The man with the golden gut

Seth links to this fascinating article by Jonathan Mahler about the popular novelist James Patterson:

Last year, an estimated 14 million copies of his books in 38 different languages found their way onto beach blankets, airplanes and nightstands around the world. Patterson may lack the name recognition of a Stephen King, a John Grisham or a Dan Brown, but he outsells them all. Really, it’s not even close. (According to Nielsen BookScan, Grisham’s, King’s and Brown’s combined U.S. sales in recent years still don’t match Patterson’s.) This is partly because Patterson is so prolific: with the help of his stable of co-authors, he published nine original hardcover books in 2009 and will publish at least nine more in 2010.

Patterson has written in just about every genre — science fiction, fantasy, romance, “women’s weepies,” graphic novels, Christmas-themed books. He dabbles in nonfiction as well. In 2008, he published “Against Medical Advice,” a book written from the perspective of the son of a friend who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome.

More than Grisham, King, and Brown combined: that really is pretty impressive. The sixty-somthing Patterson has written 35 New York Times #1 best sellers but doesn’t seem to have too much of a swelled head:

Patterson is unsentimental about his early, somewhat clumsy attempts at popular fiction. “That’s an absolutely horrifying book,” he says of his 1977 novel, “Season of the Machete,” the story of a sadistic husband-and-wife team who carry out a series of gory machete murders on a Caribbean island. “I actually tell people not to read it.”

Several weeks later, I [Mahler] witnessed this firsthand at one of Patterson’s signings. When a woman handed him a copy of the book to autograph, he groaned. “Not my best work,” Patterson said. “It’s scaring me half to death,” the woman answered. “Don’t read it,” Patterson replied.

Also:

“I don’t believe in showing off,” Patterson says of his writing. “Showing off can get in the way of a good story.”

Others are not so impressed:

Patterson has some especially nasty critics. The Washington Post’s thriller reviewer, Patrick Anderson, called “Kiss the Girls” “sick, sexist, sadistic and subliterate.” Stephen King has described Patterson as “a terrible writer.” . . . Last month, he introduced his third Y.A. series, “Witch and Wizard,” a dystopian fantasy about a teenage brother and sister who wake up to discover that they are living in a totalitarian regime and that they have supernatural powers that have made them enemies of the state. Despite some negative prepublication reviews, the book was critic-proof, making its debut at No. 1 on the Times best-seller list for children’s chapter books. . . .

“Thousands of people don’t like what I do,” Patterson told me, shrugging off his detractors. “Fortunately, millions do.” For all of his commercial success, though, Patterson seemed bothered by the fact that he has not been given his due — that unlike King or even Grisham, who have managed to transcend their genres, he continues to be dismissed as an airport author or, worse, a marketing genius who has cynically maneuvered his way to best-sellerdom by writing remedial novels that pander to the public’s basest instincts.” . . .

Patterson considers himself as an entertainer, not a man of letters. Still, he bristles when he hears one of his books described as a guilty pleasure: “Why should anyone feel guilty about reading a book?” Patterson said that what he does — coming up with stories that will resonate with a lot of people and rendering them in a readable style — is no different from what King, Grisham and other popular authors do. “I have a saying,” Patterson told me. “If you want to write for yourself, get a diary. If you want to write for a few friends, get a blog. But if you want to write for a lot of people, think about them a little bit. What do they like? What are their needs?

The fiction factory continues:

Days earlier, Hachette Book Group and Patterson’s representative, the Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, hammered out the terms of a new 17-book deal. . . . [Patterson] told me matter-of-factly that he’d already started 11 of the 17 books, and even finished more than a few of them.

But it’s not all about the money:

[Patterson’s 11-year-old son] Jack’s initial reluctance to read helped inspire him to move into the Y.A. genre. He wanted to write books for preteens and teenagers that would be fun and easy to read. The young-adult realm was, in one sense, a big leap for an author known for violent thrillers. At the same time, it was a natural fit for Patterson, whose unadorned prose and fast-paced plots are well suited to reluctant readers. Promoting literacy among children has since become a pet cause for him; he has his own Web site, ReadKiddoRead.com, aimed at helping parents choose books for their children. “There are millions of kids who have never read a book that they liked, and that is a national disgrace,” Patterson said. “What I’m trying to do is at least wake up several thousand of them.”

What’s next?

Patterson’s current preoccupation is Hollywood. Despite some attempts . . . there still hasn’t been a blockbuster film or hit TV show based on one of his novels. there still hasn’t been a blockbuster film or hit TV show based on one of his novels. . . . “Jim’s been wrongly stereotyped out there as the master of slash and gash,” Bowen said. “What people don’t fully understand is that there’s a unique talent and storytelling ability . . . The man has a golden gut.”

So much here to think about! I like that Patterson works with collaborators; that’s what I like to do to. Also it’s interesting to see how he views his professional life as a series of challenges. Let’s face it, he’s not gonna be the next Ernest Hemingway, so he sets himself a different goal. Sort of like the academic researchers who set silly goals such as publishing in 100 different journals. I can’t quite see why he wants to make movies, though. Retirement would be a natural option but he started pretty late so maybe he’s not ready to quit yet.

Finally, I was amused by Patterson’s quote: “If you want to write for a few friends, get a blog. But if you want to write for a lot of people, think about them a little bit.” This is a bit glib, no? Lots of people are trying to write bestsellers, but many don’t succeed.

P.S. See here for more bestseller-talk. Quite likely, nobody will be reading James Patterson in 40 years, but that’s ok. I baked a delicious cake the other day. Nobody will be enjoying that one in 40 years, either, but it still gave pleasure while it was around.

2 thoughts on “The man with the golden gut

  1. I'm similarly amazed at the number of people who have never heard of Terry Pratchett — another writer who's popular, fun to read, but no threat to Jane Austen.

    "Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s, and as of December 2007 had sold more than 55 million books worldwide, with translations made into 36 languages. He is currently the second most-read writer in the UK, and seventh most-read non-US author in the US." (Wikipedia)

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