My name is David Pearson, I’m 62 retired Electrical Wholesaler, I live in Torquay.
I first came down to the Southwest to take over as Group Manager for City Electrical Factors, employing more that 100 staff. I was successful, I turned it around from a loss, to make a very healthy profit.
During my earlier years living in Stockport, I found I was very useful in entertaining, not just my three children, Tony, Carl and Jon, but all my nephews and nieces. I used to make up stories in my head based on a young rogue called Jonny Pimple. I used to say that he was a naughty boy, however schools have now changed and the word “naughty” is now banned in schools, you have to use the phrase “bad choices” now.
The world has gone nuts in my opinion, but one has to go with the flow.
For thirty years I used to read my young family members these stories of Jonny Pimple, most of the time I used to just make them up, remembering to use the line “He He He” when he was going to do something naughty, sorry, make bad choices.
This went on for over 30 years when in 2013 I decided to put one of my stories down on paper.
“Send it to a publisher” my family said to me, so I tried! I waited six weeks till I got a knock back.
That was the end of that, I thought.
Life went on and I got fed up of my career and retired at 57. This seemed good at the time but I soon got bored. Many of people said to me that I should of sent my book to as many publisher I could find, so I started to rethink my ideas.
I met a self made millionaire Tom Barran, who encouraged me to make my dreams happen, I said, I wouldn’t know where to start. He said that his daughter would help me.
So it began, he suggested I opened a website, to which I hadn’t got a clue how! Tracy, Toms daughter, was brilliant with me, holding my hand and telling me to make a conditions of sale page, and allow for data protection when you take paypal payments. Most of the time I hadn’t got a clue what’s she was on about !!!
I muddled through and finished the webpage www.jonnypimple.com
I then decided to think of my best story, if fact I had to ring my niece Amy Beth, who helped me remember what my best ones were!
Her first suggestion was Jonny Pimple and the yellow snow, I laughed and thought, maybe not that one!
So we came up with another story called “Jonny Pimple and the Witch.”
I was amazed at her memory, she did love me telling her stories, in fact I asked her if she wanted to be in the first book, she was delighted.
I then needed an illustrator to draw me some cartoons. This was not as easy as I thought, the first one I approached on Torquay harbour wanted over £600. My budget at the time was £100
Another knockback I thought, but then I met a young man from Paignton called Lee Pickering, he was brilliant, he quickly saw my passion and said that he liked the idea of that Jonny Pimple is a bad lad, however the book was full of great morals and had some serious consequences for Jonny when he was bad.
I have recently found out that local schools also love fact the book has morals.
Lee made deal with me, and I agreed to share my book with him. I would definitely recommend him as an illustrator.
I finished my story and Lee and Tracy put it together for me with pictures. Tom introduced me to his Publisher in Bridgwater and off I went.
The book was brilliant, and I asked him to print me 150 copies, with a life size poster and 700 leaflets. The invoice for this work was a killer, over £500 Wow! I would have to work hard just to break even.
My first success came via social media, I sold 50 copies to friends and family within 3 days.
I opened up a Facebook business page, this was not successful because most of the clients were based in America, one of them actually said “ Why have you named a book after a puss ridden face spot.
You can’t please all Americans !!!
The book itself can be purchased on my website www.jonnypimple.com for under £4, this would make an ideal Christmas present.
As of writing this blog, I have been asked by two local schools to come and read my book to the children, they love the morals and it teaches kids a lesson if they make bad choices in life.
If any local school in Devon want me to visit there school as a local author, I would be more than willing to bring my life size picture of “Jonny” and tell my stories to the children.
My Jonny Pimple is a nine year old cheeky lad, who is always doing naughty things, he tells lies as well.
The one thing I was determined to do was to show that, when he is naughty things don’t always go right for him.
The second book in the series is called “Jonny and the Policeman”. He thinks it’s cool to knock a policeman’s hat off in front of his friends, OMG does that prove a bad choice, see what happens to him?
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