James Patterson in Time

Regular bbthots readers know that James Patterson figures among my favorite authors. The latest Time has an article on Patterson, who they call 'The Man Who Can't Miss' and 'world's greatest best-seller factory'. According to the article, his last 18 books have hit No. 1 on the NY Times best-seller list, he has sold about 100 million copies and he earned about $40 million last year.

The article has a few interesting facts I didn't know about him. Before turning writer, he had a successful career in advertising and was even chairman of J. Walter Thompson in North America. He personally shot the TV ad for Along Came a Spider, the first book in the Alex Cross series. He redesigned the book's cover by having the title blown up in huge letters to announce that it was a thriller (it worked for me since thats exactly what made me pick up Kiss the Girls the first time) and since then, has designed all his covers. Harvard Business school even has a case study on his marketing techniques.

His personal favorites among his books are Along Came a Spider, The Honeymoon, the upcoming Beach Road, Suzanne's Diary for Nicolas and Maximum Ride.

They have captured his writing style perfectly when they say he "dispenses with any flowery bits or extraneous details" in an approach that "emphasizes action over style and pace over everything". Thats exactly what I'm looking forward when I lay my hands on The 5th Horseman in a couple of weeks time.