Patterson signs 17-book deal

katiemac · Sep 8, 2009

Link to the article here.

The deal includes 11 hardcover adult titles through Little, Brown and Company and and six titles for young readers through Little, Brown Books.

The kicker is this 17-book deal puts Patterson with Hachette through 2012. That's a lot of books in a little more than two years. I'd like to know what the sales figure is for a deal this size from an author like Patterson, but it seems they aren't telling.

JoNightshade · Sep 8, 2009

I love his quote: "I love writing stories. I have more to tell and I’m thrilled that the wonderful Hachette Book Group will continue to be my partner in exciting readers with these stories that I love.”

Notice how he carefully avoids saying "I love writing novels."

Haggis · Sep 8, 2009

I wonder if he'll write some of them himself this time.

MGraybosch · Sep 8, 2009

katiemac said:
The kicker is this 17-book deal puts Patterson with Hachette through 2012. That's a lot of books in a little more than two years. I'd like to know what the sales figure is for a deal this size from an author like Patterson, but it seems they aren't telling.

Seventeen books in a little over two years? How in Shabranigdo's name is Patterson supposed to manage that without farming most of the work out to coauthors?

stormie · Sep 8, 2009

MGraybosch said:
Seventeen books in a little over two years? How in Shabranigdo's name is Patterson supposed to manage that without farming most of the work out to coauthors?

Bingo!

katiemac · Sep 8, 2009

MGraybosch said:
Seventeen books in a little over two years? How in Shabranigdo's name is Patterson supposed to manage that without farming most of the work out to coauthors?

Coauthorship aside, some of the novels/manuscripts might already be finished. And I know there are a lot of writers, here on AW even, who can churn out 10+ novels a year. Someone who has ability to treat writing as his or her only career--plus someone who is supposed to have written the amount Patterson already has--I can see this working. If you write 5,000 words a day for a year, that's 1,825,000 words--which can divide into 19 or 24 novels, depending how long those novels are.

I'm actually more confused by the timeline from the publisher's side--that's a new release every month and half.

MGraybosch · Sep 8, 2009

katiemac said:
Someone who has the time and ability to treat writing as his or her only career--plus someone who is supposed to have written the amount Patterson already has--I can see this working.

Yeah, that's true. I've only been able to write for a couple of hours a day up until recently, as I have a day job and a wife that also require my attention; it took two years to get a first draft of Starbreaker that I was willing to use as the basis for a second draft. That's why I'm surprised by the prospect of Patterson doing seventeen books in two years.

Darzian · Sep 8, 2009

That's a lotta stories.

scarletpeaches · Sep 8, 2009

And his books are only around 60k long, so that's a month's work at a fair clip.

katiemac · Sep 8, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
And his books are only around 60k long, so that's a month's work at a fair clip.

Yeah, my 5,000-word a day division was using 75,000 words as the lowest novel length and 90,000 at most. So I was being generous.

scarletpeaches · Sep 8, 2009

Of course, that's assuming he actually writes the books...*cough*

Claudia Gray · Sep 8, 2009

More power to him.

Haggis · Sep 8, 2009

ClaudiaGray said:
More power to him.

Indeed.

Madison · Sep 8, 2009

wow...

that must be a LOT of money.

blacbird · Sep 8, 2009

Little, Brown aren't interested in publishing books. They are interested in manufacturing and marketing book-shaped objects.

caw

scarletpeaches · Sep 8, 2009

They knocked you back, huh, blaccy?

CACTUSWENDY · Sep 8, 2009

The drool slipping out the sides of my mouth is for being able to produce that many. (okay...some is for the amount of money too.....)

aadams73 · Sep 8, 2009

ClaudiaGray said:
More power to him.

Agreed. I don't care for his books, but a lot of people do. And I like to think if it can happen for him, the potential is there for any one of us.

To me it also means the book industry isn't nearly as far down the toilet as the alarmists make it out to be. This is a substantial commitment.

CACTUSWENDY · Sep 8, 2009

I agree about the industry not being down the toilet....I drove by the B&N the other night in north Tucson and the parking lot had like 100+ cars in it at 8:30 P M. This is a pretty big store, two stories. Every time I drive by there it is very busy.

Someone is buying some books.

scarletpeaches · Sep 8, 2009

I read his books and to his credit, at least he has his ghosts' names on the book covers. Smaller than his, yes, but still...it's more than a lot of 'authors' would allow.

Haggis · Sep 8, 2009

He has quite a following. And, to his credit, he does acknowledge his "co-authors." He's giving people what they want. Hard to complain about someone's success when he does all that.

Phaeal · Sep 8, 2009

I think Patterson should hire Haggis to write a thriller about a honeymooning couple on a boat in the Caribbean who land on the Island of Truly Evil Chihuahuas from Hell, like the one above.

BigWords · Sep 8, 2009

I've read a couple of 'his' books, and they weren't bad. They didn't make me sit up an say the books were amazing, but they didn't annoy me. I guess that's a backhanded compliment, but there's nothing wrong with farming out work to other writers. "Share the wealth" and everything...

thethinker42 · Sep 8, 2009

katiemac said:
Coauthorship aside, some of the novels/manuscripts might already be finished. And I know there are a lot of writers, here on AW even, who can churn out 10+ novels a year. Someone who has ability to treat writing as his or her only career--plus someone who is supposed to have written the amount Patterson already has--I can see this working. If you write 5,000 words a day for a year, that's 1,825,000 words--which can divide into 19 or 24 novels, depending how long those novels are.

Exactly - it's entirely doable. I'm about to finish my 12th book, which is my 11th since Nov 2008. Were I to snag a multi-book deal tomorrow (GOD I WISH), I have several completed books already and could easily write a few more in the next few months. So, 17 books in 3 years is not unrealistic for someone who writes full-time...even without a harem of co-authors.

BigWords · Sep 8, 2009

Patterson has a harem?

Damn, I want a harem as well now...

Patterson signs 17-book deal

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