Mark Edwards (British writer)

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Mark Edwards
Edwards in 2022
Born	1970 Kent, England
Known for	Fiction writer
Website	markedwardsauthor.com

Mark Edwards (born 1970) is an English London-based, best-selling fiction writer. His books have sold over four million copies and been translated into 12 languages. Edwards has written over a dozen thrillers since his 2013 solo debut, The Magpies, and his 2022 novel No Place to Run made it into the top ten Kindle chart.^[1] He has co-authored six books with Louise Voss.

Edwards was born in Kent, England, on 4 November 1970. He grew up in Hastings, East Sussex, where he attended Rye College. He graduated from Staffordshire University in 1993, with a degree in sociology. While pursuing a career as a writer, Edwards worked for the civil service and did customer service for a rail franchise, and eventually a London-based book publisher. He also had a stint as an English teacher in Tokyo, Japan, while pursuing his first publishing deal.^[2]

In 1999, Edwards appeared in the BBC documentary Close Up: First Writes, which followed three writers, including Jake Arnott, at the start of their writing careers. In 2011, he self-published two novels co-authored with Louise Voss, Killing Cupid and Catch Your Death, the latter of which became the first novel by a self-published author to reach number one on the UK's Amazon bestseller list.^{[citation needed]} This led to a four-book deal with HarperCollins. In 2013, Edwards published his debut solo novel, The Magpies, which reached number one and led to a deal with Thomas & Mercer, part of Amazon Publishing.^[1] His 2019 novel Here to Stay received positive reviews, including one from critic Natasha Cooper, who said, "Mark Edwards has sold millions of copies of his domestic suspense novels. On the evidence of Here to Stay, his latest, it is not hard to see why."^[3]

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When Amazon launched its ebook reader, the Kindle, in Britain in 2010, Edwards joined an emerging group of writers who had success self-publishing their work. Edwards and Voss released their first novel, Killing Cupid, on Kindle Direct Publishing, which eventually climbed to the top 100 on the Kindle charts. That same year, the pair published Catch your Death, which at one point was selling 1,000 copies a day. In a few months, the books were number one and two in the bestsellers list, and the pair were the first self-publishing British authors to reach the top spot on Amazon. The acclaim earned them TV appearances and a four-book deal with HarperCollins as well as an advance of roughly £50,000 each.^[2] During an interview with The Guardian in 2013, Edwards said self-publishing on Amazon can be advantageous for emerging writers who don't yet have publishers but are ready to seek out a wider audience.^[4]

Edwards has said he is a fan of American authors such as Stephen King, who have shaped the kind of stories he likes to tell: "Extraordinary, often scary, things happening to ordinary people." The works of both Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay influenced Edwards when he wrote No Place to Run.^[5]

Edwards lives in Wolverhampton with his wife and their children.^[6]

• Official website