John Locke

John Locke (born 1951) is a writer and novelist who was the eighth author—and first self-published author—to sell over one million eBooks on Amazon.com. Locke is a New York Times best-selling author, and is best known for his Donovan Creed thriller series and Emmett Love Western series. His works are self-published worldwide. In the U.S., Locke's books are released through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service. Locke's books have been translated into over 29 languages.

Education and career

Locke was born in Puerto Rico to a Canadian military father and an American mother. He wrote a short story titled "Ants Aren't Very Nice," which his teacher enjoyed so much that she read it to his class, and then had him read it to a higher class.

Since he began publishing in 2010, Locke has sold more than 2 million eBooks, 1.5 million of which are from the Donovan Creed series. Every eBook he has published has gone on to become an Amazon best seller.

The other seven authors to top one million in eBook sales sell their novels for upwards of $10.00. In this work, Locke uses the term "Loyalty Transference" to describe the act of transferring a reader's loyalty from one concept or idea to another, and advises would-be writers to seek out audiences that relate to their own blogging content and style. This deal was finished by February 2012, and made Locke the first author to sign a specific distribution deal with Simon & Schuster. He retained all editorial rights, and control of design, content, and pricing.

Controversy In August 2012, The New York Times revealed that John Locke had paid an online service to write reviews of his books, in order to artificially boost sales.

Nonfiction How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in Five Months (2011) (Telemachus Press)

Awards and recognition

Locke was named Second Act magazine's best-second-act-reinvention.

In December 2012, Time Magazine named Locke as one of the "Stars of the DIY-Publishing Era."

Personal life Locke lives in Louisville, Kentucky.