Taxi driver sells nearly 7,000 copies of debut novel (From Basildon Recorder)

Taxi driver sells nearly 7,000 copies of debut novel

5:30pm Friday 30th November 2012 in Billericay

Taxi driver sells nearly 7,000 copies of debut novel

A POPULAR taxi driver has managed to sell nearly 7,000 copies of his debut novel after being snubbed by agents and publishers.

David Hollingsworth, 59, of Billericay, has been driving for Mayflower Taxis in the town for about 13 years, and penned parts of his crime fiction book The Party.

Released as an E-book in Spring, it has already sold about 6,800 copies on Amazon despite being self published and its success has seen that Mr Hollingsworth has since released it on paperback.

The father of two said: “I’m really pleased it has taken off but a bit surprised too.

“Authors today stand no chance of getting an agent or a publisher.

“ I did a lot of writing between jobs and whenever an idea popped into my head, if I was by the roadside I’d quickly write it down or wait until I was waiting for a fare and put it down on paper.”

Mr Hollingsworth has had an interest in the crime fiction genre since reading the Godfather as a teenager.

He writes under the pseudonym JD Carter and claims that the novel is inspired by his East End upbringing in Stepney before he moved to Billericay.

The book tells the story of Alex Dicks, and the author said he got the idea for the novel at a party – and he wrote down his idea on a beer mat.

With the help of Billericay Writers’ Group, he wrote up the novel which was released in May, and its only publicity has been through social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

He added: “It’s a very gritty novel, but with plenty of humour and strong women, and a lot of things that I think have disappeared from East End since I left there.

“I sold about 50 copies to the USA last month, which I was delighted about."

It is available as an E-book on amazon and Apple’s online store.
The paperback version is also available on his website.