I think an update is in order, so let’s roll on a few months from the London Book Fair, which quite ‘literally’ changed my life!
It is now coming towards the end of August and this time next month will be one of the most exciting times in my life as an author. To many people who know me, calling myself an author is still tough for me to say, but let's go with it because as of the 30th September one of my eight books, WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME will be in major book shops in the UK and hopefully worldwide.
As you will have read, or maybe not, in my previous post below, I had an amazing time at the London Book Fair this year. My three days spent there were so inspiring in so many ways. From the fellow authors I met, who are featured below and who have become good friends, to being recognised as an author. In fact, people came up to me during the three days, read my name badge and said either, "I'm following you on Twitter", "I have your books on my kindle" or "I have read your books." That was a strange feeling but I'll tell you something, it was a wonderful feeling. AMAZING!
So really apart from all that, the main news is that after leaving many, and I mean many press releases about me and my books, (thank you Julie Tucker) on the stands of various publishing companies, I had an email a few weeks later from one, requesting three consecutive chapters of WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME. Of course I emailed them. A few weeks later, I received another email saying they wish to read the whole manuscript as their editors were so impressed. They said they would get back to me. I didn't hear a thing, no email, no phone call, nothing.
A few weeks went by and still nothing. I thought to myself that the moment was lost.
It was a Saturday at the end of May. It was a special day, one of my nephews was getting Barmitzvah’d, the whole event was magical, the weather was stunning and so was my companion Julie Tucker. Yes, the same Julie Tucker. Going from the shul (synagogue), where my nephew excelled in making the religious and symbolic transition from boy to man, to a lunchtime family celebration, I popped back to my flat for a moment, as it was on the way to the party. I noticed an A4 envelope that had been posted while I was out that morning. I opened the letter and stood and stared for a moment or two, maybe three or four if I'm honest, my eyes darting from one word to another all over the letter, trying to make sense of the black font before me, which wasn’t easy as my hands were shaking.
The reason for the trembling was because what I was holding in my hands was something every self-published author dreams of, it was a publishing contract from that same publishing company, offering me a publishing deal.
That weekend was full of celebrations.
So as from next month, look out for WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME in book shops courtesy of AUSTIN MACAULAY PUBLISHING COMPANY!
So after
writing in one of my marketing books, MY WAY TOO, about my first visit to the
London Book Fair last year, I went along last week to Olympia for this year’s
event and I would like to share my thoughts with you.
Over
the last year my profile has increased immensely worldwide on social media and,
happily (because it is how I make my living) so has the interest in my books, five
in all and another four in the pipeline this year. My followers on Twitter have
increased by thousands since last year and now stand at over 31,000, growing
daily. My two Facebook pages also receive great interaction with fellow authors
and readers. I have really upped the ante on my LinkedIn profile and now have
over 3,000 connections on there too. My new website is up and running and
already achieving over 1,500 hits per month. I am also having success with my
other social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, Google plus and my
blog which has had almost 90,000 page views. I am not just an author, I also
market authors from around the world.
The
reason I’m telling you about my exposure is that I actually got recognised, yes I
know unbelievable, at the book fair, and not just once but on many occasions
during the three days, and it was such a huge surprise to me and really quite
humbling.
The entrance
fee of only £36 has to be one of the best investments I have ever made in my career
as an author.
My planned
routine at the fair was to get there between 9 and 10, spend say an hour on my
laptop doing some social media marketing, with a coffee or two of course, and
then once finished begin my journey around the exhibition. On Tuesday, the first
day, I was armed with my book marks which display my 5 book covers, profile
picture and my contact and social media details. I also had around 150 copies
of my press release which comprises a brief bio, book synopses, samples of book
reviews and colour book cover images. I have to thank my editor, agent and
girlfriend Julie Tucker for producing this for me.
So
looking smart and with my ammunition in my computer bag, along with my laptop,
I set about visiting as many stands as possible to chat and distribute my press
release to representatives from the many publishing companies that were exhibiting
there, as well as generally peruse the numerous author’s stands.
I didn’t
have any pre-arranged meetings with publishing companies, I just went along to
market myself and to meet authors and whoever wanted to talk to me. You could
say that I wore the leather from my soles as I walked around the fair
continuously for the three days. I must have covered miles.
Apart
from going to seminars hosted by Amazon, I also gravitated around their stand,
talking to top authors such as Rachel Abbott, Joanne Penn, LJ Ross and Mel
Sherratt. Mel and I had chatted on Twitter before because of a mutual friend.
Also I met Keith Houghton and Mark Dawson and as a result we are now following
each other Twitter.
My first
experience of being a recognised author was when I met fellow author Helena
Halme as I was sitting at a table working on my laptop. Helene asked if she
could share my table to have her lunch, and cheekily I replied: “Only if you
share your sandwich.” She laughed and agreed. After establishing that we had lots
in common, we agreed to follow each other on Twitter. As I was getting her name
up on my Twitter feed, she held up her mobile and said, “Oh look, I’m already
following you.” By the end of our chat I had shared with her a few my book marketing
tips. I saw her quite often during the three days and we now have a friendship.
Oh! And the egg sandwich went down a treat, thank you Helena.
Helena
is in the middle of the photo, but I also met Karen Inglis on the right and Carol Cooper, yes you guessed
it, is on the left!
THE FINNISH GIRL is Helena’s latest published
book.
Oh! And I couldn’t miss out the egg sandwich!
The next
moment of recognition came when as I was about to leave a table after yet more social
media marketing. I gave up my seat for a lovely lady, Anna John-Ligali from
Books and Authors UK and as I gave her a bookmark, Anna immediately said, “I
know your name, I’m following you on Twitter.” As she looked at my bookmark,
she continued: “I also have Wrong Place Wrong Time on my Kindle.” Of course we
started to chat and she asked some questions about Twitter and book marketing
in general and I was delighted to offer her some tips. We are now in contact
over social media.
I
then met Ray Burke, author of The Starguards, but I’ll let him tell you about
how we met. Here is his post which he put on Facebook after we met.
“After the seminar, I met author David P Perlmutter, we have a mutual
author friend KJ Waters (among others), who suggested we should meet up for the
first time. We got talking as David, along with a storied background, is also
the writer of the MY WAY series of help books for indie authors. We chatted and
he helped me to understand Twitter better, which as a twentieth-century caveman
I had decided was not as useful as other sites, but a few hashtags and more new
followers later, I was convinced and now I hashtag the shit out of everything.
David is currently writing his 4th MY WAY book, which may feature myself as one
of his subjects. We also talked pricing, which I had mentioned before, and
better marketing/PR strategies. I felt like I had talked to an agent.”
I am delighted to say that both KJ and Ray will
be featured in the next instalment of the MY WAY books, this one features SCIFI
authors, this one is called, MY WAY FOUR – May the 4th Be With You.
Out on Amazon, yep you guessed it May 4th!
We also met Nick Sheridan, whose book The Wrong Ghost will be published soon!
Nick is in the middle, but you knew that!
Another chap Ray, Nick and I met was author
Stephen Marriott, who is the author of true travel story called Candyfloss Guitar. Ray and I met Steve
at a stand where we had a few whiskies, well the stand belonged to Publishing
Scotland so firstly, what would you expect and secondly, thank you for the
beverages. We did somehow end up in a pub in London Bridge, but that’s another true
story.
On the second day of the event, again whilst I
was sat at a table working on some self-marketing, three people asked to join
me as there were three chairs looking very lonely. Admittedly, I was wearing a badge
with my name on it, but when Alexander Grosmann said, “Oh you’re the author David
P Perlmutter, we’ve heard of you,” I was quite bowled over. Quick as a flash,
he took out his tablet and took a photo of me. We are now connected on Twitter.
He and his colleagues were from Germany and America!
Here is that photo of me and here is one of
Alexander!
And
then I met the multi-talented Jessica Martin, of stage and TV fame and who is
not just an author but an illustrator, actress, singer, comedian and a whole
lot more.
I
have met Jessica a few times before, in fact I have done some marketing for
her, and so I knew that she would be at the fair. She had a stand promoting her
incredible graphic comics, IT GIRL, VIVACITY and her most recent published book,
ELSIE HARRIS PICTURE PALACE! I told her about how people have recognised me,
she said, “I thought you were glowing David, enjoy the adulation.” Coming from someone
who has been in the public eye for many years, of course I will and have taken
her advice and I’m enjoying the limelight.
Oh
and thank you for the signed copy of your latest book Jessica.
There was also a few after fair drink
parties where I had people coming up to me and saying that they have heard of
me and my books, it was such a buzz!
One of the after drinks parties on the Wednesday
evening was kindly hosted by the Alliance of Independent Authors, where we were
given the opportunity to do a video about our journey as self-published authors.
Here I am talking about my journey at the Hand and Flower pub across from the
conference centre, hosted by Orna Ross and ALLi with an open bar, hence a pint
in my hand. We also met Jon-Jon the author of Aaron the Alien and also an Australian
Doctor called Amanda Neill who writes medical books and who was flying back home
the following day. We also met Debdatta Sahay who is a blogger,
reviewer and publicist, AKA known as DD and Saiswaroopa Iyer who is an author and
columnist. I also met talented author Lorna Dounaeva who is also a
self-published author and her two books FRY and MAY QUEEN KILLERS have been
very well received by readers around the globe.
Also, on the recommendation
of bestselling author Mark Dawson, I have now placed my books on another free
book website, Draft2Digital who are based in Oklahoma. They distribute to most known
worldwide online book stores, such as Barnes & Noble, Kobo and ibook and as
authors we receive 60% of any books sold. Oh, and they distribute to over 200
countries, so really, a no brainer, and all from coming to the London Book
Fair. Authors if you haven’t put your books on there yet, do it NOW.
So as you can
see from this review of my few days at the London Book Fair, a lot has happened,
I met so many top people and on the 30th April we will all be
meeting up again at another indie author reunion.
