John Locke

John Locke 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 attended boarding school in Pennsylvania, and he has said that he first became interested in writing during elementary school, after being bitten by an ant. 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. Despite early interest, his career and most of his life involved no writing, focusing his energy instead on selling insurance and investing in real estate, where he made most of his fortune. He attended college at Northwestern State University, in Natchitoches, LA, where he considered majoring in journalism; however, he decided to focus his studies elsewhere. He began singing for a rock band and working as a door-to-door insurance salesman, where he advanced to area vice president by the time he was 21 years old. Later he moved to Louisville, KY, and at 35 founded Freedom Life Insurance. This company grew to include nearly 7000 insurance agents in 34 states, and in 1995 he sold the company to become a private real-estate investor. Locke currently owns two insurance agencies and 13 shopping centers.