John Locke, a thriller author whose Donovan Creed novels I’ve enjoyed, has just surpassed 1 million ebooks sold for the Amazon Kindle.

This is quite an achievement, particularly given that Locke is a self-published author without the marketing muscle of a major literary house behind him. According to ReadWriteWeb:

Since the Kindle’s launch, Amazon has heralded each new arrival into what it calls the “Kindle Million Club,” the group of authors who have sold over 1 million Kindle e-books. There have been seven authors in this club up ’til now – some of the big names in publishing: Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts for example.

I love Larsson’s “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” books and Patterson’s mystery/thrillers. But Locke’s are different. He writes in a powerful, tough-guy, first-person voice and his plots are wild, pushing the bounds of reality as far as possible… and sometimes beyond. Locke’s books are always a quick read, perfect for those who want some easily digestible entertainment.

The other thing to know about John Locke’s novels is they are priced at 99 cents, and this seems to be a magic price point for Kindle best sellers. I’ll give just about any book a shot for 99 cents. And maybe that is the secret.

At any rate, congratulations to John Locke for his great achievement. To commemorate it, he’s come out with a new Kindle book, “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!” Unfortunately, this one’s selling for $4.99.

I’ll probably buy it anyway…