think "Gee, I wish I could write like that" - and if you really try, sometimes you can.

Recognizing the authors by name also helps you to evaluate how reliable the information is if it's an information article.

For me, #1 is Rider's Clement Salvadori. Just amazing stuff.

I forgot to mention SCC's Dave Colman. Medulla Badidea is the funniest, scariest, most truthful editorial I've ever read. Ever. Hell I read an article with him describing a box of G.I Joes he found at a garage sale.