These co-authors are paid by Patterson. In over 40 years he has produced over titles and sold more than million copies. He has two editors, three additional full-time Hachette employees and their assistants devoted to him; a brand manager who moves Patterson's adult books through the production process, a marketing director for the young adult titles, and an overall sales manager.
Patterson remains intimately involved in the publication of his books. He handles all of his advertising and monitors every other step of the publication process, from jacket design to the timing of book releases to placement in retail stores.
To maintain the pace of production, Patterson now uses co-authors on nearly all his books. He functions in part as an executive producer and in part as a head writer. It's his vision that is set out for each book or series. This kind of collaboration is found in advertising agencies or the writing rooms of television shows. But books have traditionally been the product of one person's sensibility and imagination rendered in a singular style and voice. As Independent describes, there is a field called stylometry that uses digital methods to test to what extent someone actively contributes to the actual words of a text.
It has been used in author attribution studies involving popular writers like Harper Lee and J. These studies showed that in each of the collaborative novels tested the dominant style is that of the co-author. This presents quantitative evidence that Patterson's contributions are more about plot than style.
Patterson has consistently given the impression that he's more about the plot. It does confirm that the world's bestselling author does not appear to be principally a writer. He has commodified storytelling. Perhaps calling him an author, in the widely accepted sense of that word may not always be the most appropriate term for his role in the writing process used in the books with his name on their covers.
His work has been compared to that of a TV showrunner who sets a series in motion and guides the tone and pace, no matter who might write individual episodes.
The formula Patterson uses for the books that have made him the planet's best-selling author since is pretty simple. All the action is sketched out in detail in the outlines he sends to the co-authors. There are a lot of periods in each paragraph and a lot of paragraphs on every page. There are very few pages per chapter. Every chapter starts with a quick reminder of who was in the prior chapter and what transpired.
It is not taken as an insult to say often the prose is pretty bad. In more recent years, Patterson has devoted his time and money to promoting literacy and supporting local bookstores. He has launched a national campaign to promote reading. He has contributed millions of dollars to his and his wife's alma maters, and given additional millions in scholarships at dozens of colleges and universities.
As Vanity Fair states, he has sent hundreds of thousands of books to troops and given countless books to public schools across the country. Patterson intends that about half his wealth will go to charity and has hopes his son will take charge of the giving.
His philanthropy is hands-on since he thinks institutions frequently are sloppy. Patterson decided a while back that he'd rather be a successful popular novelist than a mediocre literary one. He is philosophical about the critics of his craft. He says he considers himself, above all else, to be an entertainer.
He has succeeded. Whether you believe him to be a writer or a brand manager, he has provided an immense number of people with lots of reading entertainment. If that's a brand, then it works, people recognize it and want more of it. Hard to really find fault with any of it. A blog about books. Rare books. James Patterson: Author or Brand Manager? His enterprising nature has led to his newest venture: the reinvention of the novella in a series called BookShots.
The precariously placed publishing industry seems to be stabilising — latest figures for the UK, at least, show that sales of physical books, which are more lucrative, have increased for the first time in four years, whereas ebook sales have decreased — but his grab-and-go series is designed as a long-term strategy to respond to changing habits.
I have an year-old son, and he wants the page biography in pages. So here are books that you can finish coming and going to work. Under pages. Impossible to put down. Read on any device. I never have loved the idea that other people have figured out the way other people should live, and the job of literature is to convince other people to live like they want. If longer books went away, that would be a disaster. My favourite writers are Gabriel Garcia Marquez and James Joyce, who remain difficult, and you really have to invest in them.
The paperback was an innovation, and this is a real innovation, especially if it catches on. Malcolm Gladwell, who did Outliers and The Tipping Point , has a book of his essays [ What the Dog Saw ] which are pages each, but his page books explain the same sort of thing, just with more examples. So if the business is slow to react, what about the hardback: should there be a place for this format in ?
I love them. I like to hold and like to read them. I like to make notes on them. Patterson, who lives in Florida with his wife and son,donates a sizeable amount of his personal wealth to both these issues instead, to highlight the problem as much as solve them.
He is one-quarter Irish his paternal grandfather and he seems neither thrilled nor surprised to learn about the new governmental smorgasbord of the Department of Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht. There are studies to suggest that people are much more compassionate if they are fiction readers. The series will continue, Patterson says, with the added bonus of expanding his pool of writers, and rebranding the commercial novella for the benefit of all writers.
I had the idea; I felt there was a need, I thought they would be cool to do. Plus it allows me to tell stories like a madman. To comment you must now be an Irish Times subscriber. Please subscribe to sign in to comment. Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription. He argues that the publishing industry must adapt to survive Wed, Jun 8, , Shilpa Ganatra. Topics: James Patterson. More from The Irish Times Books. Home energy upgrades are now more important than ever.
The Dublin start-up making the future better with an appreciation for innovation. Commenting on The Irish Times has changed. The account details entered are not currently associated with an Irish Times subscription.
You should receive instructions for resetting your password. When you have reset your password, you can Sign In. Please choose a screen name. This name will appear beside any comments you post.
0コメント