| James Patterson |
James Patterson: a life in writing
'If I told my publishers I was writing only one book this year, rather than 10, they would have a heart attack'
'So many thrillers don’t work because you don’t care about the characters or the situation' … James Patterson. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
Eyebrows were raised a few weeks ago when a series of full-page ads appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly and elsewhere in the US literary press, asking "Who will save our books? Our bookstores? Our libraries?" Thirty-eight great American books, fiction and non-fiction, were cited as examples of work that might have been lost without vibrant publishing and bookselling industries and cultures: from William Faulkner to Junot Díaz; Norman Mailer to Joan Didion; Thomas Pynchon to Art Spiegelman. The ad concluded by comparing the federal bailouts of the banking and car sectors to the neglect of books. Striking stuff, but it was not so much the sentiments expressed that caused surprise, as the signature at the bottom of the man who had paid for and written them: James Patterson.
In fact Patterson is familiar with deploying the power of advertising – he is a former chairman of agency J Walter Thompson – and in recent years he has been an outspoken advocate for books and child literacy. But most of all his intervention fits with a career that has not only seen him become one of the world's biggest-selling authors, but also one who has in the process revolutionised the popular book market.
Speaking to Publishers Weekly, Patterson straightforwardly explained his motivations: "I like to do things." His complaint was: "Publishers are sitting around saying: 'Woe is me.'" His advice: "Get in attack mode." This approach has helped him publish more than 100 books and sell approaching 300m copies. As long ago as 2006 his work passed $1bn in gross income and in recent years, in which he has topped the Forbes list of highest-paid authors, his earnings have been estimated at $80m-$100m a year. It has made him famous enough to appear as a character on The Simpsons, and more intriguingly, his marketing strategies have been the subject of a Harvard Business School study.