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Journalists team up to launch 'real life' agency

A former local press journalist and editor has teamed up with a freelance reporter to launch a news agency specialising in ‘true life’ stories.

John Jeffay, who edited the Manchester Metro News and spent 19 years with the Manchester Evening News, is working with MEN columnist Angela Epstein at Sell That Story.

John told HTFP: “Working with Angela seemed the perfect partnership. She has a lot of experience writing for national newspapers and is great with people.

“I have a wealth of sales experience dealing with all the national newspapers and many magazines.

“There’s a synergy there and we work well together. We hope that there’s going to be a long term future in it.

“There’s dozens weekly true life titles and a vast requirement for ordinary people with extraordinary stories to relate – that’s where we come in.

“Often they don’t really know how to do it so we get them through it.”

John, who performed a host of roles at the MEN including picture editor and latterly syndication editor, left the title in October as part of an editorial shakeup when certain functions were centralised.

Angela spent six years with the Bury Times and now writes mainly on health and women’s issues as well as true life stories.

Earlier this month she featured in the Cutting Edge documentary on Channel 4 ‘My daughter grew another head and other true life stories’.

In it, she was seen interviewing a chef whose friend was serving time in prison for cannibalism but insisted on sending recipes to the cook.

Last year she also evoked the rage of the Gallagher brothers when she penned a column for the MEN about how a trio of gigs by their group Oasis were ruining Heaton Park near her home.