The Week reports this good news in its current issue: Farmers are always being told to diversify. Some convert barns for holiday lettings, others set up farm tours. James Oswald, a livestock farmer in Scotland, chose to put pen to paper – and after years of often fruitless self-publication, he has seen his latest book rocket to the top of the charts. Natural Causes, a thriller set in Edinburgh, has been downloaded 350,000 times from Amazon’s Kindle store. Its success has earned Oswald a three-book deal with Penguin, and a £150,000 advance. He has already spent the first instalment on a tractor.