Answers to Go

Q. How does James Patterson publish so many books?

A . James Patterson has published well over 200 books since 1976, the bulk of them published since he retired from advertising in 1996 to focus on writing. He has written in just about every genre, including thriller, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, romance, Christmas novels, young adult, nonfiction, and even graphic novels. He published over 20 books in 2020 alone! So how does he do this?

You may have noticed other people’s names on the covers of his books: James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan, etc. Patterson collaborates with coauthors on most of his novels.

James Patterson spoke about his process of writing with coauthors in an interview with the Harvard Business Review in 2012. He said, “I’ll write an elaborate outline, maybe 70 pages, very detailed, clear, and focused. The coauthor will write the first draft, and I’ll see the work every few weeks. I’ll do two to seven more drafts. I’m very easy to work with. I don’t do a lot of silly nitpicking. The job pays well. Everybody likes it. Nobody quits.”

In the same interview, Patterson also spoke about why he uses coauthors. “I am very creative: I have 500 pages of ideas for books. I couldn’t possibly do them all myself. And I have coauthors, none of whom had been very successful at solving the problem of writing a novel that was going to (a) get published, and (b) be successful, whether it’s terrific reviews or the best-seller list.”

Patterson sees the collaboration as mutually beneficial to both parties. The coauthors help bring his ideas to the page, and he helps them get published and be successful.

Mark Sullivan who coauthored several novels in Patterson’s Private series has seen success with the publication of his novel Beneath the Scarlet Sky. Mark Sullivan has also written in Publishers Weekly (Dec. 2012) about how much he learned from working with James Patterson:

“Patterson was constantly pushing the envelope, from the premise to the characters, from the action to the setting. In conversations that took place on a weekly basis, he bluntly criticized my initial efforts, made me want to be better, and in so doing gave me a master class in commercial fiction. What I’ve learned from the global bestselling author could fill a book.”

Love him or hate him, James Patterson knows how to sell a lot of books. Patterson is frequently thought to be the bestselling author in the world. He’s also credited as the first author to sell one million eBooks, and is generally listed as the author with the most New York Times bestsellers.