West Lothian Interview

Kindle for Christmas sets John on the write lines

A West Lothian author has just had his first novel published on the Amazon Kindle store.

And John Dow's book, 'From Within' has sold an incredible 700 copies in just a week.

Apart from his writing, John, from Eliburn, is an avid reader and reckons that he reads about 200 novels a year. A keen walker, John even takes his Kindle with him on his walks about the town.

"I got a Kindle for Christmas," he added, "and I loved it and the convenience of the device."

Although the first draft of John's book was written in 2005, it was only recently that he dusted it down and finished it off. "I am not a confident person, but I have an incredibly supportive partner," he added. "She found it, read it, loved it and nagged me to take it further."

The inspiration for John's book, which is a short, fast and gruesome story about two Celtic deities warring over a small Scottish Borders town at the edge of their realms, came about when he was driving in the Borders one foggy day. "It was beautiful, but breathtakingly cold," he said, "and this little village was sticking up out of the fog. The image of the village gelled with an idea I had about a supernatural Celtic mythology story."

John, who sticks to a strict limit of 1,000 words a day, is a member of Carmondean Writers' Group. "They were hugely, hugely helpful," he said.

John believes it's never been a better time for authors, with the move to on-line publishing. "It's taking away the power from the publishers and giving it to the writer and reader," he added.

'From Within' can be downloaded from HERE (new window) . John's next book 'Careless Talk' is already well on its way to completion.

CLICK HERE to listen to John talking about his writing.

Published on West Lothian Community News