The question I posed to myself back on April 29th, Day One, was what is it about James Patterson that compels a staggering 14 million human souls to purchase and read his books each year? What is that intangible element that allows him successfully produce 9 books a year and be the highest paid author on the planet? Why are so many people not just content with but frothingly ecstatic over reading his books?Seth, you are a more patient soul than I. Let's just say I'm not much of a Patterson fan to begin with, although I admire the man's ability to turn himself into a brand and churn out over half a dozen books a year. I admire, on some level, anyone that can make writing as profitable as Patterson has done (he's the highest paid author in the country, according to a Forbes article). But, most important to me, I do not admire Patterson's actual writings.
What's more, the only redeeming quality I've found in Patterson is the page-turning, plot-driven aspect of each novel. I can't imagine actually focusing on the writing so closely, one chapter after another.
Seth's journey through the mind and pen of JPatt is sarcastic and hilarious, well-written and quite thorough. You can follow him from Day 1 here, or if you don't even have room in your life for 117 blog posts about dear Mr. Patterson, let alone 117 chapters, you can just read his final thoughts in Day 117.
Any fans of Patterson out there that want to talk me out of my probably unfair and biased opinion here? Has anyone else seen Seth's blog? Has anyone else done this? I have vague memories of someone doing a similar project with The Da Vinci Code (another of my not-so-favorites, even if that does make me a snob), but a quick search turned up nothing.
For more on James Patterson as brand, check out this NY Times article: James Patterson, Inc.
Greg at The New Dork Review of Books also discussed the pull of Patterson in a previous post, "Juxtaposition: Profiles of David Mitchell and James Patterson"
