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Author John Locke Sells 1 Million Kindle Books

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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…

Kindle Sales Surpass Physical Books on Amazon.com

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It was bound to happen. Amazon.com has announced that since April 1, 2011, it has sold 105 Kindle ebooks for every 100 physical books sold on the site.

This is great news — for a couple of reasons.

To my mind, ebooks are superior to printed books in every way, so I’m happy to see them succeed. This means they’ll continue to evolve, as will the devices we read them on. How are ebooks superior? You can download them immediately upon purchase. Your can take your entire library with you in a small, light device. And reading them is a pleasure, with built-in conveniences like varied font sizes and a dictionary that works automatically with any highlighted word.

My excitement as a reader, however, is nearly surpassed by my excitement as a writer. Kindle books, and those of other platforms, are a godsend for authors of all sorts. There are writers today who have built huge audiences for their books strictly on ebook platforms. Amanda Hocking and John Locke come to mind.

No longer are writers required to play the agent/publishing house game. They can if they want. But it’s not a requirement. This is the free market at its best. Writers can simply upload and readers can download, with no middlemen, or gatekeepers, in the mix.

Clearly, we’ll see a whole new generations of writers emerge based on the freedom and power of this platform. They’ll do thrilling new things and old things in entirely new ways.

Perhaps I’ll even be uploading something myself in the not too distant future…