A GLASGOW author's book is flying off the shelves across the world - all thanks to an Evening Times community website.

A GLASGOW author's book is flying off the shelves across the world - all thanks to an Evening Times community website.

Jojo Gould, of Springburn, was already on to a hit with his debut novel, The Bear in a Safari Hat, a prediction of Barack Obama's presidency told through the tale of a honey bear.

But a story on our Springburn community website caught the eye of literary website Book Trade. It published a link to our story and sales of Jojo's book rocketed.

Now the story has been picked up by the American press and internet seller Amazon has sold out of his novel.

The book is also on sale in Europe's biggest book store - Waterstones in Piccadilly, London.

The Evening Times launched its community websites in March and there are now 60 covering areas across the city.

Mr Gould said: "The community websites are a great aspect of the newspaper; they are uncovering stories from areas that previously might have been overlooked.

"Having my story on the community website facilitated the expansion of my story into the wider media."

The book is the tale of Brosnan, a bear educated in Jakarta, the same place the US President Elect was educated.

Brosnan then moves west to Ireland, with a message of hope and, like Obama, he has plenty of charisma and an army of fans - the honey bees.

The book was launched on July 4 and some reviews suggest adults are also enjoying it.

Mr Gould added: "Somebody on Amazon has found 17 links to the rise of Barack Obama.

"The book came out four months before the election so it is encouraging to see the Obama links being unravelled."

The book is currently being sold in 20 countries and Mr Gould has also been told it is going on sale in Greece and India.

Scottish readers will be most interested in the sequel, which has just been completed. It is set in the Campsie Hills, to the north of Glasgow.