Stephen Leather

Stephen Leather (b. 1956) is a British thriller author currently published by Hodder & Stoughton. He has sold more than two million books in more than ten languages^[3] and has written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series.^[4][5][6] His books have made him one of the top selling Amazon Kindle authors and in 2011 he was the second bestselling UK author worldwide on Kindle.^[7]

Leather was born in Manchester on September 25, 1956. He grew up in Sale and Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and attended Manchester Grammar School.^[8] He attended Bath University where he obtained a BSc in Biochemistry in 1978.^[1]

Prior to being a published author, Leather worked as a journalist for approximately ten years. He worked on newspapers such a Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mirror, The Times, The Daily Mail, and The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Before that, he was employed as a biochemist for Imperial Chemical Industries, shoveled limestone in a quarry, worked as a baker, a petrol pump attendant, a barman, and worked for the Inland Revenue.

Leather began writing when he was in college; however, he stated that he "never managed to get beyond a few pages,"^[9] and did not begin writing full time until 1992. He began writing fiction, and his first novel was published from the "slush pile" at HarperCollins.^[5] His first novel, The Payoff, was written while he was still employed at the Daily Mirror. His second novel, The Fireman, was written while he was working as the business editor of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.^[9][10]

Leather frequently travels to do research for his novels and has lived in England, the Far East, the United States, and Ireland. Many of his novels are set in the countries where he has traveled.^[11] In 2004, he spent time in Durham prison and Belmarsh prison in England to conduct research for his book Hard Landing. His books are also the second most read by prisoners in the U.K. next to author John Grisham.^[12][13]

Leather became successful in the Kindle market in 2010. In late 2010, Amazon opened an eBook store on Amazon UK just prior to Christmas. Leather anticipated people purchasing eBooks that Christmas but that they would be looking for "bargain books." He sold his books at the minimum price for independent writers (approximately $.99 USD) in order to get his books in the top ten. He then went to popular social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to market his books.^[7]

In 2011 Leather was the second bestselling UK author on the Amazon Kindle worldwide, beaten only by Lee Child.^[14] In all Leather sold 500,000 eBooks in 2011 and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the Top 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world.^[15] In early 2012, Leather's book The Basement topped the Kindle chart for sales in both the U.S. and the U.K.^[16]

Leather has come under criticism for his online marketing techniques. In August 2012, journalist Nick Cohen said that Leather had created phony Twitter accounts in the name of another writer and then used those accounts to praise Leather's own books. Cohen also said that in July Leather had boasted to other mystery writers that he generally promoted his books in a similar manner: "As soon as my book is out I'm on Facebook and Twitter several times a day talking about it. I'll go on to several forums, the well-known forums, and post there under my name and under various other names and various other characters. You build up this whole network of characters who talk about your books and sometimes have conversations with yourself."^[17][18]

Leather's novels frequently include themes of crime, imprisonment and military service, and terrorism as well as the War on Terror. Settings are typically London and the Far East. Leather writes different series that are slightly different genres. One is titled "Dan 'Spider' Shepherd" who is a former SAS soldier who becomes an undercover cop. Another is title "Jack Nightingale" and is about a former police negotiator who becomes a private investigator.^[19] Hodder also publishes his supernatural detective series Nightfall, Midnight and Nightmare.

Leather has written screenplays for London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series.^[20][4][21] Two of his novels, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were screened for made for TV movies and filmed for Sky Television. The Stretch starred Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson, two popular soap opera stars from the U.K.^[22]

In 2002, Leather's book Tango One was nominated for the inaugural Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award awarded by the Crime Writer's Association.^[27][28] His book Hard Landing was also nominated for the 2004 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award in 2004.^[29]

His book Cold Kill was nominated for Best Novel in 2007 by Thriller Writers.^[30] In 2011, Leather sold over 500,000 eBooks and was voted by the Bookseller Magazine as one of the Top 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world.^[15]

Leather has lived in England, the Far East, France, the United States, and Ireland.He has written novels while residing in each of these countries. He currently lives in Thailand and in his spare time, he scuba dives and likes to fly (he holds a U.S. pilot license).^[31][1]

• Official website
• Jack Nightingale website

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