Do you want to know how to sell a front page story?
If you want to know how to sell a front page story, you’re in the right place. Every week we receive hundreds of story forms and phone calls from people wanting to sell their story to the national media.
Stories may range from fluffier stories like weight loss, love rates and cosmetic surgery to front page stories and more ‘hard news’.
When we get a story in, we speak to the case study or the tipster to get as much information as possible – if the story sounds like something we can help with – we ask for all the relevant pictures and evidence to be sent over.
Once we have everything that backs up the story, we write a brief synopsis – which is a summary of your story or your tip.
Then we get in touch with our close contacts inhouse on all of the national papers like The Sun, Sunday Mirror, The Sunday Star, The Mail on Sunday and all of the women’s weeklies.
If they like the story, they will raise it in their daily conference and if the editor of the publication likes it – they will come back with a fee and commission it.
Because we place hundreds of stories every month, we know if the deal you are being offered is a fair one or not. If the price seems too low, we’ll demand a higher fee from the publication for you. Once you’re happy with an offer we have secured you, we will set up a photoshoot and write the copy.
Not all stories will require a photoshoot, for instance if you’re selling a tip of a celebrity but wish to remain anonymous we will obviously not photoshoot you. But if your story is concerning yourself then you will need to do a sit down interview and a professional photoshoot.
Our service is completely free. You keep 100% of the fee offered directly from the publication and we’ll pay for any photo shoots / expenses. The magazines and newspapers pay us directly for finding, preparing and writing your story – that’s how we make our money.
Last week we received a tip that the late TV star John Inman was being investigated by the police for historic sex allegations. After verifying it with the police, we contacted The Sunday People who continued to work on the story inhouse. John Inman’s family slammed the allegations and described the investigation as a ‘witch hunt’.
Do you have a story?
If you’re considering selling your tip or own story and believe it could be of national interest get in touch.
Our service is completely free and confidential and if it’s a story we can place for you, generally we’ll be able to get an offer back to you within 24 hours.
All of our contacts our very senior at the papers, this means they have the authority to make quick decisions and offer the most money.
If you call directly through to a paper, you’re likely to speak to a junior reporter who will take longer to come back to you and will not be able to make an offer themselves. We bypass this process by going straight to the top – making the process of selling your story easier and stress-free.
Although speaking to the media may feel like an overwhelming experience, we’re a friendly NCTJ team who are compassionate and easy to talk to.
If it’s difficult for you to talk about over the phone, just let us know and we will send a reporter to come and meet you and have a chat over a cup of tea.
To read more about the story selling process, see our How to Sell My Story page. You can also see a small selection of our recent clients below…
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