NEW YORK —After more than 40 best sellers, James Patterson is just getting started.
He has agreed to a 17-book deal with his longtime publisher, the Hachette Book Group - an unthinkable commitment for most writers, but for Patterson a mere three years worth of work.
"Jim has all of these incredible franchises," says his literary representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who cited such popular series as "Maximum Ride," "Daniel X" and the Alex Cross detective stories. "And when you put all of those franchises together, that's a lot of books."
Hachette announced Tuesday that the ultra-prolific novelist will turn out 10 adult thrillers, one nonfiction work and six novels for young people by the end of 2012. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Patterson will have help with those books. His co-authors have included Maxine Paetro and Andrew Gross and he will continue to use collaborators, Barnett says.
"Whenever he works with a co-author he fully discloses it," Barnett says. "There's no secret he works with collaborators."
the new way to write a novelA Reader's Respite just loves the way Patterson's literary representative refers to the author's different series of books as "franchises." Really? Franchises?
Is Patterson now the Golden Arches of the publishing world?
And if so, can we expect the prices of his books to drop considerably to reflect the quality?
Bye bye, Mr. Patterson. You've been voted off our bookshelves.
At least McDonald's provides Happy Meals. There is no such compensation these days for reading a Patterson production.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this sort of cheapens the writing process, doesn't it? I like how they mention that he has a lot of series but not a lot of original story ideas ...
ReplyDeleteI'd say you aren't far off the mark here Michele! Good Lord, does they guy just have a random idea generator where he gets his plots, and just runs with it? Does his wife write a few for him to pick up the slack? We have listened to one of his Maximum Ride books, and it was obvious to us that he was in a cranking mode.
ReplyDeleteHis collaborators must do all his work for him. I can't imagine writing even half of all of those books. My mom has read a bunch and she says that the books written by different collaborators feel very different from each other, so there's not much Patterson in there.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere recently...I have no idea where...that Patterson's 'contribution' to these books is to provide the 'idea' and then the co-writer does the actual writing.
ReplyDeleteOf course, his name sells, so he gets the BIG type on the cover. It is a total scam and everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.
I stopped reading him a long time ago.
I think franchise pretty well sums it up. It's not like he's trying to make great art--he's just trying to push out outlines so someone else can flesh them out.
ReplyDeleteJanet Evanovich does the "franchise" thing too. I can't remember the exact words she used in an interview but I know it bothered me a bit. I don't think she has collaborators though I could be wrong...
ReplyDelete"and there was that poor sucker Flaubert agonizing for days over le mot juste." Dorothy Parker
ReplyDeleteHe was never on my bookshelves. Long ago, I read two of his books (written by him) and wasn't impressed with either. I've never read another. But that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI think the quality goes down any time the quantity goes up - in direct relation to the quantity. I just can't imagine someone being able to put out several great works of literature a year. Now I don't think that Patterson's books were ever meant to be "great" works of literature in the first place. I don't think it would be that far off to compare novels that are churned out to fast food.
ReplyDeleteThere are other authors that do this too. Any time I see an author that has a lot of books coming out in a year, I generally get the impression that the books are going to be the type that are for quick entertainment value. They might be fun to read, but I wouldn't expect any literary genius out of them.
I've always suspected the worst of any author who cranks 'em out like that. Now where's my quarter-pounder with cheese?
ReplyDeleteI only liked one Patterson book of the few I've read in the past. But man, I'd love to be that prolific and successful.
ReplyDeleteYet one reason I started Win a Book was to help readers find books that are similar to Patterson... but different. Better, maybe.
I blogged about the same thing last week.
ReplyDeletehttp://nomadreader.blogspot.com/2009/09/around-blogs-shelf-life-on-james.html
I love your humorous take on it!
I used to read Patterson's Cross novels, & even read a Maximum Ride. I think his earlier works were good, but then it was just redundance. And I never will have the inclination to pick up a "Patterson book" with another author's name on it. I mean, is it Patterson, or not??
ReplyDeleteBut I'll be having a giveaway anyway this week of King Tut. I'll have to check who realllllly wrote it though..,
I read maybe one or two of Patterson's books -- and I was not impressed. Quite frankly, I thought they sucked. And he does seem to "churn" them out .. how good could they possibly be? But so many people seem to eat them up ... no explaining for taste, I guess.
ReplyDeleteHe's been off my list for a while. I always wonder how much is his work and how much his collaborators do.
ReplyDeleteAww.. I liked all the Patterson books I've read so far. Well, anyway, I hope he does have 'new' ideas for his upcoming books! :)
ReplyDeleteor maybe he should let his "cowriters" take over some of the "series" stuff and he could start one something he might really want to write!
ReplyDelete