I'm sorry, but news that James Patterson has just signed a 17-book contract only solidifies my opinion of the general poor quality of the man's work. Patterson has been placing his name on books "co-written" with others for a while now - and those books become best sellers simply because his name is on them.Now he is to write 17 books in the next three years (through 2012) according to the New York Times:
...on Tuesday, the Hachette Book Group announced that it had signed a deal with Mr. Patterson that would cover 17 books. Hachette said that 11 of the books would be for adult readers and released by Little, Brown & Company (in hardcover) and Grand Central Publishing (in paperback); the remaining 6 would be handled by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The books will be divided among Mr. Patterson’s various best-selling series and feature his detective characters Alex Cross and Michael Bennett as well as the Women’s Murder Club.Right, I can just imagine the high quality of books written at that pace. How does he get away with it? Do some readers only buy off the best seller list - and only the five authors they have ever heard of, at that?
looking up James Patterson, I came across this article that I actually found pretty interesting: http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=W2JTUW99ZVT2&preview=article&linkid=ac9b00bb-76a0-4a36-92a0-3a9e3ed4b810&pdaffid=ZVFwBG5jk4Kvl9OaBJc5%2bg%3d%3d
ReplyDeleteI think it's worth a read.
Sincerely,
MediaMentions
It would really be interesing if it had anything to do with James Patterson - and not Jerry Patterson. What kind of spam thing is this, guys? Anyone know?
ReplyDeleteJames Patterson has become a BRAND...not a writer. I guess all of his years in the big-time advertising/marketing field is giving him a BIG payoff. I think this contract is disgusting.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on James Patterson. And the co-written books - at least the ones to which I have been exposed - have been embarrassingly bad. I suppose it's like a sports star doing endorsements, except worse because of the betrayal of reader trust!
ReplyDelete17 books over 3 years?! Even his biggest fans must have their doubts about the quality...right?? Right?
ReplyDelete[rolls eyes, shakes head]
ReplyDeleteAll I can say, is at least someone out there is reading? or he wouldn't even get that kind of contract. But it's sad that those kind of books are popular enough for such a thing.
ReplyDeleteI just went to a book club last night and they started off looking up the best seller list as ideas for our reading list. I gagged and then suggested a couple others that were on my TBR shelf as alternatives. I invariably don't like the books that everyone else loves, and tend to have more offbeat reads. I read Patterson's Maximum Ride series though. It caught my imagination, except I only got through the first three before I tired of the story. It started to drag. I still have three more of them to go and I think he is writing more according to your blurb.
ReplyDeleteI stopped reading Patterson about a year ago. The quality has gome down the tubes IMO. It seem some he along with some other authors like Stuart Woods have forgotten that to readers it "quality not quantity that counts".
ReplyDeleteIt's sad when old favorites seem to suddenly, or steadily, decline in the quality of their work - not that Patterson was ever a favorite of mine, although I have read 2-3 of his books, I think.
ReplyDeleteQuantity minus Quality = Greed
JoAnn, I agree - his is just a brand name now. He might as well slap it on a can of corn for all I care anymore.
ReplyDeleteExactly right, Rhapsody, good point. I can't blame his co-writers because it probably seems like a big break to them - even if they do most of the work and get the smaller piece of the pie for their effort.
ReplyDeleteRosemary, did you notice that he actually "wrote" more than 17 in the last three years. The man is a joke now.
ReplyDeleteI saw that, Suzi. :-)
ReplyDeleteJeane, that's true but someone needs to get Patterson readers to understand that they are short-changing themselves.
ReplyDeleteKeep fighting the good fight, Erin. I think it's a big mistake for book clubs to be so lazy that they don't often stray from the bestseller lists. Don't give up...
ReplyDelete