to collect in a mass

James Petterson Inc

justine:

Since 2006, one out of every 17 novels bought in the United States was written by James Patterson.

This article covers how Patterson has profited from challenging many of his publisher’s assumptions about how to advertise and release novels and being intimately involved with the production of his books.  More stats to go with the one above:

“He is listed in the latest edition of “Guinness World Records,” published last fall, as the author with the most New York Times best sellers, 45, but that number is already out of date: he now has 51 — 35 of which went to No. 1.”

“In addition to his two editors, Patterson has three full-time Hachette [his publisher] employees (plus assistants) devoted exclusively to him.”

“According to Nielsen BookScan, [John] Grisham’s, [Stephen] King’s and [Dan] Brown’s combined U.S. sales in recent years still don’t match Patterson’s.”

“ACCORDING TO FORBES magazine, Patterson earned Hachette about $500 million over the last two years,” which his publisher denies but won’t correct.