selling a story

Selling your story to a magazine – ten top tips!

Rule number one! Don’t go directly to any publication! A magazine or newspaper might offer you money for your story but you won’t know if their offer is a good one or not … or the best. There is also no guarantee your story will appear as you want it to or that you will be paid – if anything goes wrong you are on your own against a big national publication…

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Fear of eating - ITV Daybreak

Could ITV’s Daybreak cure Cheryl of her eating phobia?

Earlier this year mum Cheryl Houghton, 30, came to me to about her bizarre phobia – she couldn’t bear the sound of other people eating.

The phobia was so severe that Cheryl, who has a baby daughter, was forced to wear headphones and listen to an iPod at mealtimes. It was also affecting her every day life – if she was shopping and heard someone crunching an apple or crisps, she would feel so anxious she had to leave the store. Meeting a friend for lunch was impossible and going to the cinema out of the question.

Cheryl’s story appeared in The Sun newspaper. But recently I was approached by a producer at ITV Daybreak who had seen her story on this site. And Daybreak believed they knew some people who could help.

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Fix Amelia Lily win X Factor

IN THE NEWS: Could X Factor really be fixed?

Another year and yet another claim that X Factor is fixed. This time the controversy centres around finalist Amelia Lily whose ‘winning single’ was uploaded to the HMV website – before the final takes place at the weekend. It’s far from the first time X Factor has been embroiled in a ‘was it fixed’ row. But does it matter who wins? There have been countless stories of X Factor winners sinking into obscurity. Indeed last year’s winner Matt Cardle’s album has failed to be as popular as hoped while runners-up One Direction have become huge stars.

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