How much is James Patterson worth?
| Net Worth: | $700 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Author |
| Date of Birth: | March 22, 1947 (age 75) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 6 in (1.7 m) |
About James Patterson
James Patterson is an American author and philanthropist. Some of his famous works include Women’s Murder Club, Alex Cross, Detective Michael Bennett novels, and various stand-alone thrillers and romance novels. With more than 300 million printed books, a battalion of co-writers, various TV deals, and an income of an estimated $95 million yearly, Patterson is the undisputed best-selling author on the planet since 2001.
James Patterson was born on March 22, 1947, in New York City. After graduating from high school, Patterson joined Manhattan College for undergraduate levels. Later he attended Vanderbilt University for a master’s degree in English literature. He got his first job in 1971 as a copywriter in ad agency J. Walter Thompson where he climbed the rank ladder to a level of the company’s CEO in North America.
Even as a CEO, Patterson used his part-time to write fiction. In 1976, his first-ever book The Thomas Berryman Number was published, and the book scooped a top prize for mystery writers in Edgar Awards. He penned various novels, but his breakthrough was in 1993 with a novel called Along Came a Spider. With knowledge of how ads are an effective marketing tool, Patterson crafted an effective TV ad campaign for the book, which enabled it to become the best seller.
As mentioned above, James Patterson is a talented publisher. Through his works, he managed to attract the attention of most readers from across the globe. Some of the books that made him grow in fame include the red alert, along comes to a spider, humans bow down, and the angel experiment, to mention a few.
Let’s briefly take a look at these popular books.
1. The red alert
The red alert is arguably one of the most popular writings of this century. The book, which dwells on police investigations on some of the high profile crimes in New York City, is an amazing masterpiece. With a high level of professionalism, James’ idea was to compel his readers towards the subject matter.
2. Along came a spider
Other than being one of the best-selling books in the globe, the book is not only compelling but also twisty. With the thriller-like character, the book grabs the reader’s attention almost instant. No wonder most people prefer it. The story-line starts with the kidnapping of one of the famous actress daughter and a politician’s son. The kidnappers at first outshine the FBI and the secret service. With such a set foundation, the reader will always keep wanting more from this book.
3. Humans, Bow Down
In his fictional writings, Patterson makes an intriguing comparison between the humans and the robots. In a world where there are perfect versions of humans and that of robots, the writer narrates how robots seize power. After that, their domination grows to the extent of wiping out humankind. Eventually, after realizing defeat, humans are forced to either live as servants or live in prison camps. It is the imaginative world that the writer takes his readers that makes this book interesting.
Like any entrepreneur, James Patterson had some setbacks. More than ten publishers turned down his book. After releasing his first book, The Thomas Berryman Number in 1976, the novel sold 10,000 copies. In 1980, with the inspiration of Rosemary’s Baby film, he wrote the Virgin. And when Wall Street was the main film, Paterson penned the Black Market book. All these books made some kill in the market.
Along Came a Spider was the turning point of James Patterson. The TV ads propelled the book into the highest levels. That’s why to date, Along came a Spider is considered the most successful book because it has over 5 million printed copies.
Since 1976, Patterson has penned over 150 books. So far, he has sold more than 340 million copies.
His 114 novels have been New York bestselling, and to date, he holds Guinness of Book records for the bestselling single author. Also, it’s estimated that 14 million copies of Patterson’s books are in 38 different languages. And this book can be read via Kindles and iPads. In fact, Patterson was the first author to sell more than 1 million e-books.
Having worked in the advertising world for a quarter-century, Patterson singlehandedly created a successful TV commercial for books. In 1993 he devised an advertising strategy that many booksellers didn’t know, the TV ads campaigns. The strategy made turned many people’s heads, since no book was ever advertised through TV in the US at that time.
This made many to be curious about it, hence, buying it.
The other thing’s that Patterson’s a good storyteller. All his books he pretends that somebody’s listening to him and he uses all the creativity to ensure that they don’t leave the story it’s finished. This is one of the selling strategies for most of his books. Also, his books are not that big in terms of pages, actually, he says 400 pages are a lot for a reader, and he also skips unnecessary parts in his books.
The other strategy is working with other people in his writing. This provides him with various writing styles. Lastly, unlike other authors who write books and wait for readers, Patterson’s a hunter on a mission. He never waits for anything; he does many things by himself.
Summing-Up
The authors should take note of James Patterson’s strategies. His books are in more than 38 languages; this tells you that he’s targeting every audience globally. Working with various writers is also another effective strategy. Writers have different writing styles; such input provides styles that cut across different readers. Finally, authors should exploit every opportunity. Look at Patterson; he uses various platforms such as TVs and online to sell his products.
This has helped him achieve an estimated net worth of more than $700 million and counting. Other than the riches, he has also stood to be one of the most famous authors of this generation.
