Alison
At Featureworld nothing makes me happier than happy customers!
Here’s what a few of them have to say in their review about selling a story through Alison … click on their names to read their full stories!
Reviews about Featureworld: WHAT PEOPLE SAY:
Antonio Marsocci
“Every morning I am waking up to hundreds of positive messages from all over the world. I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I am overwhelmed and happy that my story is already achieving its goals.”
Story Single gay man who is HIV positive has twins using donor eggs and surrogate
Publications: Sunday Mirror, Mail Online
William Atkins
“I would just like to say that you have written such an amazing article and it is just what I wanted.”
Story: I hatched a duckling from a Waitrose supermarket egg.
Publications: Daily Mail, Metro, LadBible
Marie Neal
‘Thank you so much Aliso for telling our story so well. We’re over the moon with the article! The pix are really good…Essie looks adorable. Been inundated with texts with lovely comments. Even friends in Anglesey who saw it on Sky News!’
Story: Baby aged 49 – after years of IVF
Publications: Daily Mail, Take a Break
Charlene Clarke
‘Alison you have been great to work with, always available for queries, direct with what to expect and what not to expect, you have been perfect for me and my family.
I feel like you have watched my family grow, thank you for all your help and support to get our story heard over the last year.
I feel sad to say good bye, even though we are departing on success.
Job well done’
Story: Compensation after contraceptive got lost in my arm and prevented me from having a much longed for second child.
Publications: Take a Break mag, Daily Mail
Emma Ingram
‘The story is online this morning so I’ll buy the paper later. Thank you so much for writing it and organising it to go in the paper. The story is fab … I won’t be dealing with anyone other than yourself. Really appreciate what you do.’
Story: My husband and I just wanted a sibling for our son – and we ended up having two sets of twins
Publications: Daily Mail, Take a Break
Dr Deepali Misra-Sharp
‘I want to say how beautifully you wrote that article and how you really captured the essence of what we wanted to share. You are absolutely brilliant and I’m so glad you wrote the piece. We absolutely love it. xx’
Story: My husband and I gave up millionaire lifestyle as investment bankers to retrain as GPs.
Publications: Daily Mail News, follow up story in Daily Mail features
Gemma Mahon
‘I’ve just bought a thousand copies of the paper. It looks so fab and I’m so pleased we did this. Thank you! I am really proud and excited and just hope it might inspire eve one woman out there!’
Story: I conceived a baby with an internet sperm donor – and nine months later met Mr Right
Publications: Daily Mail
Connie Yates and Chris Gard
‘You have been amazing and we never would have got this far without you and your amazing work… you have become such a big part of our journey.’
Story: Charlie Gard
Publications: Worldwide newspaper, magazine, TV coverage
Simona Marcoccia
‘I liked the article and happy as you have been so kind all the time. I feel euphoric to be on the newspaper and released after my dramatic story, sort of “redemption” ‘
Story: Stalked by jealous boyfriend’s ex
Publications: The Sun, Take a Break
Deb Gallivan
‘You wrote 2 articles about my beautiful daughter last year and her personal struggle with her Cancer diagnosis and her pregnancy both articles appeared in the Mail on Sunday/ Daily mail also she made a brief appearance on Good Morning. Just a brief note to let you know that my brave girl lost her fight mid November, missing her gorgeous boy Cooper,1st birthday by 3 weeks, for the 11 months that she was able to have with her longed for baby boy were a blessing.
Luckily we have the printed articles to share with Cooper when he is old enough to understand.Thankyou for the written words.
Kindest regards Deb Gallivan (Natasha’s mum)’
Story: Your baby or your life
Publications: Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday, ITV Good Morning Britain, Take a Break
Georgina Mortimer
“Alison absolutely championed my story; she was utterly tenacious, unfailingly professional and very supportive during a difficult time. She protected me – selling my story felt very exposing and scary. Doing this was a tough decision and I needed someone who could do the job with tact and sensitivity…You could not do better than select Alison to sell your story. Thank you Alison.” Read the full review
Story: Raped on holiday
Publications: Sun on Sunday, Daily Mail News, Daily Mail features, BBC Victoria Derbyshire, ITV News, The Independent, Daily Star, Daily Mirror and worldwide.
Louisa Eagle
“You’re amazing I just read it and sent it to my friends as well. It so much better seeing it. I love it. All my friends think I’m even more bizarre haha. Thank you so much for taking it onboard and writing it :)”
Story: I eat jars of baby food to keep slim
Publications: Mirror Online, Mail Online, Sun Online
Marc Jepson and Sasha Hood
“One of my work colleagues this morning showed me the Mail article but we had no idea about the sun one! It’s brilliant we both absolutely love them 🙂 thank you! Thank you so much for your work and fingers crossed there will be more to come! :)”
Story: I delivered my girlfriend’s baby – she didn’t even know she was pregnant
Publications: Bella mag, Mail Online, Sun Online
Judith Stillwell
“Thank you Alison. You have been lovely all the way through this, I am so glad that I found you as I have felt safe all the way.”
Story: I disovered my husband has 47 other women dotted around the world just like me.
Publications: Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun, ITV This Morning, That’s Life mag
Gill Farrington
“I haven’t given any credit to Alison Smith-Squire from Featureworld who I approached with the bigamy story, she looked after me and made sure I was looked after when I decided to sell my story. Thank you Alison it’s been a rocky road and I’ve been verbally slapped many times for not going on This Morning and meeting the lovely silver fox Philip Schofield!!!X
Story: My husband was a bigamist.
Publications: The Sun, Take a Break mag
“Thank you so much Alison for writing the truth. Since my story appeared in the Daily Mail I have felt so much better and I feel so relieved to get my side of this story out there at last! And to be invited onto ITV This Morning was amazing.”
Story: I innocently posted a photo on Facebook of my Down’s Syndrome son playing in a washing machine on Facebook and when it went viral, I felt like the world’s most hated mum.
Publications: Daily Mail, ITV This Morning, Daily Mirror online, Bild Germany.
Alys Harahap
“Just to say I’ve now seen the article and I’m so pleased with it. I’m amazed you managed to fit so much information into it, and it strongly hits back on everything that people have falsely said against me. I’m also pleased with the headline and photos. Thank you so much again for all your help – it really has meant so much to me.”
Story: Foreign Office threw me to the wolves.
Publications: Mail On Sunday
Chantel Graf
“You have done so much for me. I am so grateful and I am glad you took on my story.”
Story: Mum starved to death after gastric bypass surgery.
Publications: The Sunday People, Daily Mail, ITV This Morning, Woman’s Own.
Louise Griffiths
“Just to let you know the story was in today’s Take a Break and I’m really happy with it if I’m honest I was really nervous lol but I’m so glad I contacted you and I did it so thank you so much for all your help :)”
Story: I lost half my body weight while in a coma.
Publications: Take a Break magazine. Louise is shortly to appear in a second magazine.
Ellie Fairfax
“We are really happy to have done our story as it hopefully raises awareness of cervical cancer screening & also that there is life after cancer and ways to have children following treatment 🙂 And we are really grateful to you for everything you’ve done for us.”
Story: Surrogacy – I had a baby for my sister Siobhan when cervical cancer left her infertile.
Publications: Sunday People newspaper, Daily Mail newspaper (twice), Take a Break magazine, Woman magazine.
Christina Foulger
“Alison, I just wanted to say thank you for your help I have had a lot of wonderful comments of support and bravery from friends and family. I am very happy my story was told so positively in Take a Break and that hopefully anyone reading it who is in a similar situation can gain strength and hope that things will improve.”
Story: Ex sent naked photos of me to my boss
Publications: Cosmopolitan mag, Take a Break mag.
Samantha Collins
“Alison, Thank you so much for writing such a beautiful piece. I am almost at a loss for words. Today has been very emotional for all of us with the most amazing messages of support and love. Thank you again from the very bottom of our hearts.”
Story: Married lawyer with four children transitioning into a woman.
Publications: Mail on Sunday, Take a Break mag.
Jane Healy
“Oh my goodness we are so so thrilled with the story!! We can’t thank you enough for everything you have done in helping us so far to get to this and for writing it so beautifully! What a whirlwind yesterday was! We have been so touched by people even strangers may this be the start of something wonderful in raising burns awareness!”
Story: Burnt alive as a little girl made me the woman I am today.
Publications: The Sun newspaper, Take a Break magazine, ITV This Morning.
Jim Higgins
“The night after I spoke with Alison I had the first proper sleep in weeks. I had loads of support from the Daily Mail and their readers which really helped. I didn’t want to sell my story. I didn’t want any payment, just to get my story out there. I am so thankful to everyone for their support and relieved that following publication of the article, I was cleared – the Police said they didn’t need to take matters further and the nightmare is over.”
Story: Pensioner hauled into the police station for tidying a footpath
Publications: The Daily Mail newspaper, local papers, local BBC and ITV.
Karen Wood
“Ruth is going from strength to strength, all of her problems are very much behind her now. Her weight has remained stable and she is happy again. Very different from the withdrawn, anxious and depressed teenager she once was. She hasn’t forgotten, however, what she went through, and in June is performing in a concert to raise money for a mental health charity. I know I have said it before but I think a large part of her recovery process was speaking to you about her problems and allowing it to be published, so thank you again!”
Story: I didn’t notice my daughter Ruth’s eating disorder.
Publications: Daily Mail, Woman magazine.
Scope Charity for the disabled – on behalf of Marie Andrews
“Your piece about Marie is brilliant – really well handled and gave her an amazing opportunity to talk about her life without it being overly sensationalised … really pleased with it all.”
Story: Only half a body but I know I’ll be a good mum.
Publications: Sunday People newspaper, That’s Life magazine. Marie and husband Dan are shortly to appear on TV.
“Thank you so much once again for making such a fantastic job out of my story! I have received soooo much positive feedback from it, and 99% of all of them said it had them in bits with many shedding a tear!!
I have decided out of the proceeds to take a city break with one of my dearest friends to New York so that is what I’m going to be spending the money on and I cannot wait.
I cannot thank you enough Alison, if my story gave at least one person some hope then it served its purpose.”
Story: Doctors said my cancer was terminal – then I googled a second opinion and another doctor gave me a life saving op.
Publication: Daily Mail, Take a Break
“It has been a great pleasure meeting you (even on-line) and I have enjoyed telling my story in a way that it has helped me move on. Telling my story to you has not been a problem even without a telephone and I am so pleased it has been a success where others failed me.
“Telling my story and the publicity itself has indeed helped me to move on and thank you for everything.”
Story: Duped out of £30,000 in internet dating scam.
Publication: Daily Mail, Real People magazine.
“Just e-mailing to say thank you! I’m very happy with the article, especially considering it included pictures and the receipt! Brilliant 🙂 I love how it article has spread around various news sites on the internet already and how people have started tweeting about it and sharing! Exactly what I wanted… I’m very happy with the outcome. Many, many thanks, once again.”
Story: Innocent Tesco shopper branded a thief
Publication: Sunday People newspaper
“WOW !!!! OMG what a wonderful job you have done for me. The article is perfect, just as we discussed to the word and the photos are lovely. Your time and effort is evident and the story is beautifully written, Thank you. Lovely day for me and I hope for you, with a beautiful Daily Mail copy to keep forever. Thank you for speaking to the magazine and for getting me such a good deal as well.”
Story: I gave my daughter away so I could drink
Publication: Daily Mail (Femail), Take a Break mag.
“Just thought I would ping you an email to say thank you so much for the fantastic job you did of our story. It is so reassuring to have an ethical journalist – not to mention a smashing lady – leading us through this. The story looked great, got loads of great comments and, so far, has been shared well over 400 times. Since that, as I’m sure Kate has told you we’ve had some promising calls from BBC Breakfast and the guys from ITV Central are coming round for an interview later on today – I don’t think you can buy PR like that! So, in a nutshell, thank you.”
Story: Defied doctors’ predictions he’d be infertile by fathering a baby girl after 54 rounds of chemo.
Publication: MailOnline.
“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done! My story was about gaining justice and I don’t think I would have had the strength to have gone through with it unless I’d had your support. I’ve had some amazing positive messages through my Facebook this morning… and my family were as delighted as I am with the sensitive way my story has been portrayed. I am made up – I can’t thank you enough for all your support and for getting my story out there.”
Story: Gang raped by three strangers.
Publications: The Sun, Take a Break mag, Daily Mail.
‘Thank you so much for the experience Alison, for everything, for the articles in The Daily Mail and Thats Life mag and for going on This Morning it was an amazing time and it has all given me the chance to tell my side of the story, to get things out into the open instead of hiding behind it and the closure I needed…….and if i can help just one person by doing this then it has all been so worthwhile…….Thank YOU so much, you have been a blessing to me. You are so kind and I am so glad I found you… you are like my friend, not my agent.’
Story: Sexually abused by spiritual healer Michael Ireland, who was jailed for 16 years.
Publications: Daily Mail, That’s Life magazine, ITV This Morning
“It was only by chance that I emailed my story to Alison at Featureworld. I was so impressed with Alison and at how professional she was from the very first phone call. I knew instantly that Alison was the one to help me reach the kind of audience that I wanted and that she actually cared. I did a telephone interview and within days, Alison called me and read my story back to me that she had written. The way in which it was written impressed me and I couldn’t wait to see it printed!
Selling my story has been one of the best things I have ever done. I know that I have definitely helped others and I feel so proud of myself.”
Story: Gastric bypass is starving me to death
Publications: The Sun, Take a Break magazine, Japanese reality TV.
‘Alison, I literally cannot thank you enough for what you’ve done for me.’
Story: Overcame anorexia to go to Cambridge and study medicine
Publications: Mail On Sunday, More magazine
‘From my own experiences in dealing with Featureworld I would 110% encourage others to contact Alison to sell a story. Alison is honest and does her best to make sure you’re happy and comfortable throughout the whole process. Selling my story was one of the best things I ever did and I don’t regret it for a second.’
Story: Sex change to look like Kate Price
Publications: Sunday Mirror, ITV This Morning, Closer mag (twice), German TV.
“I can’t thank you enough for getting this story out there. Thank you so much Alison. You did an amazing job writing my story.”
Story: Our love was not enough – adoption went wrong
Publications: Daily Mail, Take a Break, Woman mag.
‘Alison gained wide exposure for our story, including The Sun, Bella Magazine and ITV Daybreak. She works with the highest levels of integrity and is highly respected as a result. Making sure those she writes articles for are happy is her priority, always reading copy before publication. There are never any surprises with Alison. We would work with her again.’
Story: My little girl has Down’s Syndrome but she’s become a model
Publications: The Sun, Bella mag, Daily Mail, ITV Daybreak
‘We were delighted with our positive story in The Sun newspaper. Conor even took some copies to school! Myself and the children are also so, so happy with the article in Best mag. We have been absolutely delighted with the way our story has been dealt with and cannot thank Featureworld enough.’
Story: I was dad but I changed sex to become mum
Publications: The Sun, Best magazine, ITV This Morning
“When my story appeared on the front page, I didn’t know where to turn – but luckily I found Alison! It’s a relief not to have to deal with all the media attention by myself and know there is a professional to turn to.”
Story: Molested by Jimmy Savile – Deborah came to Featureworld after her story appeared on the front page of the Sun and she needed emergency media advice.
Publications: ITV This Morning, Bella
“A friend contacted Alison to ask her about doing a story. I was a little wary – I’ve encountered so much prejudice in my life and so much unhappiness and I did wonder if doing a story in the press was the right thing.
“But after talking it over with Alison I decided to go ahead. One reason was because I believe it is only by getting stories like mine out into the public eye that such prejudice will eventually no longer exist at all. All my copy was read back to me so I had absolutely no surprises when I opened the paper and saw my story. Alison wrote my story exactly as it was and it was moving to see it there in black and white.
“I can honestly say since my article appeared in the Sunday Mirror and Daily Mail my life has changed beyond all belief. Many people where I lived have no idea I’ve had a sex change but everyone has been so supportive and it is lovely that now everyone knows. I’ve even been stopped in the street by well-wishers saying well done.
“When Alison told me ITV This Morning wanted me on their show I was overjoyed – it was a dream come true. I can’t describe how happy doing this has made me and how enjoyable the whole process has been.”
Story: At 69 – Oldest person in the UK to have a sex change
Publications: Sunday Mirror, Daily Mail, ITV This Morning, Channel 5 News
‘Since your article in the Daily Mail things have seriously taken off. That article literally changed our lives and that of many thousands of others who before that feature didn’t know this cream existed. Thank you so much for making this happen for us, it has literally changed the face of our business.’
Story: I cooked up an eczema cream in my own kitchen
Publications: Daily Mail, ITV Daybreak, Dragon’s Den, and Natalie went on to be nominated and win a number of prestigious business awards. Her company Pure Potions went from a two-person work team to a 30-person workforce turning over almost £500K per year.
‘I came to Alison to sell my story in 2009 and I have continued selling my story through her ever since! My stories are always read back to me to check I’m happy with them and I am always paid promptly.’
Story: Britain’s fattest teen becomes anorexic
Publications: The Sun, Daily Mail, Reveal Magazine, Closer (three times), Daily Mirror, That’s Life Mag, Real People mag, Chat magazine, Best magazine, Daily Star, ITV This Morning, and story sold to France, US, Germany, Brazil.
“Alison was fantastic and I felt in complete control about what she had written about me. If you are going to sell your story it is very important to find someone who is experienced at understanding your emotions. Alison was just brilliant and made me feel at ease. I would recommend her service every time.”
Story: Why I’m celibate
Publication: Daily Mirror
Dawn Green
“I decided to sell my story to raise awareness of my extremely rare cancer. Alison read my story back to me for my full approval before anything was printed and as expected the story was indeed fantastic. It appeared in a national Sunday paper and two magazines and I also went on TV – also a fantastic experience. Family and friends were thrilled to see such great articles and even staff at the hospital where I had my treatment got in touch to say they had cut the articles out and had kept them in intensive care to show other patients. I would thoroughly recommend using your services to sell a story.”
Story: I was given three months to live
Publications: Sunday Mirror. Best, Reveal, ITV This Morning
‘Alison is a journo with feeling, heart and an great deal of integrity. She is totally trustworthy – I can vouch for that.’
Story: We left our husbands for a woman
Publication: Daily Mail as part of a bigger feature along with another interviewee, Lynn Cassidy, below.
Lynn Cassidy
“Many people would not feel comfortable discussing such a personal issue with a journalist but you are so easy to talk to and never judgemental.”
“It was a lovely two page spread and I was really happy with it. I hope we have more deals with other publications in the future as it has been a pleasure to work with you. I was extremely worried about selling my story in the beginning but am happy with the results.”
Story: Pregnant aged 11
Publications: Sunday People, Pick Me Up magazine. Book published: Nobody Cared.
Mark McDougall and Kerry Robertson
“The reason we have always gone through Alison is that she has not only always done her best to protect us but has also gone the extra mile by offering us words of comfort during hard times. She is not only a publicist or journalist, but also a friend.”
Story: Social services took our baby away.
Publications: Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday, Sunday Mirror, Best magazine, New! magazine, Pick Me Up magazine, Reveal Magazine, ITV Daybreak.
More: Read our most recently sold stories